The Earth is constantly surprising us with new discoveries. Recently, scientists made the startling revelation that water is slowly seeping down from the surface, and there is a massive ocean hidden beneath the Earth’s crust.
Now, experts have uncovered an unexpected reason for the Earth’s axis shifting.
It turns out that the Earth’s tilt is changing over time, and new research suggests that groundwater extraction is playing a larger role than previously believed. While the melting of ice sheets can cause the poles to move, the depletion of groundwater due to irrigation can also have the same effect.
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Although the movement is gradual, the North Pole is slowly shifting in the direction of the UK, with the potential to alter Earth’s seasons over time.
However, the most alarming aspect of the new study published in Geophysical Research Letters is its implications for our consumption of Earth’s natural resources, particularly the use of salty water on dehydrated land.
Ki-Weon Seo of National University, a co-lead on the study, highlighted the significant impact of groundwater redistribution on the Earth’s rotational pole, stating, “Our study shows that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the largest impact on the drift of the rotational pole.”
These findings come on the heels of another discovery that water is slowly trickling down from the surface, journeying 2,900 kilometers to the core, creating a new surface between the Earth’s outer core and outer mantle over billions of years.
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