How much water is stored in Earth's mantle and core? · revision history
Revision 2
Accepted · core change · record
Changes against revision 1:
- Title
- How much water is stored in Earth's mantle and core?
- Plain
- The oceans hold only part of Earth's water; more is locked in minerals deep inside, and hydrogen may also be dissolved in the iron core. Estimates of the hidden amount vary from less than one ocean to many.
- Precise · changed · core
- Revision 1: Determine the bulk-Earth hydrogen inventory expressed in ocean masses (1 ocean is about $1.4e24\,\mathrm{g}$ of water), split among oceans, mantle and core. Mantle estimates range from below one to a few oceans and core estimates up to tens of oceans equivalent depending on metal-silicate partitioning. An answer is each reservoir's content with uncertainty below a factor of two.
- Revision 2: Determine the bulk-Earth hydrogen inventory expressed in ocean masses (1 ocean is about $1.4 \times 10^{24}\,\mathrm{g}$ of water), split among oceans, mantle and core. Mantle estimates range from below one to a few oceans and core estimates up to tens of oceans equivalent depending on metal-silicate partitioning. An answer is each reservoir's content with uncertainty below a factor of two.
- Settled by
- Experimental hydrogen partitioning at core-formation conditions plus mantle water mapping from electrical conductivity and seismic attenuation.
- Kind
- well-posed
- Answer type
- value
- References
- (empty)
- Literature status
- open
- Status note
- (empty)
- Posed since
- (empty)
Decisions
- Accept · 2026-10-15 · record