Water goes through a cycle of life all its own. Not just what we all learned in elementary school with cool pictures of the mountains right next to the ocean and arrows showing how water evaporates from the surface, condenses into clouds and rains back down
No, water also sinks deep into the ground and becomes trapped there. Like Gollum’s lake, right?
Even deeper.
From Grist.Org
Maybe don’t drink this billion-year-old water
If you’ve ever wondered whether water improves with age like a fine wine, wonder no longer: The answer is “nope.” Scientists found water in Canada that had been trapped in veins of rock 1.5 miles underground for at least a billion and possibly as much as 2.64 billion years. In the name of pure research, one of the discoverers took a taste. It was gross. Mystery solved.
What jumps out at you first is the saltiness. Because of the reactions between the water and the rock, it is extremely salty. It is more viscous than tap water. It has the consistency of a very light maple syrup. It doesn’t have color when it comes out, but as soon as it comes into contact with oxygen it turns an orangy color because the minerals in it begin to form — especially the iron.
But while this does not represent a new gastronomic frontier for water, it’s still a very cool scientific discovery, especially if it turns out to contain microbial life.
Just maybe you might have wanted to do that check before you tasted it? Gollum pees in that you know…
At the very least.
Important note, when we finally travel to another potential life supporting planet; If you find something on the ground, don’t eat it, or drink it.
When we finally invent time travel, and go back a few billion years, don’t drink the water, you could wipe out all life as we know it.
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