NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — Researchers have discovered a giant reservoir of water hiding under the Pacific Ocean. The discovery could provide answers to a long-awaited question about the “slow motion” earthquakes plaguing New Zealand’s east coast.
The study, published in the journal Science Advances, allows for a deeper understanding of the nature of planetary processes.
The Hikurangi Subduction Zone in New Zealand, where the Pacific tectonic plate descends beneath the Australian tectonic plate, has been known for the resulting “slow slip” earthquakes. But only now has a team of researchers come to the conclusion that water plays a key role in this mysterious geological paradigm.
One of the exploration teams used seismic images to discover a massive underwater reservoir wedged in the rocks. Images of the area also showed that thick, layered sediments surrounded ancient volcanoes.
After analyzing core samples of the volcanic rock, the researchers found that almost half of its volume consisted of water. This phenomenon was of particular interest because normal oceanic crust, which is about 7 or 10 million years old, does not contain significant amounts of water.
Researchers believe that water pressure plays a crucial role in slow earthquakes. These events typically occur where water-rich sediments are buried by a fault during plate subduction. In this case, eroded, porous volcanic rock, saturated with water, was buried by a fault before becoming clay.
The director of the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Texas, Demian Saffer, said that this discovery is a striking example of the relationship between fluids and the nature of the movement of tectonic faults, as well as their influence on earthquakes. This confirms long-awaited theoretical assumptions and computer models, and may lead to new methods for predicting and monitoring earthquakes.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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