Massive underwater rivers were discovered off the coast of Australia

[Judi Lynn]

4. More recently: A Massive Freshwater Sea Is Buried Beneath the Atlantic Ocean

By Laura Geggel June 24, 2019



Freshwater aquifer
The yellow hatched area shows where the giant aquifer is hiding under the Atlantic Ocean.
(Image: © Gustafson et al., 2019; CC BY 4.0)

A gigantic freshwater aquifer is hiding under the salty Atlantic Ocean, just off the northeastern coast of the United States, a new study finds.

While the aquifer's exact size is still a mystery, it may be the largest of its kind, taking up a region stretching from at least Massachusetts to southern New Jersey, or nearly 220 miles (350 kilometers). The area includes the coastlines of New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. This aquifer may contain about 670 cubic miles (2,800 cubic kilometers) of slightly salty water (we'll explain its slight saltiness later).

This water isn't young, either. The researchers said they suspect that much of it is from the last ice age. [Photos: Artistic Views of Earth from Above]

Scientists got the first hints that an aquifer was hanging out under the ocean in the 1970s, when companies drilling off the coast for oil sometimes hit freshwater instead. But it wasn't clear whether these freshwater water deposits were isolated pockets or whether they covered a larger expanse.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/65779-giant-freshwater-aquifer-east-coast.html