Scientists Find One-billion-year-old Water That's 'Saltier Than Seawater'

Pockets of water that had been sitting 2.4 kilometres underneath the Earth's surface for more than a billion years was found by University of Toronto scientists. Earth sciences professor Barbara Sherwood, who admitted that she had tasted it from time to time, revealed that the water has the consistency of maple syrup and is much saltier than seawater, News.com.au reported.

She told the LA Times that it tastes terrible and is much saltier than seawater.

The water is transparent when it first comes out from the rocks it has been trapped between but quickly turns an orange colour as the minerals within it, such as iron, begin to form.

The rocks the water is trapped in formed about 2.6 billion years ago on what used to be an ancient ocean floor. The scientists suspect that the trapped water could be remnant ocean water, which got stuck as it moved through the cracks in the rock.

The results of this discovery were published in scientific journal Nature last month.

Source-ANI