There’s a 15,000-square-mile freshwater lake in the middle of the ocean. If confirmed, the discovery could reveal freshwater resources for the driest areas of the planet.
FRESH WATER IN THE OCEAN: Could it save the planet?
# From New England to New Jersey: the world’s largest freshwater aquifer
Thanks to underwater detection techniques, some researchers at Columbia University in New York described the size of a freshwater aquifer lying and trapped under the Atlantic Ocean. The current extension of the aquifer covers the area from Marta’s Vineyad Island in Massachusetts to New Jersey. The “deposit” is trapped in porous sediments under the ocean, but if it were on the surface, it would create a lake of over 15,000 square miles. If the researchers’ hypothesis will be confirmed, which is that the aquifer extends from north to south for a few more miles, it would reveal the largest water source in the world. Just consider that the largest source, the underground aquifer of Ogallala, provides with water 8 states, from South Dakota to Texas.
# It’s a technique derived from the oil drilling
The first evidence of this aquifer dates back to the early 1970s, when oil companies drilled this part of ocean looking for oil. The Columbia researchers, led by Chloe Gustafson, returned to confirm their presence and define their boundaries. On board of the research-ship Lamont-Doherty Marcus G. Langseth, they have developed a measurement technique, based on the different conductance that fresh and salt water present compared to electromagnetic waves.
Then they run two different types of measurements: they dropped sensors on the bottom, detecting, by doing this, the underwater electromagnetic fields, and also measuring resonances thanks to natural perturbations, such as lightning or solar winds.
They also used equipment dragged by the ship that, by releasing electromagnetic impulses, recorded the reactions of the seabed.
Both methods revealed the boundaries of the freshwater deposits, which have not spread out as assumed, but compacted more or less continuously.
# The 15,000-year-old water that could save the planet
According to geologists, this huge freshwater aquifer may have formed between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago, during the melting of the ice sheet of the ice age. The continental land that emerged was more extensive, but with the rise of the Atlantic, this aquifer was swallowed up in the continental shelf, covered by the ocean saltwater.
Researchers are convinced that such a phenomena have occurred off all the coasts of the planet.
Chloe Gustafson and the Columbia team are convinced that this is real resource. They hope they will be able to expand their investigations and develop techniques to detect these aquifers, resulting in fresh water extraction, to serve arid areas such as Southern California, Australia, Saharan Africa or the Middle East.
LAURA MALTAGLIARI
(Original article by Laura Lionti )
