quote:
The article states that there is a vast store of water in the mantle transition zone, which is between 240-400 miles deep; 160 miles thick. The deepest part of any ocean is roughly 7 miles...so even if the mantle transition layer contains only 15-20% water (which seems conservative given the "vast store" estimate) that has to be significantly greater than the volume of the oceans, even with the smaller circumference.

Even with a much lower percentage than 15-20%, if it's anything close to all the water in our oceans, it would still be a "vast store".

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Posted by PikeBishop

Bristol, TN

Member since Feb 2014

975 posts

Posted on 3/14/14 at 5:08 pm to pvilleguru

Speaking of water discovery, what I want to know is where is all the water that used to flow on Mars? All those river beds, but no sign of alot of water.

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Posted by Kentucker

Cincinnati, KY

Member since Apr 2013

19351 posts

Posted on 3/14/14 at 8:34 pm to PikeBishop

quote:
Speaking of water discovery, what I want to know is where is all the water that used to flow on Mars? All those river beds, but no sign of alot of wa

Most of it was lost to space. Because of Mars low gravity, the solar wind has been able to blow away most of the planet's atmosphere.

Also, Mars has cooled off dramatically over time. A lot of its water is locked up at the north pole and as permafrost all over the planet, similar to earth's tundra regions.

This post was edited on 3/14/14 at 8:35 pm

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