A huge lake of molten carbon under the United States
Researchers have discovered a huge Mexico-sized lake of molten carbon under the western part of the United States, which could radically change the view on the global carbon cycle and identify new high risks.
This huge reservoir of molten carbon (essentially carbonate) could completely and instantly alter the global climate for more than a decade if launched into the atmosphere, but fortunately, the risk is limited to that in the near future, because it lies at a depth of 349 km underground in the mantle Upper, and has no immediate path towards the surface.
In total, the molten carbon lake covers about 1.8 million square kilometers, roughly the size of the state of Mexico, which redefines the amount of carbon that scientists believe is trapped away in the Earth's sieve and its interaction with surface and carbon in the atmosphere.
Geologists from the University of London Royal Holloway used the world's largest set of seismic sensors to detect this carbonated lake. In total, 538 sensors were used to create a three-dimensional view of sub-surface areas.
This is done by measuring the time it takes for sound waves to travel underground and then recoil. Based on the underground rock structure, sound waves bounce back at different times and at multiple angles. Complex algorithms combine data to detect a sub-surface image. Scientists are constrained to view the molten lake using seismic images because they lie far from being accessed by drilling machines.
The presence of this melted lake is due to the decline of the Pacific plate below the plate of North America, and with the dive of the plate of the Pacific, it faces pressures and temperatures are increasingly high, and the meeting with the presence of gases such as carbon dioxide and water reserved in the rocks, it allows partial melting of the plate.
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