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Geology

Earth's deep water reservoir

Nature volume 507, pages 174–175 (2014)Cite this article

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A tiny sample of a mineral included in a diamond confirms predictions from high-pressure laboratory experiments that a water reservoir comparable in size to all the oceans combined is hidden deep in Earth's mantle. See Letter p.221

How well do we know what lies deep inside Earth, more than 500 kilometres below our feet? Surprisingly well, according to a paper by Pearson et al.1 on page 221 of this issue. The authors describe the first sample of an unusual mineral from Earth's mantle transition zone, which is located between depths of 410 and 660 km. Their study suggests that the sample is rich in water, supporting the hypothesis that the transition zone is a hydrous region.

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Figure 1: A view of the deep Earth.

British Library/Robana via Getty

Figure 2: A diamond with a ringwoodite inclusion.

Richard Siemens/Univ. Alberta

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  1. Hans Keppler is at Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.,

    Hans Keppler

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  1. Hans Keppler
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Correspondence to Hans Keppler.

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Keppler, H. Earth's deep water reservoir. Nature 507, 174–175 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/507174a

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