--- title: Underground Ocean Could Explain Origin of Earth's Seas description: Scientists say water from the ocean, inside a rock called ringwoodite near earth's core, could have oozed to the surface to form our seas canonical: https://time.com/2868283/subterranean-ocean-reservoir-core-ringwoodite/ author: Melissa Hellmann article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-13T06:42:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:24:02.293Z article:section: Science og:title: Underground Ocean Could Explain Origin of Earth's Seas og:description: Scientists say water from the ocean, inside a rock called ringwoodite near earth's core, could have oozed to the surface to form our seas og:url: https://time.com/2868283/subterranean-ocean-reservoir-core-ringwoodite/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1038cde4410fb4d/69869776e53abaf7944d324e/166260923.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5200 og:image:height: 2925 og:image:alt: 166260923 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Underground Ocean Could Explain Origin of Earth's Seas twitter:description: Scientists say water from the ocean, inside a rock called ringwoodite near earth's core, could have oozed to the surface to form our seas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1038cde4410fb4d/69869776e53abaf7944d324e/166260923.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # There's a Huge Underground Ocean That Could Explain the Origin of Seas > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Melissa Hellmann](https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Jun 13, 2014 6:42 AM UTC  Crashing wave viewed underwater Crashing wave viewed underwater Getty Images by [Melissa Hellmann](https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Jun 13, 2014 6:42 AM UTC Geologists have long [mused](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25723-massive-ocean-discovered-towards-earths-core.html?utm%5Fsource=NSNS&utm%5Fmedium=SOC&utm%5Fcampaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%7CNSNS%7C2013-GLOBAL-hoot#.U5psjMb898J) about the origin of earth’s seas. Did water, for example, arrive from somewhere else — like on [icy comets](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327195.200-comets-wreaked-icy-devastation-on-young-earth.html) that struck the planet? Or did water come from somewhere within? The recent discovery of a subterranean sea, deep inside earth, has scientists excited about the latter possibility. Like something out of early 19th century playwright Jules Verne’s novel, _Journey to the Center of the Earth —_ in which characters stumble across a massive underground basin — a team of geologists led by Steven Jacobsen from Northwestern University have found a vast body of water, three times the size of any ocean, located near earth’s core. It’s possible that water from this enormous reservoir oozed to the surface. “It’s good evidence earth’s water came from within,” Jacobsen told _NewScientist._ Jacobsen and his team used seismometers in their find, studying the speed of seismic waves to determine what lies beneath the surface. The waves slowed down upon reaching a layer of blue rock called ringwoodite, indicating that they were passing through water as well as rock. The depth of the phenomenon — 700 km below the mantle, which is the layer of hot rock underneath the surface — is also the perfect temperature and pressure for water to ooze out of the ringwoodite “almost as if it’s sweating,” Jacobsen says. The discovery has only revealed ringwoodite beneath the continental U.S. however, so further experiments will need to be conducted to determine where else on the planet it can be found. \[[_NewScientist_](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25723-massive-ocean-discovered-towards-earths-core.html?utm%5Fsource=NSNS&utm%5Fmedium=SOC&utm%5Fcampaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%7CNSNS%7C2013-GLOBAL-hoot#.U5psjMb898J)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2868283/subterranean-ocean-reservoir-core-ringwoodite/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2868283/subterranean-ocean-reservoir-core-ringwoodite/"},"headline":"There's a Huge Underground Ocean That Could Explain the Origin of Seas","datePublished":"2014-06-13T06:42:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:24:02.293Z","description":"Geologists have found a vast body of water deep below earth's surface and say it is evidence that oceans came from water inside the planet that seeped to the surface","url":"https://time.com/2868283/subterranean-ocean-reservoir-core-ringwoodite/","keywords":["Environment","Water","geology","Science topic","earth","Ocean"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1038cde4410fb4d/69869776e53abaf7944d324e/166260923.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Hellmann","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1038cde4410fb4d/69869776e53abaf7944d324e/166260923.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"166260923","caption":"166260923","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2868283/subterranean-ocean-reservoir-core-ringwoodite/","name":"There's a Huge Underground Ocean That Could Explain the Origin of Seas"}}]}] ```