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Planets could have much more water than previously thought. And according to a new study, most of it isn’t on the surface, but hidden deep within the planets. Until now, researchers assumed that water was mainly on the surface.
“Our model results for the planet’s interior challenge the previous idea of watery worlds: most of the water balance (up to 95 percent) may be stored deep in the core and mantle rather than at the surface,” the researchers write in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy. StudyingDistant planets previously thought to be water-poor may actually be water-rich.
According to the researchers, the findings could have implications for the habitability of water-rich “super-Earths,” planets covered by a deep global ocean that are larger than Earth. “Even water-rich super-Earths may have the potential to develop Earth-like surface conditions,” they say. Previous studies have concluded that life is not possible on such planets.
According to a statement from ETH Zurich about the study, the motivation for the study was investigations into the Earth’s water content, which came to a surprising conclusion four years ago: the oceans on Earth’s surface contain only a small fraction of the total amount of water on our planet. It is possible that the contents of more than 80 of Earth’s oceans are hidden deep within the Earth.
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