14 DAY TRIAL // Until recently, it was believed that rainwater falling on the surface of the Earth could only go as far as our planet's brittle-ductile transition zone, i.e. the strongest part of the crust, when working its way in the underground.
However, new evidence obtained by a team of researchers led by Dr. Catriona Menzies with the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom indicates rainwater is well capable of penetrating the ductile crust.
This is despite the fact that temperatures in this layer of our planet can reach an impressive 300 degrees Celsius (572 degree Fahrenheit), and local pressures are so elevated that, instead of fracturing, rocks deform by flexing.
Dr. Catriona Menzies and fellow researchers suspect that, given its ability to penetrate the ductile crust, which, in the case of continents, is located at depths of 13 – 18 kilometers (about 8 – 11 miles), rainwater influences earthquake occurrences.
What's more, the scientists believe that it plays a major role in the emergence of mineral deposits by toying with the way in which various compounds move and come together in the underground, the Alpha Galileo Foundation informs.
Hoping to gain a better understanding of how rainwater influences natural processes deep in our planet's entrails, Dr. Catriona Menzies and her team are now getting ready to take part in the international Deep Fault Drilling Project.
As part of this research project, a hole is to be dug in the Alpine Fault at a depth of about 1 kilometer (roughly 0.6 miles) sometime later this year. The University of Southampton specialist expects data obtained in this manner will help the team determine the impact of rainwater on earthquake cycles.