MSN- 01.15.2025 | A hidden reservoir of groundwater more than twice the size of Lake Mead is buried inside the Oregon Cascades, a new study reports.

Scientists found that the underground aquifer holds at least 19.4 cubic miles (81 cubic kilometers) of water below the surface of the mountain range. The finding could impact both water use and scientists’ understanding of volcanic processes in the region.

“It is a continental-size lake stored in the rocks at the top of the mountains, like a big water tower,” study co-author Leif Karlstrom, an Earth scientist at the University of Oregon, said in a statement. “That there are similar large volcanic aquifers north of the Columbia Gorge and near Mount Shasta likely make the Cascade Range the largest aquifer of its kind in the world.”