Indian, Japanese scientists discover 600-million-year-old ocean water in the Himalayas

In a significant discovery, Indian and Japanese academics, scientists, and researchers have found out about the presence of marine rocks and water droplets in the Himalayas, which indicate the existence of great ocean millions of years ago in the history of the Earth

As per a release on July 27, 2023, researchers, and scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (India) and Niigata University (Japan) have jointly found and discovered droplets of water trapped in mineral deposits that were likely left behind from an ancient ocean that existed 600 million years ago.

The Discovery

According to Sajeev Krishnan, the professor at the Center of Earth Sciences and a corresponding author of the study mentioned that “The joint research team from the IISc and Niigata University have been working on a study on the tectonic evolution of the Himalayan and Nagaland Belt for the last five years.” The team included three researchers from IISC, including Sanjeev and two students and a professor and student from Japan

During this study, the team made the discovery and gained knowledge about these rocks. So far, scientists have not fully understood how these events were connected due to the lack of well-preserved fossils and the disappearance of all past oceans that existed in the earth’s history. The exposure of marine rocks in the Himalayas can provide some answers.

The team hunted for these deposits across a long stretch of the Western Kumaon Himalayas extending from Amritpur to Milam Glacier and Dehradun to Gangotri Glacier and found the droplets of water in the rocks.

After analyzing these water droplets through extensive laboratory analysis, it was revealed that the deposits are a product of precipitation from ancient ocean water and not from other places such as the Earth’s interior (Volcanic activity). These deposits contained calcium and magnesium carbonates as well.