Why is this really important research?

Information gained during the research sheds light on water circulation processes on Earth and how the oceans and aquatic environments have developed and changed. In addition, this research will help to understand the processes of formation and evolution of the oceans during the last 4.5 billion years, that is, throughout the entire age of the Earth.

In this study, we showed that the transition zone is not a dry sponge, but contains a significant amount of water. It also brings us one step closer to Jules Verne’s idea of ​​an ocean inside the Earth.
– said Frank Brenker, a researcher at the Goethe University Institute of Earth Sciences in Frankfurt

While this vast reservoir is most likely a dark suspension of sediment and hydrated rock under constant pressure, its volume overall can be extraordinary.

According to Branker, this sediment can hold large amounts of water and CO2. But until now, it has been unclear exactly how much of it enters the transition zone in the form of more stable, water-based minerals and carbonates, so it’s unclear whether a lot of water is actually stored there.

In fact, the transition zone alone could contain six times more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined, according to the statement.

How does it help to understand what is happening in a diamond transition zone?

The diamond the team analyzed comes from a region in the Earth’s mantle where ringwoodite, a mineral that forms only at high pressure and temperature levels in the Earth’s mantle, is most abundant but can hold water quite well. The researchers’ evidence was that the stone under study contained ringwoodite, and therefore water.

Scientists previously suspected Earth’s transition zone contained too much water after analyzing a similar diamond in 2014, but recent research is building confidence and provoking more careful observations in that direction.

In addition, the presence of ringwoodite in a single diamond found in a particular region may indicate that this particular region may be surrounded by an aqueous environment. The presence of a similar diamond found elsewhere supports the idea that the transition zone may indeed contain significant amounts of water.