- 2 days ago
Deep beneath Earth’s surface lies a hidden ocean so massive it could dwarf all the water in our rivers and seas, yet almost no one knows it exists. Scientists found it not as open water but trapped inside a blue, water-rich mineral called ringwoodite, buried hundreds of miles down in the mantle where pressure is intense enough to squeeze water into crystal form. This discovery completely changes how we think about Earth’s water cycle, because it means our planet has been storing and recycling water from the inside out for billions of years. Some researchers believe this underground ocean helped keep Earth’s surface oceans stable while other planets lost theirs, making life here possible. And in this video, you’ll explore how this hidden ocean works, what it reveals about Earth’s past, and why it might reshape our entire understanding of the planet we live on. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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00:00Scientists discovered the largest water reservoir in the Oregon Cascades.
00:04It's hiding underground, holding more than twice the water volume of Lake Mead.
00:09Let me specify.
00:10It contains at least 19.4 cubic miles of water,
00:14which is almost 162 trillion bottles of water.
00:19If you drank one bottle a day,
00:21it would take you around 444 billion years to finish your stock.
00:25No wonder this underground aquifer discovery is so awesome.
00:30The Cascade mountain range, which contains the largest aquifer on Earth,
00:34stretches about 700 miles from Northern California to British Columbia.
00:39The High Cascades in Oregon have younger volcanic rocks, around 8 million years old.
00:45The Western Cascades are much older, 45 million years.
00:50They boast deep canyons and valleys.
00:53Scientists study the transition zone between these two areas
00:56to understand how water moved through volcanic rock
01:00and how volcanic processes had evolved over time.
01:04In the process, researchers measured rock temperatures at different depths.
01:09That's when the underground aquifer discovery happened.
01:12Normally, deeper rocks should be hotter because it's closer to the Earth's interior.
01:17But, to everyone's surprise,
01:19in several areas,
01:21the temperature stayed the same even at greater depths.
01:25Well, this was a strong clue that water was flowing through the rock and cooling it down.
01:31In other words,
01:32the Cascades function like a natural water tower,
01:35storing and slowly releasing water into rivers and streams.
01:39These geological water findings are important for two main reasons.
01:43First, it's our potential water source for the future.
01:48Such a massive amount of water stored underground could be an important resource.
01:53So far, we don't know how long it will remain in its current state
01:57and how resilient it's going to be to changes.
02:00So, we need more research to properly manage its use.
02:05Secondly, it affects volcanic activity.
02:08When water seeps deep underground and reaches magma,
02:11it instantly turns into steam.
02:13Creating extreme pressure that can trigger explosive volcanic eruptions.
02:19Understanding how much water is stored in volcanic rock
02:22could help predict future eruptions and the risks they pose.
02:26Now, even though this discovery is exciting,
02:29there are still many unanswered questions.
02:32Like, how does this water move through the volcanic rock?
02:36Or how much of it is actually usable as a water resource?
02:39Since this underground reservoir depends on rain and snow,
02:43a series of dry years could cause big problems for both water supply and volcanic stability.
02:51Researchers are now working to understand the full impact of the Cascades Volcanic Water Reservoir
02:56and how to manage it responsibly.
02:58But let's look closely at the geological wonder that is the Cascade Range.
03:04Picture this, a massive mountain range stretching all the way from Northern California
03:09up to British Columbia, cutting right through the middle of Oregon.
03:12That's the mountain range we're talking about.
03:16In Oregon alone, it's about 260 miles long and up to 90 miles wide,
03:21covering 17,000 square miles.
03:24Whoa, that's bigger than each of the nine smallest U.S. states.
03:29The coolest thing is that the Oregon part of this mountain range is basically built by volcanoes,
03:34and apparently contains at least one volcanic rock water storage.
03:39The range itself exists because of something called the Cascadia Subduction Zone,
03:44where the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate, a chunk of Earth's crust under the Pacific Ocean,
03:50is slowly getting shoved beneath North America.
03:53As it sinks, the intense heat and pressure force water out of the oceanic rock.
03:59It lowers the melting point of the surrounding mantle and creates magma.
04:03That magma rises up and fuels the Cascade volcanoes.
04:07This is part of the Ring of Fire, the giant belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific.
04:13So, in a way, the Cascades are part of a much bigger volcanic system
04:19that's constantly shifting and changing.
04:22The Oregon Cascades are actually made up of two completely different zones,
04:27the Western Cascades and the High Cascades, and they look nothing alike.
04:31The Western Cascades are the older part.
04:35They formed around 45 million years ago.
04:38These mountains are rugged and deeply carved up by rivers.
04:43Some canyons are as deep as 3,700 feet.
04:47This part of the range used to be volcanically active,
04:50but over time, erosion has taken over, reshaping the land.
04:53The High Cascades, on the other hand, are much younger and way less eroded.
05:00Around 8 million years ago, the volcanic activity shifted,
05:04and new eruptions filled in old canyons, smoothing out the landscape.
05:08Eruptions kept piling up fresh lava,
05:11and rivers in this region didn't have as much time to create deep valleys
05:15like they did in the Western Cascades.
05:16That's why, if you look at the two regions side by side,
05:21one looks jagged and carved up,
05:24while the other looks smoother and more built up.
05:28Some of Oregon's most famous volcanoes are located in the High Cascades.
05:33I'm talking about Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson,
05:36the Three Sisters, and Crater Lake,
05:38which actually formed when Mount Mazama erupted and collapsed in on itself.
05:43Unlike smaller volcanoes that pop up,
05:47erupt for a bit, and disappear over a few months or years,
05:51these giant volcanic centers have been active for thousands of years.
05:55And because they've been around for so long,
05:58they have way more complex magma systems.
06:01They produce everything from basalt,
06:03which is a runny, fast-moving lava,
06:06to andesite, dacite, and rhyolite.
06:09And rhyolite is the type of magma that leads to huge explosive eruptions.
06:15So, while some of these volcanoes might just ooze lava,
06:18others have the potential for devastating blasts.
06:23Another amazing thing about these long-lived volcanoes
06:25is that their underground magma chambers stay hot for a really long time.
06:31That's why the Cascades are one of the best places to tap into geothermal energy.
06:36There's a ton of heat just sitting beneath the surface, waiting to be used.
06:41Oh, and don't forget about the Cascades Volcanic Water Reservoir.
06:44Who knows how we will use it in the future?
06:48Now, we already know that the Cascades are part of the magnificent Ring of Fire,
06:53Earth's most explosive zone.
06:55Imagine a massive horseshoe-shaped belt wrapping around the Pacific Ocean,
07:00stretching for about 25,000 miles.
07:03It's one of the most geologically active areas on the planet.
07:08This is where Earth's tectonic plates are constantly shifting,
07:12colliding, and grinding against each other,
07:14creating some of the world's most powerful earthquakes,
07:17volcanic eruptions, and deep ocean trenches.
07:20The Ring of Fire follows the meeting points of multiple tectonic plates,
07:26and they all surround the giant Pacific Plate.
07:29These plates aren't just sitting still.
07:31They're always on the move, pushing against or sliding beneath each other at their boundaries,
07:36known as fault lines.
07:38When this happens, you get everything from deep-sea trenches
07:41to towering volcanoes and violent earthquakes.
07:45One of the most extreme examples of this activity is the Mariana Trench,
07:50located east of Guam.
07:53At seven miles deep, it's the deepest ocean trench on Earth.
07:57It was formed by a process called subduction,
08:01where one tectonic plate is forced beneath another,
08:04sinking deep into the Earth's mantle.
08:07The Mariana Trench is one of the most mysterious places on Earth.
08:10It's insanely deep, with crushing pressure and total darkness.
08:15So for a long time, people thought nothing could live down there.
08:19But it turned out that life existed even at the very bottom.
08:24In 2005, scientists found a tiny single-celled organism in the Challenger Deep,
08:30the, ahem, deepest part of the Mariana Trench.
08:33They also came across colorful rocky formations and weird sea cucumbers.
08:38The Mariana Trench also has hydrothermal vents,
08:43which are basically underwater hot springs.
08:46Even though the water there is super hot and acidic,
08:50strange creatures and microscopic lifeforms still manage to survive there.
08:55The Ring of Fire is also responsible for 90% of the world's earthquakes.
09:00Some of the most powerful quakes in history have happened here,
09:03including the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile,
09:06the strongest ever recorded,
09:09which hit a mind-boggling 9.5 on the Richter scale.
09:13But it's not just about earthquakes.
09:15The Ring of Fire is also home to about 75% of the planet's volcanoes.
09:21Some of the most famous eruptions in history have come from this region,
09:25like the infamous Mount Tambora in Indonesia.
09:27In short, the Ring of Fire is one of the most dangerous places on Earth,
09:32but it's also incredibly fascinating.
09:35Who knows what else scientists might discover in that region,
09:38like they discovered the largest water reservoir in the Cascades.
09:42Guess what?
09:44A huge ocean might be hidden deep beneath us,
09:47about 250 to 400 miles down.
09:51And it's bigger than any ocean on Earth's surface.
09:54Scientists were listening to earthquakes deep within our planet
09:58and noticed how these shakes slowed down
10:01when passing through certain parts of the mantle.
10:03This suggested that water was there.
10:06Models and experiments led them to uncover the underground ocean.
10:10But this ocean isn't like the typical water you imagine.
10:14It's a lot crazier.
10:16The mantle is a thick layer between the Earth's crust and core.
10:20It consists of the upper mantle, the lower mantle,
10:23and a mysterious layer between them called the transition zone.
10:28In the upper layer, we can often find a fascinating material called olivine,
10:34which got its name from a pretty greenish color.
10:37Olivine doesn't care about high temperatures
10:39and thrives in lava comfortably.
10:41It not only thrives,
10:43but it even makes up 50% of the entire upper mantle.
10:47We can find this stuff on Earth thanks to volcanoes.
10:51When volcanoes spew their magma out,
10:53all the minerals in it make their way to the surface.
10:56As magma cools and solidifies,
10:59it forms igneous rocks,
11:00and the minerals start to crystallize.
11:03Olivine is one of the first minerals to crystallize.
11:06And since there's so much of it in magma,
11:09it forms lots of crystals.
11:11Sometimes they're small,
11:12but sometimes they grow large and become very noticeable.
11:16We collect these large gemstones and use them to make pretty accessories,
11:20and for other purposes,
11:22such as casting metals.
11:24But as we dive deeper within the Earth,
11:26about 250 miles down,
11:29things get strange for olivine.
11:31We enter the mysterious transition zone.
11:36The pressures get way higher,
11:38and the temperatures rise significantly.
11:40Here, olivine transforms into beautiful rock
11:43called wadsleyite and ringwoodite.
11:46Just like with olivine,
11:48we sometimes find them thanks to volcanic activity.
11:51Both are blue-green,
11:53with a beautiful glassy appearance.
11:55Unfortunately, they're exceedingly rare and small,
11:59so you can't make accessories out of them.
12:01They're usually studied in labs.
12:03But they can do something that olivine can't.
12:07Thanks to their structure,
12:08they can act like a sponge,
12:10soaking up water.
12:12Now, this doesn't mean that they're literally wet.
12:15Rather, wadsleyite and ringwoodite
12:17can store water components,
12:19hydrogen and oxygen,
12:21within their structure.
12:22Usually, up to about 3% of them
12:25are water particles.
12:26These two little guys play an immense role
12:29in our planet's geology.
12:31They influence how the Earth's mantle
12:33conducts electricity,
12:34as well as its viscosity,
12:36or how well it flows.
12:38This affects mantle convection,
12:40plate tectonics,
12:41and even volcanic activity.
12:44Without these tiny crystals,
12:45our planet would be completely different.
12:48The world could be mostly underwater,
12:50with just a few mountaintops visible.
12:52They also help us better understand
12:55how water works in general.
12:58So, the transition zone is special
13:00because it's hydrated.
13:02Here we come to the recent discovery,
13:04a massive underground water reservoir.
13:07Scientists try to understand
13:09how water behaves
13:10in this deep part of the Earth.
13:12They discover that,
13:13as water-rich ringwoodite
13:15moves even deeper into the Earth
13:17to the lower mantle,
13:18it can start to melt a bit.
13:20This means it can release a bit of water
13:22and then trap it somewhere underground
13:25instead of letting it move around freely.
13:27But this released water
13:29wouldn't really be in its liquid,
13:30solid, or gas forms.
13:32Instead, it would be chemically bound
13:34to the underground structures.
13:36So, it won't be an ocean
13:38in the traditional sense.
13:40But there might be a vast amount
13:42of water down there.
13:43This finding is super important
13:45because it changes the way
13:47we understand Earth's water cycle
13:49and resources.
13:51It turns out that water
13:52isn't just found on the surface,
13:54but it also moves through hidden spaces
13:56deep inside the planet.
13:59Another fascinating thing
14:01we discovered about water
14:02is that it might exist
14:03in a mysterious fourth state of matter.
14:07Now, we're used to thinking of water
14:08in its three common states,
14:10solid, liquid, and gas.
14:12But under extreme pressure
14:14in tiny spaces,
14:16it can enter a mysterious force state
14:18known as tunneling.
14:20We discovered this strange behavior
14:22in the mineral called beryl.
14:24Within beryl,
14:25there are super-small six-sided channels
14:28just about five atoms across.
14:31Turns out these channels
14:32act like tiny cages
14:33that can trap individual water molecules
14:36like wadsleyite and ringwoodite.
14:39In these conditions,
14:40the water molecules start showing behaviors
14:42that are closer
14:43not to classical physics,
14:45but to quantum physics.
14:48Quantum tunneling allows particles
14:50to exist in multiple places at once
14:52or pass through barriers
14:54they shouldn't be able to.
14:56Imagine a ball that somehow ends up
14:58on the other side of a hill
14:59without climbing over it.
15:01It just goes through the hill.
15:03Hydrogen atoms in beryl
15:05are like tiny balls.
15:06Typically, each ball
15:08would sit in one specific spot.
15:10However, in the experiment,
15:12these hydrogen atoms
15:13didn't stay still.
15:15Instead, they were found
15:17simultaneously in multiple spots.
15:20Together, they formed a pattern
15:21that looked like two wavy rings.
15:24It's like water molecules
15:25got smeared around in a ring shape.
15:28This is a state of water
15:29that we've never seen before.
15:32It reshapes our understanding
15:33of how water behaves
15:34under certain conditions,
15:35and it has huge implications
15:37for biology.
15:39All these discoveries
15:41have everyone rethinking
15:42where Earth's water
15:43really comes from.
15:45Water is essential for life
15:47as we know it.
15:48About 71% of Earth
15:50is drenched in water,
15:51and humans are mostly water too.
15:54When we figure out
15:55how it appears in space
15:56and on planets,
15:57it would give us clues
15:58about how to better search
16:00for extraterrestrial life.
16:02One theory says that
16:04when Earth was forming,
16:05the materials that clumped together
16:07to make the planet
16:08already included water,
16:10or at least the ingredients
16:11to make it.
16:12Earth formed about
16:134.5 billion years ago.
16:16Our planet slowly emerged,
16:18thanks to gravity,
16:19from dust, gas, and rocks
16:21that surrounded
16:21our newborn sun.
16:23This material gradually
16:25came together to form
16:26the planets of our solar system.
16:28However, the young inner solar system
16:30was a scorching place,
16:32too hot for any liquid water
16:34to survive.
16:35It would have simply vaporized
16:37and escaped into space.
16:39But it's possible
16:40that water was trapped
16:41inside the rocks
16:43that initially formed Earth.
16:45Some of the Earth's
16:46original building block
16:47contained much more hydrogen
16:49than all our oceans combined.
16:51It would also explain
16:53how water molecules
16:54got so deep underground.
16:56Then, volcanic activity
16:58could have later
16:58released the water
16:59stored deep within,
17:01sending it into the atmosphere
17:03as vapor.
17:04This vapor would eventually
17:05cool down,
17:06condense,
17:07and fall as rain,
17:09filling the young Earth
17:10with lakes and seas.
17:12Another idea is that
17:14after Earth was formed,
17:16water was brought here
17:17by wet space visitors
17:19like comets and asteroids
17:20crashing into the planet.
17:22Long ago,
17:23the inner solar system
17:24was a wild and chaotic place,
17:27much like Brightside.
17:28When the outer planets
17:30rearranged their orbits,
17:32this caused a ripple effect,
17:33which we now call
17:34the late heavy bombardment.
17:37It sent a flurry
17:37of icy space rocks
17:39crashing through
17:40the inner solar system,
17:41many of which
17:42collided with Earth.
17:44For a while,
17:45scientists thought
17:45that this event
17:46and comets
17:47were a primary source
17:48of Earth's water.
17:50But then,
17:51we learned that comets
17:52have a different chemical makeup
17:53from the water on Earth.
17:55Then we looked
17:56at the asteroids.
17:57Their water closely resembles
17:59the water in Earth's oceans.
18:01Some of the samples
18:02even contained
18:03organic materials.
18:05There's also a chance
18:07some random planet
18:08helped us out.
18:09About 4.5 billion years ago,
18:12a Mars-sized planet
18:13named Thea
18:14is thought to have
18:15collided with Earth.
18:16It was a violent encounter
18:18that melted part of Earth's mantle
18:20and led to the formation
18:21of the Moon.
18:22Perhaps Thea
18:23also brought some water with it.
18:26And finally,
18:27Earth could have generated
18:28its own water.
18:30Chemistry says
18:31that hydrogen
18:32could react
18:32with molten rock
18:33in vast magma oceans
18:35to produce seas and oceans.
18:37It's also possible
18:38that all these ideas
18:40are true
18:40and Earth's water
18:41came from several sources.
18:43It complicates our research
18:45but shows how dynamic
18:47water can be in space.
18:49That's it for today.
18:51So hey,
18:51if you pacified your curiosity,
18:53then give the video a like
18:54and share it with your friends.
18:56Or if you want more,
18:57just click on these videos
18:58and stay on the bright side.
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