EDMONTON – Jules Verne may have been right.
University of Alberta scientists have found the first direct evidence that there are vast amounts of water deep within the Earth.
It’s not like the underground oceans the science-fiction writer imagined in his novel “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” in 1864.
But geologist Graham Pearson says this water is still likely to have a big influence on the formation of volcanoes and the movement of the planet’s surface.
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Pearson found the water locked inside a mineral found only under unimaginable heat and pressure 500 kilometres underground.
A tiny fragment of that mineral, called ringwoodite, turned up in a diamond from Brazil.
It’s the first time the mineral has ever been found on the surface, but it’s one of the most common materials in the Earth’s mantle.
Pearson says finding the water within the ringwoodite backs up a long-held theory that water is abundant deep within the planet.
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