Cascade Mountains of Central Oregon
A huge reservoir of water – probably the world’s largest aquifer of its kind – has been discovered deep within the volcanic rocks of the Oregon Cascades in the USA.
A study this Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) revealed the existence of a Hidden underground water reservoir buried deep in the Oregon Cascades.
Scientists have discovered that the underground aquifer contains at least 81 cubic kilometers of water below the surface of the mountain range – and may even be the largest aquifer of its kind on Earth.
“It is a continental lake stored in the rocks at the top of the mountains, like a great water tower”, praised the leader of the investigation, Leif Karlstromfrom the University of Oregon Land in .
“The fact that there are similar large volcanic aquifers north of Columbia Canyon and near Mount Shasta (in the US) probably makes the Cascade Range the largest aquifer of its kind in the world,” he explained.
As explained by , the mountain range of Cascade stretches about 700 miles from northern California to British Columbia, Canada, and was built by volcanic activity over millions of years.
In the study, researchers measured how the temperature of rocks in the mountain range varies with depth. Deeper rocks tend to be hotter because they are under greater pressure and closer to Earth’s hot interior, but the team found several areas where the temperature remained constant even as depth increased.
This means the rock was being cooled – a phenomenon the team attributes to water penetration into the rock.
“We initially set out to better understand how the Cascade landscape evolved over time and how water moves through it,” said study co-author Gordon Granta hydrologist with the U.S. Forest Service, in the same statement.
“But by doing this basic research, we discovered important things that people care about: the incredible volume of water actively stored in the Cascades and also the way in which the movement of water and the risks posed by volcanoes are linked to each other”, he added.
“This region received a geological gift“, stated Gordon Grant.
The researchers admit that the water stored in the aquifer can potentially be a valuable resource for human consumption. However, more research is needed into the impacts of drought and climate change on the reservoir to properly manage its use.
