Scientific theories are so often repeated that we sometimes forget that they are only "theories" and not facts. Most people remember the classic diagram from high school textbooks when they mention the "center of the earth". The sectioned Earth depicted on it consists of layers, like an onion: the upper mantle, the lower mantle, the outer core and the inner core.
Many people take this picture for an indisputable fact. But humanity has penetrated only 12 km into the earth, and the Earth's core is located at a depth of about 6400 km. We have filled 6388 km with theories.
Of course, these theories have a foundation. They are based on the geological phenomena that we observe. But a discovery made in 2014 suggests that our Earth is not what it seems.
Professor Graham Pearson of the University of Alberta with a group of scientists studied the diamond, which led to an invaluable discovery. The diamond was purchased for just $ 20 from miners in Mata Grosso, Brazil, in 2008. Inside the brown diamond, they accidentally discovered ringwoodite while looking for another mineral.
Ringwoodite is found in meteorites. This is the first time he was found on Earth. These samples of rhinwoodite were unique: they contained water, although they formed at a depth of 400-560 km in the so-called "transition zone" between the upper and lower mantle.
This suggests that there is an ocean inside the Earth, the volume of water in which can be compared with all the terrestrial oceans in the world, Pearson said in a press release from the University of Alberta.
Graham Pearson holds a diamond that contains the first ringwoodite found on Earth.
Photo: Richard Siemens / University of Alberta
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Ringwoodite diamond
Photo: Courtesy of the University of Alberta
If a diamond is formed deep inside, then there is an ocean. So far, this is just a hypothesis, but the find with ringwoodite is an important step towards understanding the inner part of the Earth.
The vast ocean can affect plate tectonics, volcanic formation, crustal shifts, and virtually all geological processes.
Pearson's discovery was published in the journal Nature in March 2014. This is reminiscent of the plot of the classic science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. The brave scientist finds a passage to the center of the Earth and there he discovers the ocean, land and intelligent beings. The hollow earth hypothesis was popular in the 19th century; many believe that it still has a right to exist today.