Early Earth’s belly held onto its water

Early Earth's deep mantle rocks contained up to 100 times more water than previously thought, potentially storing an entire ocean's worth in the mineral bridgmanite during the planet's formation 4.4 billion years ago. Laboratory experiments recreating extreme mantle conditions revealed that bridgmanite's water-holding capacity increases dramatically with heat, explaining how the young planet retained water from asteroid and comet bombardment rather than losing it to space.