China's Biggest Desert Hides A Massive Ocean Underneath

China's biggest desert conceals a large ocean thousands of meters underneath, a new study claims.

Tarim region is one of the driest places on Earth and is home to the Taklimakan, China's biggest desert. A research team led by Li Yan at Chinese Academy of Sciences' Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography found existence of salty water deep underground, through carbon dioxide that was mysteriously disappearing in the region, reports South China Morning Post.

"We discovered a potentially large carbon sink in the most unlikely place on earth, irrigated saline/alkaline arid land. When cultivating and irrigating arid/saline lands in arid zones, salts are leached downward. Simultaneously, dissolved inorganic carbon is washed down into the huge saline aquifers underneath vast deserts, forming a large carbon sink or pool," the study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, states.

Yan's team estimated the amount of water underground by measuring carbon dioxide obtained from deep Earth samples and comparing it with carbon dioxide in melt water. The amount of water trapped under Tarim could be more than all the water in the five Great Lakes of North America, according to the estimates.

The study is expected to raise questions about existence of large water bodies buried underneath other large deserts across the world. If such water bodies exist, they could account for a large amount of unaccounted carbon. It also remains to be seen if water under such regions can be used. Accessing the salty water could lead to release of trapped carbon and fuel warming.