warpedskydiver 0 #1 March 3, 2007 from:Yahoo News Huge 'Ocean' Discovered Inside Earth Ker Than LiveScience Staff Writer LiveScience.com Fri Mar 2, 3:05 PM ET Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean. The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet’s deep mantle. The finding, made by Michael Wysession, a seismologist at Washington State University in St. Louis, and his former graduate student Jesse Lawrence, now at the University of California, San Diego, will be detailed in a forthcoming monograph to be published by the American Geophysical Union. Looking down deep The pair analyzed more than 600,000 seismograms—records of waves generated by earthquakes traveling through the Earth—collected from instruments scattered around the planet. They noticed a region beneath Asia where seismic waves appeared to dampen, or “attenuate,” and also slow down slightly. “Water slows the speed of waves a little,” Wysession explained. “Lots of damping and a little slowing match the predictions for water very well.” Previous predictions calculated that if a cold slab of the ocean floor were to sink thousands of miles into the Earth’s mantle, the hot temperatures would cause water stored inside the rock to evaporate out. “That is exactly what we show here,” Wysession said. “Water inside the rock goes down with the sinking slab and it’s quite cold, but it heats up the deeper it goes, and the rock eventually becomes unstable and loses its water.” The water then rises up into the overlying region, which becomes saturated with water. “It would still look like solid rock to you,” Wysession told LiveScience. “You would have to put it in the lab to find the water in it.” Although they appear solid, the composition of some ocean floor rocks is up to 15 percent water. “The water molecules are actually stuck in the mineral structure of the rock,” Wysession explained. “As you heat this up, it eventually dehydrates. It’s like taking clay and firing it to get all the water out.” The researchers estimate that up to 0.1 percent of the rock sinking down into the Earth’s mantle in that part of the world is water, which works out to about an Arctic Ocean’s worth of water. “That’s a real back of the envelope type calculation,” Wysession said. “That’s the best that we can do at this point.” The Beijing anomaly Wysession has dubbed the new underground feature the “Beijing anomaly,” because seismic wave attenuation was found to be highest beneath the Chinese capital city. Wysession first used the moniker during a presentation of his work at the University of Beijing. “They thought it was very, very interesting,” Wysession said. “China is under greater seismic risk than just about any country in the world, so they are very interested in seismology.” Water covers 70 percent of Earth’s surface and one of its many functions is to act like a lubricant for the movement of continental plates. “Look at our sister planet, Venus,” Wysession said. “It is very hot and dry inside Venus, and Venus has no plate tectonics. All the water probably boiled off, and without water, there are no plates. The system is locked up, like a rusty Tin Man with no oil.” Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trae 1 #2 March 4, 2007 like on Mars the possible future source of interplanetary fuel Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,150 #3 March 4, 2007 Quotef The Beijing anomaly Wysession has dubbed the new underground feature the “Beijing anomaly,” Hmmm - sounds like a new book title from Robert Ludlum.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #4 March 4, 2007 Quote Huge 'Ocean' Discovered Inside Earth I hate science headlines like that because they're so completely misleading. It gives the impression that if you dig deep enough in China, you'll find this huge underground cave filled with billions of gallons of free flowing liquid water. This isn't the case and if the writer simply looked at the quotes he pulled from the scientist, he'd understand that. Yet look at not only the headline, but the entire first part of the story. How did this guy get to be a science writer?quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,119 #5 March 4, 2007 >How did this guy get to be a science writer? Well, the title "some rocks contain small amounts of water" would not have sold any papers, now, would it? (My prediction: Within a few weeks some creationist will latch onto this to prove something, like the Deluge was real or something - and their website will see a lot more hits, thus allowing them to make more money on advertising.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydyvr 0 #6 March 4, 2007 Waterfront lots in hell -- yea baby!! . . =(_8^(1) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Royd 0 #7 March 4, 2007 Quote(My prediction: Within a few weeks some creationist will latch onto this to prove something, like the Deluge was real or something -If it couldn't have possibly happened in the past, why are we getting our panties in a wad over it now? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,596 #8 March 4, 2007 QuoteQuote(My prediction: Within a few weeks some creationist will latch onto this to prove something, like the Deluge was real or something -If it couldn't have possibly happened in the past, why are we getting our panties in a wad over it now? I suppose an explanation is too much to hope for?Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
narcimund 0 #9 March 4, 2007 QuoteQuoteQuote(My prediction: Within a few weeks some creationist will latch onto this to prove something, like the Deluge was real or something -If it couldn't have possibly happened in the past, why are we getting our panties in a wad over it now? I suppose an explanation is too much to hope for? Here's my explanation: Some people's attention spans can encompass an entire argument, some can handle only a single utterance, and others max out at a single emotional word. First Class Citizen Twice Over Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,119 #10 March 4, 2007 >If it couldn't have possibly happened in the past . . . . If that's what you think, then no panties need to be wadded at all! We are in agreement. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #11 March 5, 2007 QuoteHow did this guy get to be a science writer? You're kidding, right? Science - Writer."I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
