The Earth has more water in its interior than all its oceans, this according to a team of researchers who have been analyzing the mineral content in a specific diamond.

This particular diamond was found in Brazil and contains a mineral called ringwoodite, which probably only exists in a layer 410 to 660 kilometers below the surface, quite deep into the Earth’s interior.

The analysis shows that the mineral contains 1% water, which certainly doesn’t sound like a lot, but then reflect upon that the entire Earth layer almost exclusively contains ringwoodite.

So in total, this adds up to a lot of water, even more water than the amount on the surface of the Earth according to the researchers.

Joseph Smyth at the University of Colorado told the BBC, “I think it’s stunning! It implies that the interior may store several times the amount of water in the oceans. It tells us that hydrogen is an essential ingredient in the Earth and not added late from comets.”

He adds, “This discovery implies that hydrogen may control the interior processes of the Earth just as it controls the surface processes, and that water planets, like Earth, may be common in our galaxy.”

The study was conducted by a research team at the Canadian University of Alberta and has been published in the journal Nature, see Hydrous mantle transition zone indicated by ringwoodite included within diamond study below.

Apart from the Earth’s mantle, natural ringwoodite has been found in many meteorites and is believed to exist deep into the planet Mars as well.

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Hydrous mantle transition zone indicated by ringwoodite included within diamond

Rare mineral points to vast ‘oceans’ beneath the Earth
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