![]() ![]() At the time, it was debated whether these were isolated pockets of water or a larger continuous body. The first clues that an aquifer rests in this area came in the 1970s when wells drilled off the coastline in search of oil sometimes hit fresh water. “It could turn out to be an important resource in other parts of the world.” “We knew there was fresh water down there in isolated places, but we did not know the extent or geometry,” said lead author Chloe Gustafson, a Ph D candidate at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. The aquifer stretches at least from the shore of Massachusetts to New Jersey, extending more or less continuously out about 50 miles to the edge of the continental shelf, a new study reports. The aquifer is contained by the sediments of the seafloor and seems to be the largest of its kind (freshwater aquifer underneath a body of saltwater) that we’ve found so far. Image credits Chloe Gustafson, Kerry Key, Rob L. Yellow crosses and the yellow dashed line show the inferred spatial extent of the low-salinity aquifer system. A gigantic, relatively-fresh-water aquifer has been discovered just off the U.S. ![]()
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