LURKING BENEATH THE U.S.: According to Forbes, scientists have discovered a “massive lake” of molten carbon the size of Mexico beneath the western U.S. But it’s 217 miles below the surface, or thereabouts.

The carbon sits 217 miles beneath the surface of the Earth in the upper mantle and has no immediate pathway to the surface. In total the lake covers approximately 700,000 square miles, approximately the size of Mexico. This has redefined how much carbon scientists believe sits locked away in the Earth’s mantle and its interaction with surface and atmospheric carbon.