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Earth Science

Pockets of Water May Lay Deep Below Earth's Surface (sciencemag.org) 68

sciencehabit writes: Small pockets of water exist deep beneath Earth's surface, according to an analysis of diamonds belched from hundreds of kilometers within our planet. The work, which also identifies a weird form of crystallized water known as ice VII, suggests that material may circulate more freely at some depths within Earth than previously thought. Geophysical models of that flow, which ultimately influences the frequency of earthquakes driven by the scraping of tectonic plates at Earth's surface, may need to be substantially tweaked, scientists say. Such models also help scientists estimate the long-term rates of heat flow through Earth's surface and into space.
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Pockets of Water May Lay Deep Below Earth's Surface

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  • I wonder how long it'll take for this to make the rounds on creationist websites, and similar silliness.
    • I wonder how long it'll be for desert area people (Calif, Ariz, eg.) to suck it all up and whine about water shortages.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Can we use that data to search for water on mars more accurately ?

    • Mars does not have plate tectonics, and has lost most of its water to space. Also, have no way to find or analyze diamonds on Mars, assuming they exist. On top of that, if we knew there was equivalent water on Mars it would be unreachable and do us no real good.

      So, nope.
    • No, but we do know that water ice sheets exist on Mars only a couple of meters below the surface in some areas. This will be an important source of water for the colonists when then start to colonize the planet.
  • About time!

    By the way, the earth isn't flat and climate change is caused primarily by humans since more than a century now.

    That said, while this might be fun for those writing SF and Fantasy, in thinking about what life might "exist" in underground domains, it's still highly unlikely that it will replace us. That's AI killer robots job.

  • Sounds like something to help with our drinking water shortages of late....
    Let's get a drillin!

    • Sounds like something to help with our drinking water shortages of late....
      Let's get a drillin!

      If you RTFA you will see the salty mineral laden composition detected

  • Ice VII?! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by smithmc ( 451373 )
    But that's only two ices away from Ice-Nine!!
    • Thank you, I was afraid there would be no ice nine jokes. That's the first thing I thought of. All is right with the world.
    • Yup, that's exactly what I thought too!

    • by Memnos ( 937795 )

      Odd thing is, Ice IX has already been discovered IRL. But it doesn't have the ability to freeze the ocean. (I think it's up to about 17 ice crystalline forms so far..)

  • I don't think a water softener would remove solid rock from your water.
  • They are up to Ice VII

    I am waiting for Ice IX

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • With water available, and enough technology to reach it, maybe he can build a base on that planet.

  • Yeah Thomas Gold [wikipedia.org] would not have been surprised. But that's because physicists have first principles and draw conclusions from them and think about what is possible. "Geo"-types (and esp. Bio-types) aren't scientists in the sense that physicists are rather they are collectors continually surprised by the unexpectedness the world presents them with.

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'Informatique. -- Bosquet [on seeing the IBM 4341]

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