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> The water discovered in the mantle is not in a form familiar to us – it is not liquid, ice, or vapor. Instead, it is trapped inside the molecular structure of

> The water discovered in the mantle is not in a form familiar to us – it is not liquid, ice, or vapor. Instead, it is trapped inside the molecular structure of the minerals in the mantle rock. IMHO this is not a productive comparison. Hydrogen and oxygen ions inside minerals in rock is far too much of a stretch of imagination to call as water. https://www.earth.com/news/ringwoodite-mineral-confirms-vast-ocean-exists-400-miles-under-earths-crust/ https://www.earth.com/news/ringwoodite-mineral-confirms-vast...

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
> Hydrogen and oxygen ions inside minerals in rock is far too much of a stretch of imagination to call as water. Agreed and to follow that thread to the end: We can't impact that water in a meaningful way. We can't pollute it in dozens of ecosystem-altering ways. We can't alter it's ability to host systems that sustain life. We can't bulk-melt the frozen part & in turn alter the salinity + elevation of a liquid part. We can't pump dry the parts that we desperately need to remain where they are.
- abduhl 2y ago
  Are you sure we can’t do any of these things, or are you just not thinking big enough? Give me a couple million dollars of VC money and I bet I could have an MVP that could conceivably accomplish at least one of these. I’d obviously need to raise another round of funds to find a market for such a product before taking the necessary steps to fit my product into that particular market (after raising more funds again, obviously). This hypothetical startup could be a net benefit to investors and shareholders by 2035, and a net detriment to all others by 2028. “Disruptive” is an understatement for what we could do for the environment and society.
  - WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
    If you had the means to reach the mantle economically, there are a lot of other uses you'd be put to first. Magma geothermal comes to mind.
umvi 2y ago
I don't think it's "hydrogen and oxygen ions"; that doesn't really meet the definition of water. I'd assume it's more like ebsom salts, where H2O is a part of the crystalline structure of the chemical compound. If you heat up epsom salts enough then the bonds are broken and steam is released.
yourapostasy 2y ago
When I see these infographics I think of non-technical audiences like policy makers and politicians consuming the same information, and I avoid making these fine distinctions. In this case, I would not mention the water in the mantle at all. In a separate, private graphic, I’d show the available water next to the number of 1 GW reactors, the pile of annual uranium mining output to feed those reactors, and annual calendars it would take to assemble all that to extract the water and dispose of the waste in a way that won’t harm our ecosystem further to express, “if you want this water in a form you colloquially understand, the species possibly can’t afford it”. In case some wise ass decides to bring up that mantle water. But that additional detail would even help technically inclined audiences reading the infographic.

WarOnPrivacy 2y ago

> Hydrogen and oxygen ions inside minerals in rock is far too much of a stretch of imagination to call as water. Agreed and to follow that thread to the end: We can't impact that water in a meaningful way. We can't pollute it in dozens of ecosystem-altering ways. We can't alter it's ability to host systems that sustain life. We can't bulk-melt the frozen part & in turn alter the salinity + elevation of a liquid part. We can't pump dry the parts that we desperately need to remain where they are.

abduhl 2y ago
Are you sure we can’t do any of these things, or are you just not thinking big enough? Give me a couple million dollars of VC money and I bet I could have an MVP that could conceivably accomplish at least one of these. I’d obviously need to raise another round of funds to find a market for such a product before taking the necessary steps to fit my product into that particular market (after raising more funds again, obviously). This hypothetical startup could be a net benefit to investors and shareholders by 2035, and a net detriment to all others by 2028. “Disruptive” is an understatement for what we could do for the environment and society.
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  If you had the means to reach the mantle economically, there are a lot of other uses you'd be put to first. Magma geothermal comes to mind.

umvi 2y ago

I don't think it's "hydrogen and oxygen ions"; that doesn't really meet the definition of water. I'd assume it's more like ebsom salts, where H2O is a part of the crystalline structure of the chemical compound. If you heat up epsom salts enough then the bonds are broken and steam is released.

yourapostasy 2y ago

When I see these infographics I think of non-technical audiences like policy makers and politicians consuming the same information, and I avoid making these fine distinctions. In this case, I would not mention the water in the mantle at all. In a separate, private graphic, I’d show the available water next to the number of 1 GW reactors, the pile of annual uranium mining output to feed those reactors, and annual calendars it would take to assemble all that to extract the water and dispose of the waste in a way that won’t harm our ecosystem further to express, “if you want this water in a form you colloquially understand, the species possibly can’t afford it”. In case some wise ass decides to bring up that mantle water. But that additional detail would even help technically inclined audiences reading the infographic.