When you look out at the ocean, it’s difficult to imagine the swaying body of water being any other way. But, says a team of researchers, some of the H2O that covers much of our planet’s surface was once something very different: A stream of hydrogen traveling through the galaxy. Only on Earth did this hydrogen mix with oxygen to create the watery world we know today.
There are a number of theories surrounding the formation of Earth’s global ocean. Comets, which hold a lot of ice, could have supplied some of our planet’s water; asteroids, though they hold less water, could have added to Earth’s supply as well. “But there’s another way to think about sources of water in the solar system’s formative days,” Steven Desch, a scientist on this team and professor of astrophysics in Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE), said in ...
