00:03For years, scientists believed that deep underneath the Colorado Plateau was one of the oldest water sources on the planet.
00:09It's called the Paradox Basin, and now, after new samples were taken and investigated by experts,
00:15they now say much of it might not be as old as once thought.
00:18ScientAlert reports that the new water likely came from snow, rain, and ice melt,
00:22which seeped into the basin between 400,000 and 1.1 million years ago.
00:26That was still a long time ago, but not even close to as long as the hyper-salty water source
00:30has been around,
00:31which experts say is likely hundreds of millions of years.
00:35Geologists working on the project explained that despite previous assertions,
00:38the basin is far more dynamic than anyone expected.
00:41They discovered much younger water at much deeper depths in the Paradox Basin than anyone thought possible,
00:46and that likely has to do with its riverbed eroding.
00:49With one of the researchers writing, quote,
00:51Essentially what the erosion did was to create drains that let water from the surface to penetrate and flush the
00:56ancient highly saline waters
00:57in aquifers both above and below the salt deposits at the center of the deep groundwater system,
01:02which the experts say this means we need to be more careful about where we get our groundwater from,
01:07as it could also be mixed with who knows what kind of underground contaminants.
01:11We'll see you next time.
01:13We'll see you next time.
01:14Bye.
01:15Bye.
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