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Thursday, March 01, 2007

The Underground Seas

A huge new underground ocean has been discovered (hat tip: Very Spatial), but it is actually more of an aquifer than ocean. The ocean lies about 400 to 800 miles below the surface of eastern Asia. While it is located well into the mantle, the ocean does play a moderating effect on some of the seismic activity in the area.

While some think of underground seas when considering the moon's of Jupiter there are many on earth. It has been estimated that there are over 145 lakes underneath Antarctica's snows. America has The Lost Sea which is a 13 acre cave system completely filled with water.

The idea of an underground body of water is not new. Many ancient mythologies like Egyptians and Greeks had seas and rivers below the surface. Even the drugged out Samuel Coleridge dreamt of a sunless sea in his "Kubla Khan" poem. However, one must remember the "ocean" is really just wet rocks before one makes plan to buy a submarine.

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