According to the survey data, about 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water. Although the moisture in the air is relatively small, it is also an important part of the air.
Under normal temperature, water is a colorless, tasteless and odorless liquid, which is mainly composed of hydrogen and oxygen. However, with the continuous exploration of science, human beings have discovered that there is still very “ancient” water on the earth – that is, ancient groundwater, which has caused a lot of heated discussions.
And the “Nature” magazine published another study, found another “ancient groundwater” in South Africa, more than 1 billion years ago, and found rare substances in it, which once again triggered the scientific community’s enthusiasm for the “ancient water” What the hell is going on here? We look at the formation of water sources.
Where does water on earth come from?
There are actually many theories as to where the earth’s water comes from. Anyway, each has its own theories, mainly divided into two types-the “external source theory” and the “internal source theory”.
The exogenous theory – meaning that the water of the earth is transmitted to the earth from the outside world, the main celestial bodies include comets and water-rich asteroids. When these celestial bodies hit the earth, they will deliver water to the earth.
For example, the Japanese scientific research team analyzed the samples collected by the asteroid probe “Hyabusa 2” from the asteroid “Ryugu” and found that the asteroid “Ryugu” is rich in minerals formed by reacting with water, thus It can be considered that the original celestial body that formed the “Dragon Palace” may contain a large amount of water.
At the same time, 23 amino acids were also detected in the sample of the asteroid “Ryugu”, including those closely related to life activities. Therefore, this discovery also illustrates the possibility that life on Earth may come from extraterrestrials.
However, among more scientific discoveries, it is found that the chemical composition of most cometary water does not match that of Earth’s water, so this “exogenous theory” is still controversial. Then there is what we call endogenous theory.
Endogenous theory – that is to say, there is water in the earth itself. Because from the perspective of the formation theory of the earth, the earth was originally formed by the fractionation, collapse and condensation of the original solar nebula gas and dust.After condensing, these planetesimals continue to aggregate to form planetary embryos, and then further grow to form the original Earth. Therefore, when the earth originated, the material that formed the earth contained water. Later, under the continuous evolution of the earth, the lakes, rivers, etc. of the earth were formed.
Of course, in addition to this, there are some theories that the earth itself has no water, just the abundant hydrogen in the earth’s interior, which reacted with the oxygen in the earth’s mantle over time, and finally formed water.
The “Nature” magazine once published a statement about the earth’s water, that is, through research and analysis of the earth’s inner mantle and meteorites found on the earth, it was found that water appeared on the earth much later than previously expected.
Therefore, it has the characteristics of refutation that water is the formation stage of the earth, and it is transformed from the ice layer on the surface of the meteorite. But in the final analysis, there is no certainty about how the water came to be. This time, “ancient groundwater” was discovered on the earth, and it is more inclined to support the “endogenous theory”.
Ancient groundwater found 1.2 billion years ago in South Africa
Of course, regarding the discovery of ancient groundwater, the water 1.2 billion years ago is not that long. In 2013, ancient groundwater 3 billion years ago was discovered underground in Canada.
This time it was discovered in what is known as the “Moab Khotsong” area in South Africa, located about 161 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg, in the area of one of the deepest mines in the world, at a depth of about 3 kilometers underground.
Therefore, it was not easy to discover this time, and it was hidden in such a deep underground area. And after the discovery, according to the researchers, it was an exciting discovery. This area is completely different from other areas.
This area is a mining area with different geological characteristics. And when the miners drilled the hole, the water trapped in the rock spurted out — like a balloon piercing the water — and we were able to catch it.
It can also be seen from the footage that the researchers collected it in a bottle. And this discovery could also provide new insights into the chemical interactions of surrounding rocks — for energy production and storage in the Earth’s crust.
At the same time, the researchers pointed out that the groundwater found deep underground in South African mines belonged to ancient groundwater 1.2 billion years ago, and related results were also published in the journal “Nature”. However, this water is not the point, the point is that rare energy substances have been found in it.
Rare helium energy found in ancient groundwater
Oliver Wall, a research associate from the University of Toronto’s Department of Earth Sciences and author of a new study on the groundwater discovery, described the location in a statement as “Pandora’s Helium Box” because of the rare discovery in it. energy substance.
This 1.2-billion-year-old ancient groundwater in the south is rich in high concentrations of radioactive products—elements produced by radioactivity, suggesting that ancient groundwater points could one day be an energy source, or alter the energy landscape.
After Moab Khotsong collected samples, the international team of researchers found that the water contained similar unusual characteristics. In deep environments, water is held in cracks in the rock, and over time, they interact and then decay over millions or even billions of years, producing noble gases.
At the same time, as these rare gases accumulate in the water, the researchers found high-salt components in the collected samples, and the content was about 8 times that of seawater – at the same time, a variety of rare substances were found. , contains substances such as uranium, radioactive helium, neon, argon, xenon and krypton, so this water is really extraordinary.
Hydrogen and helium are “squeezed” in water, both of which are important energy sources. According to the study, the discovery provides “never before seen” helium diffusion from the depths of the Earth, an important process to consider as we face a persistent helium shortage of energy materials, Because it could hint at subsurface energy production on other planets.
Of course, when it comes to helium, we think of helium-3 on the moon. At the popular science report held by the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology, our country pointed out the amount of helium-3 on the moon. It is estimated that there are about 1 million in the lunar soil- 5 million tons, and this substance is a safe, clean and cheap energy source for controlled nuclear fusion, which can meet the energy needs of mankind for tens of thousands of years.
So, does this mean that there are many on Earth too? Of course, it cannot be explained that, according to what we know, the earth has very little helium, and this time it has not disclosed how much water there is. If the amount of water rich in rare helium is large, it may be able to change the energy pattern.
So, this time helium was discovered in the ancient groundwater. If the amount of water is very large, can we use this water for decomposition? Here we can only say that we have found it. If such water exists in large quantities, it means that it is really possible to extract it and realize the change of the earth’s energy pattern. Therefore, we can also take a look at the subsequent relevant results.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings