Scientists explain the appearance of water on Earth

2018-03-29 20:56

Scientists explain the appearance of water on Earth
Water on the planet appeared almost immediately after her birth.

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Scientists said that water appeared on Earth almost immediately after her birth, even before the collision with the mysterious Theia, which contradicts ideas about the evolution of our planet. The researchers ‘ findings published in the journal Science Advances, informs news Ukr.Media.

In the study, researchers examined samples of lunar rocks, which were brought to Earth during the mission “Apollo”. Researchers were interested in how much oxygen is left in these rocks. The proportion of oxygen isotopes is a kind of “passport” for celestial bodies, which indicates where and in what conditions they were formed. Accordingly, in their relationship can understand, having those or other planets, asteroids or comets in the same point of the Solar system or in different corners.

The researchers compared the proportion of oxygen isotopes in lunar rocks, meteorites and in samples of soil extracted from the bottom of the oceans of the Earth. The researchers expected to see quite significant differences between our planet and the Moon, as its progenitor, Theia, should have been formed at a different point in the Solar system, and bring their own water supplies.

The real picture was quite different. The proportion of oxygen isotopes in terrestrial and lunar rocks were almost equal – they differ only 0,0000003%. This suggests that water was present on Earth long before the collision with Theia, and that she survived the collision and mutual destruction.”

In turn, the presence of small, but the differences in proportions of oxygen isotopes suggests that asteroids and comets really brought water to Earth, but only a small portion of their current reserves are around 5%. In other words, their supplies of water had impact on the face of the planet and the volume of its oceans, which was supposed to occur almost immediately after the birth of the Earth.