An international team of marine geologists has found evidence of an underground freshwater body 800m below sea level near the Lofoten Islands, off the northern coast of Norway.
This groundwater is meteoric water , which is derived from rain and snow.
The appearance of freshwater areas under the ocean is not too rare. A huge freshwater sea off the US coast was also discovered not far away.
Dr Wei-Li Hong, a researcher at the Norwegian Geological Survey, said his team had found fresh water leaking from the seabed .
Freshwater leaking from the seabed in Norway is believed to be from a huge body of confinement water.
Nordland fishermen also told scientists they found fresh water in the sea, so pure that it could be used to make coffee. This freshwater stream appears several kilometers from the shore.
Dr Hong and colleagues used a remote-controlled vehicle to collect water during an expedition in 2017.
This mid-sea freshwater leak may originate from a large aquifer hidden under the seafloor sediments.
This phenomenon can be traced back to the last Ice Age , when thick ice sheets that enveloped Norway were pushed down into the Earth’s crust. With extreme pressure, a large amount of melted water leaked through cracks in the seabed.
This is a geological process that started millions of years ago when the water was trapped under the sediment and only now has it escaped from its confinement.
The findings suggest there may be other such aquifers in other parts of the world.
Dr Knies said such large pockets of freshwater could be a potential resource in areas without drinking water on land.