The Origin of Water on Earth
FollowThe reason that there is clearly more water on the Earth than on the other planets of the Solar System has not been clarified. There are few theories on how the world’s oceans were formed over the past 4.6 billion years.
Some of the most likely contributory factors to the origin of the Earth’s oceans are as follows:
(1) The cooling down of the primordial world to the point where the outgassed volatile components were held in an atmosphere,
(2) Comets, trans-Neptunian objects or water-rich meteoroids,
(3) Measurements of the ratio of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and protium point to asteroids,
(4) Biochemically, during the Great Oxygenation Event, via redox reactions and photosynthesis,
(5) Gradual leakage of water stored in hydrous minerals,
(6) Photolysis: radiation can break down chemical bonds on the surface,
(7) Planetesimals heated by the decay of aluminum.
The reasons why we have water on Earth are presented in the following video material.