Billion year old water found in Canadian Mine

A group of scientists from the UK and Canada have discovered ancient pockets of water, which have been trapped underground for billions of years. The water could be some of the oldest on the planet and may even contain some sort of life forms. It is hoped too that there could be some comparisons with the possibility of water on Mars.

 

Researchers from the universities of Manchester, Lancaster, Toronto and McMaster analysed water that was pouring out of boreholes from a mine 2.4 kilometres in depth beneath Ontario, Canada.

 

The crystalline rocks in which the water reside are some of the oldest on the planet at around 2.7 billion years old. But it was only recently that the water was suspected to be of a similar age.

 

Ground-breaking techniques developed at the University of Manchester are being used by the researchers to show that the fluid is at least 1.5 billion years old!!!