Water covers around 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface, but a huge amount also lies inside our planet. Two new studies suggest that there may be vast quantities of water as far as 620 miles (1,000 kilometres) below the surface. Without this huge store of water, the geodynamic activity that causes volcanoes – which are important for generating soil and sustaining life on the planet – would cease.

In the first study, researchers from Florida State University and the University of Edinburgh estimated that water exists far deeper in the Earth than previously thought, stored in a mineral called brucite.  Although the amount of water is unknown, researchers believe it could account for as much as 1.5 per cent of the weight of the planet – the same amount of water as all the world’s oceans put together. READ MORE