They found the oldest water in the world and it’s 2 billion years old

A group of researchers Canadians found the oldest water in the world, at least 2 billion years, at an underground pool of the mine Kidd Creek, at Ontario. In 2013, scientists had found water that dates back to about 1.5 billion, but this new discovery marks a record.

The team of University of Toronto, who was in charge of the expedition, explained that the initial discovery eight years ago took place at a depth of about 2.4 kilometers in an underground mine tunnel.

The new source, on the other hand, was found at 3.1 kilometers in the metal mine deepest in the world, as shown by the research results, published in the journal Scientific alert.

The world’s oldest water has a high salt content that makes it 10 times saltier than seawater. So salty is the geologist Barbara sherwood lollar, of the University of Toronto, explains that they “pointed their noses” at the cracks and fractures through which water drains, guided by the smell.

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“The 2013 find really put our understanding back how old could the flowing water be and so really got us exploring more, ”Lollar told the BBC in 2016.

The discovery of the oldest water on Earth is not only a milestone in itself, but this evidence is invaluable material for scientists to understand the evolution of life and can study the microbial life at such a depth, never before found on a continent.

“When people think of this water, they assume it must be a small quantity of water trapped inside the rock. These things flow to speeds of liters per minute; the volume of water is much larger than expected, ”said the geologist.

Groundwater generally flows extremely slowly compared to surface water, up to 1 meter per year. But when drilling with wells drilled in the mine, it can sink at about 2 liters per minute.

When the dissolved gas in such water, including helium, neon, argon, and xenon, researchers were able to date it to at least 2 billion years ago, making it oldest water known on Earth, explains Science Alert.