Land without water

1999/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia

A researcher at the Tokyo Institute of Technology says that before a million years the Earth will be a planet without water. An accepted geological model indicates that 200 km deep there is a continuous exchange between the "reservoirs" of the ocean and the interior of the earth. The exchange begins in subduction zones, where ocean plates penetrate under the continental ones.

There, due to the enormous pressure, minerals are produced that absorb the sea water. These minerals will accumulate in the interior of the earth and then be thrown from the sea volcanoes. In this way, the absorbed water returns to the sea. In this way the necessary balance is achieved at the geological level. The Japanese researcher, however, states that this balance is not real and that it is only a fifth of the water absorbed into the oceans. This means that within 750 million years the level of the oceans will decrease 600 m. This statement is yet to be demonstrated.