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Geologists are hailing the fact that an underground ocean could be the source of our seas on the planet's surface, according to Time.
Researchers from Northwestern University have determined that underneath the continental U.S., near the core of the earth, lies an underground body of water three times larger than any ocean on the surface.
The subterranean ocean's existence was presumed when the researchers' seismic waves slowed near a layer of blue rock, called ringwoodite, indicating the presence of water.
"It's good evidence earth's water came from within," lead researcher Steven Jacobsen told NewScientist.
Creation scientists have long held that much of the water in the Noah's Flood came from the "fountains of the deep" referenced in Genesis 7:11 and 8:2.
Today, it is thought that much of that water remained on our planet's surface, eventually covering ancient land bridges that allowed humans and animal to migrate across continents. Today, Earth's surface is 71 percent underwater.
Mid-ocean ridges, which span the Earth's seas like the seam of a baseball, may be the remnants of this explosive water release from below, some creationists hold.
That same catastrophe in the book of Genesis is believed to best account for Earth's plate tectonics.
The researchers are still unsure whether similar subterranean water exists elsewhere within the planet.