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Deep beneath our feet, Earth hides far more than we ever imagined. Scientists have uncovered strange underground structures capable of influencing tectonic movement, triggering powerful earthquakes, and reshaping the planet over millions of years. Even more astonishing, researchers have identified a “sixth ocean” buried deep within the mantle - a massive reservoir of water locked inside minerals hundreds of kilometers down. These discoveries are rewriting our understanding of Earth’s interior and revealing that its hidden forces are far more complex, dangerous, and mysterious than we once believed. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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00:00Deep inside our planet, there are two massive blobs of rock that have puzzled scientists for years.
00:06They sit deep inside, opposite each other.
00:09One lurks under the Pacific Ocean, the other under Africa.
00:13And they're so weird, they even make seismic waves slow down.
00:18Their actual name is Large Low-Velocity Provinces.
00:21But they're just two enormous, mysterious blobs of rock.
00:25Bigger than continents, stranger than anything else inside the Earth.
00:29And so dense, they might be leftovers from another planet.
00:33Until recently, no one knew what they were, where they came from, or why they even exist.
00:40These mysterious blobs could hold the secret to Earth's deepest forces.
00:44Powerful enough to shape earthquakes, drive volcanic eruptions, and even influence the evolution of life itself.
00:52And now, we might finally learn the truth about them.
00:55These geological monsters are hidden about 1,800 miles beneath the surface.
01:01Each one is 100 times taller than Mount Everest.
01:04So vast, they defy explanation.
01:07Now, at first, scientists thought these were primordial remnants from Earth's early days.
01:12Maybe something giant smashed into Earth about 4.5 billion years ago.
01:17And this impact formed both the Moon and these blobs.
01:20Scientists believe it could have been a planet named Thea.
01:23A Mars-sized planet that existed somewhere around the asteroid belt and slammed into Earth back in the day.
01:31Others believe it could be something much more familiar.
01:34Old chunks of Earth's crust.
01:36Perhaps they got pushed deep into the mantle by the movement of tectonic plates.
01:40And now, a new study shows that these blobs are massive piles of oceanic crust that have been sinking into the Earth for billions of years.
01:49They could have formed from the stuff that sinks into Earth when tectonic plates collide.
01:54Over a billion years, pieces of ocean crust could have been swallowed by the mantle.
01:59Eventually, they collected into two massive regions deep inside the planet.
02:04But even though both blobs form the same way, they aren't identical.
02:08There's this place called the Pacific Ring of Fire, a giant loop of volcanoes and earthquake zones around the Pacific Ocean.
02:17Well, the Pacific blob doesn't just stop growing and changing because it's constantly being fed fresh rock from that place.
02:25Tectonic plates crash into each other.
02:27And one plate sinks beneath another, pushing old ocean crust deep into the Earth.
02:32Since this keeps happening, the Pacific blob is heavier, denser, and more active than its twin under Africa.
02:40It's like a giant hot rock factory, constantly getting new material and reshaping itself over time.
02:47The African blob is much older and quieter than the one under the Pacific.
02:52It doesn't get fresh rock pushed into it as often.
02:55That's why, over time, it has blended more with the surrounding mantle.
02:59Since it's less dense, it behaves differently.
03:03It rises higher into the Earth's mantle, stretching 340 miles closer to the surface.
03:09And that might be why Africa has so many powerful volcanoes and rift valleys today.
03:15The biggest question is, how do they keep evolving?
03:19Scientists think that huge columns of hot rock, called mantle plumes,
03:23might be pushing up from deep inside the Earth,
03:26helping to drive the movement of tectonic plates in the Pacific.
03:29If they're right, then these giant underground blobs aren't just sitting there.
03:34They're almost alive in a way.
03:36They'd be constantly changing and shaping the surface of our planet.
03:40But why do they even matter?
03:42Because these weird underground structures may be shaping Earth's surface in ways we don't fully understand yet.
03:50You see, first, they might influence Earth's magnetic field.
03:54That's because they affect how heat moves through the mantle and core.
03:57They might also hold clues about the history of plate tectonics.
04:02Studying them could help us figure out when subduction began on Earth,
04:06whether it was over 4 billion years ago or much more recently.
04:10These guys might also be secret puppet masters behind volcanic activity.
04:16There's a theory that blazing hot rock from deep inside the Earth,
04:19the same kind that creates volcanic hotspots,
04:23might be rising straight from the giant blobs in the mantle.
04:27Some of the biggest volcanoes on Earth, including those in Hawaii, Iceland, and Yellowstone,
04:32sit directly above the suspected rising plumes from these blobs.
04:36If these blobs are fueling these volcanoes,
04:39then they could be responsible for shaping Earth's continents, climate,
04:43and even mass extinctions throughout history.
04:46And, well, that's horrifying.
04:49That would mean that these giant structures might burst through Earth's crust one day,
04:53unleashing catastrophic supervolcanic eruptions.
04:56And these eruptions would last for millions of years.
04:59Beneath the Earth's surface also lies monsters unlike anything else on this planet – supervolcanoes.
05:07They're so massive, so destructive, and so rare that no human has ever witnessed one erupt.
05:13A regular volcanic eruption can be terrifying.
05:17Lava spewing into the sky, ash choking the air,
05:20entire cities buried under fire and stone.
05:23But a supervolcano?
05:25Well, that's something else entirely.
05:27A supervolcano isn't just big, it's a category of its own.
05:32Their eruptions rip apart the Earth itself, creating massive craters called calderas.
05:38Some of them are over 30 miles wide.
05:41A regular volcanic eruption might spew out a few cubic miles of lava and ash.
05:46A supervolcano unleashes more than 240 cubic miles of material.
05:51That's enough to bury an entire continent in ash.
05:54An eruption like this would be newsworthy, to say the least.
05:59First, a wall of fire would blow up into the sky.
06:03Ash would block out the sun for years, dropping global temperatures.
06:07Entire countries could be buried under meters of ash, making farming impossible.
06:12Famine, extreme cold, and toxic air could wipe out entire civilizations.
06:17It wouldn't just be a local disaster.
06:19It would be global.
06:21In fact, two of the worst mass extinctions in Earth's history, where almost all life was
06:26wiped out, might have been caused by supervolcanoes, not asteroids.
06:31The biggest and most horrifying one was at the end of the Permian period.
06:35Literally, about 90% of all marine species and 70% of land species went poof.
06:42Scientists have counted about 20 supervolcanoes on Earth today.
06:46The most famous ones are Yellowstone in the U.S., Toba in Indonesia, and Topau in New Zealand.
06:53Now, the last time Yellowstone erupted was roughly 2 million years ago.
06:57It released almost 590 cubic miles of material, enough to bury a city like New York.
07:04That was just one of three Yellowstone supereruptions.
07:08The most recent supervolcano to erupt was Topau in New Zealand.
07:12This happened about 26,500 years ago.
07:16But supervolcanoes don't just destroy, they reshape the entire planet.
07:22About 74,000 years ago, the Toba supervolcano erupted in Indonesia.
07:28Some scientists believe it triggered a volcanic winter that lasted an entire decade.
07:33There are also theories that suggest that this eruption nearly wiped out early humans.
07:38It reduced their numbers to just a few thousand survivors.
07:42Although, that's just speculation.
07:43Either way, we know for sure that supervolcano eruptions have changed the course of history.
07:51So, how do we prepare for them if this could happen at any moment?
07:55Well, scientists monitor volcanoes constantly, looking for warning signs.
08:00It could be stuff like rising magma, ground swelling, earthquakes beneath a volcano, changes in gas emissions, and so on.
08:08The problem is that, while we can predict short-term eruptions, the long-term ones are still a mystery.
08:15Yellowstone last erupted 630,000 years ago.
08:18It's literally overdue for another eruption already.
08:22But volcanoes don't work like clocks.
08:24Just because one erupted in the past doesn't mean it will definitely go wild again.
08:29And the time between eruptions could be random.
08:33Scientists think Yellowstone could erupt again, but it might be just a small lava flow instead of a supereruption.
08:40Are we ready for a supereruption if it happens?
08:43Probably not.
08:44Scientists say we're more prepared for an asteroid strike than a supervolcano eruption.
08:49When Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'abai erupted in 2022, it cut off communications, caused tsunamis, and filled the sky with ash.
08:59And that was only a magnitude 5 eruption.
09:02A supervolcano would be orders of magnitude worse.
09:06So, good luck sleeping at night knowing these guys will erupt again.
09:10Maybe tomorrow.
09:11Maybe in 100,000 years.
09:14Nah, don't lose sleep over it.
09:16Our planet has five oceans.
09:18The Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic.
09:23Not counting Billy Ocean.
09:25But it seems there's a sixth one out there, too.
09:28It's just that you can't see it.
09:30Scientists have found evidence of large amounts of water hidden in the transition zone.
09:36That's the boundary layer that separates the upper and lower mantle of our planet.
09:40That boundary goes hundreds of miles deep down below the surface.
09:45Natural diamonds usually form in the mantle.
09:47But at depths of up to 155 miles.
09:51Some of them are very rare.
09:52They may come from deeper depths.
09:55That was the case with this fascinating diamond that formed 410 miles below the surface.
10:00The gem was big enough for scientists to study it and determine what it was made of.
10:05They were surprised when the composition of this very rare diamond showed that it was formed in pretty watery conditions.
10:12Because of that, such a diamond wouldn't be worth much in jewelry stores.
10:17But it was priceless in the lab.
10:19So, could this mean there's an ocean under the surface of our planet?
10:23It would definitely get us closer to the idea Jules Verne had about this whole magical secret world inside Earth.
10:31Including the ocean.
10:33But that's not exactly the case.
10:35The water is there, true.
10:37But it's not like you can enjoy the view watching waves splashing around like on the surface of our planet.
10:43The water is actually stored within the minerals.
10:46That's why this area is so wet.
10:49Let's now move to Africa to keep up with the story.
10:52Or, to be more specific, to a spot called the Afar region.
10:56It's part of Ethiopia and a place where three tectonic plates meet.
11:01Tectonic plates are large pieces of our planet's crust that slowly move.
11:06These movements cause earthquakes and produce volcanoes, mountains, deep underwater valleys we call trenches, and so on.
11:14And the Afar Valley is where the Arabian, Somali, and Nubian plates meet.
11:19Together, they form an intersection in the shape of a Y.
11:23Why? Let me tell you.
11:25These plates are moving all the time.
11:28The Somali plate is moving southeast toward the Australian and Indian plates.
11:32The Arabian plate is moving north, getting closer to the Eurasian plate.
11:37At some point, it will close the Persian Gulf.
11:41This movement of plates has created something we call the Great Rift Valley.
11:45Considering there are, you know, all these cool rifts.
11:49The Aden Ridge to the east.
11:51The Red Sea Rift to the west.
11:53The Oculus Rift and the East African Rift to the south.
11:56But the East African Rift is something we want to focus on, because this one could be the key to this potential sixth ocean.
12:04But this time, on the surface.
12:07A continental rift is a spot where two tectonic plates that form a single continent start to separate.
12:14Here, it's the Somali and Nubian plates.
12:17Together, they're parts that make up Africa.
12:19If they keep moving in separate directions, this currently continental rift may become what we call an oceanic spreading ridge.
12:28In other words, when the plates are far enough apart from each other, there will be an enormous crack between them.
12:35This way, magma will freely flow up from beneath them.
12:38It'll be cool and eventually start creating a new ocean floor.
12:42Africa will be split into two parts, and there will be a new ocean flowing between what will turn into two mini-continents.
12:50Nope, it's not time to get your swim trunks and sunscreen yet.
12:54Even if the Somali and Arabian plates do move far enough to form an oceanic spreading ridge,
13:00it'll take, eh, millions of years before this happens.
13:04So I guess it's more interesting to stick to exploring this sixth ocean below the Earth's surface for now.
13:09The idea of subsurface oceans goes beyond the borders of our planet.
13:15It's possible many moons and planets out there have them too.
13:20Our home planet is the only one we know about with consistent bodies of liquid water on the surface, true.
13:26In our solar system, we circle around the sun in something called the habitable zone.
13:32The temperature and atmospheric pressure within this zone allow water to remain in liquid form all the time.
13:38But a couple of moons in our solar system could also contain significant amounts of water under their surface.
13:46Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, is the first one.
13:50Enceladus is a small frozen ball, seven times smaller in diameter than our moon.
13:56But it's the sixth biggest moon of Saturn.
13:59Nearly a decade ago, a spacecraft found evidence that there was a large ocean under its surface.
14:05It found and sampled water from the eruptions that resembled geysers.
14:10A geyser is a rare type of hot spring that erupts and sends jets of steam and water into the air.
14:16You know, like Old Faithful in Yellowstone.
14:19Well, this water was erupting through fissures in the ice at the south pole of the moon.
14:24That means there might be a liquid ocean under the thick layers of ice.
14:28The ocean there is almost nothing like ours.
14:32The ocean on Earth is relatively shallow, on average 2.2 miles deep.
14:37And it covers three quarters of our planet's surface.
14:40It gets colder the closer you come to the seafloor,
14:43and is warmer if you stay close to the surface because of the sun's rays.
14:47But the subsurface ocean on Enceladus is at least 18 miles deep.
14:53It's cooler at the top, because that part is near the ice shell,
14:57and warmer at the bottom because of the heat coming from the moon's core.
15:02But both our ocean and the ocean on Enceladus are salty.
15:06Enceladus is one of the few places in our solar system that has liquid water,
15:11which makes it an interesting spot to search for signs of life.
15:15Another one is Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.
15:18Scientists think similar eruptions of water could be happening there.
15:23Knowing there are such geysers there tells us these moons have their own source of energy.
15:29Maybe the energy that makes the water erupt comes from gravity or radiation.
15:34The same energy could keep a large body of liquid water under the ice.
15:38It could even support some forms of life.
15:42There are thousands of planets beyond our solar system that orbit other stars.
15:46Some are even in the habitable zone.
15:49Over a quarter of the ones that we know about could have liquid water.
15:54But the majority of them probably have oceans under their surface, like Enceladus and Europa.
16:00Pluto might be on this list too, since it's possible it hides a liquid ocean under its thick frozen shell.
16:07This subsurface ocean likely formed long after the dwarf planet did,
16:12after the heat coming from radioactive elements in Pluto's core melted some of its ice.
16:17There's also something called water worlds.
16:20Those are moons or planets with global oceans that are more common than we thought.
16:25I mean, some call Earth a water world too.
16:2971% of its surface is water, after all.
16:32And when you look at our home planet from space, you mostly get those blue marble pictures.
16:38When exploring other planets, especially those outside of our solar system,
16:43researchers often go with a policy of follow the water.
16:47After all, water is the main element we know that's necessary for supporting life.
16:52And when there's a water world that's close to its parent star,
16:57scientists assume it must have formed way farther and then moved closer once its orbit shrank.
17:03The composition of the planet was set when it was in a colder orbit,
17:07or, in other words, when it made a wider circle around its star.
17:12We call the process of orbital shrinking a migration.
17:15And if water worlds are really that common, it can be proof that migration really happens.
17:21Exoplanets are all those planets that orbit around other stars, not our sun.
17:27Some exoplanets may have oceans that are way deeper than any of those in our solar system.
17:33Hundreds or even thousands of miles deep.
17:36Our Mariana Trench is scary, and it's not even 7 miles deep.
17:41And those exoplanet oceans are, wow, almost bottomless.
17:45That's it for today.
17:47So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
17:52Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
17:56So, here we go.
17:57All right.
17:58All right.
17:58So, let's see.
17:59Let's get started.
18:00All right.
18:00There we go.
18:01All right.
18:02You guys can do the Defense Haywords go direct.
18:04Alright.
18:05All right.
18:05All right.
18:07All right.
18:07We'll see you then.
18:08Ok.
18:09My word.
18:10Alright.
18:11Okay.
18:11Hey.
18:12Yeah.
18:12Welcome.
18:13My word.
18:14Let's order.
18:15We'll see you next time if we are so great.
18:15Hello.
18:16We're going back to the aktuellinox chair, but we're all right.
18:17We'll have some of Tab but we're on our love.
18:18We'll know that.
18:19Well like that's the fact it's all right, that will hurt.
18:21Right.
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