Scientists Just Discovered a Vast Ocean Trapped 700 Km Beneath Earth’s Surface
17th May 2026
Scientists have found a massive reservoir of water buried about 700 kilometers below Earth’s surface, and it could hold three times as much water as all the oceans combined. This hidden ocean is trapped inside deep mantle rock and cannot be directly accessed or seen.
The discovery suggests that a lot of Earth’s water may have come from inside the planet itself, not just from comets or asteroids crashing into the early Earth. It could also explain why ocean levels have stayed relatively stable over hundreds of millions of years, even with continents drifting and climates changing.
Learning how water behaves deep in the mantle helps scientists understand Earth’s geology and how the oceans we know today have lasted so long.