The early Solar System, before the formation of planets, had two large gas reservoirs: one containing solar gas and the other rich in water, which is where Earth’s oceans originated.
A shocking result just published in the journal Nature Astronomy recreates an astonishing chapter of history before Earth came into existence. The study was led by Dr. Jerome Aléon from the Institute of Mining, Materials Physics, and Cosmic Chemistry at the Sorbonne University and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.
The early Solar System before planets formed – (Graphic image from ESA).
Earth is a unique planet in the Solar System, being the only one confirmed to have abundant liquid water—an essential condition for the existence of life, including us. The origin of Earth’s water has long been a topic of curiosity and debate.
According to Science Alert, this is a difficult question to answer because the process of planetary accretion often heats and compresses primordial materials into forms that “erase the source.” However, by analyzing an older meteorite than Earth, known as Efremovka, which was discovered in Kazakhstan in 1962, scientists have pinpointed the birthplace of water.
They used a focused ion beam to measure the water content and probe the minerals in this meteorite, comparing the results with eight modern water-rich materials.
The minerals and the ratios of unusual isotopes in this meteorite revealed that during the first 200,000 years of the Solar System’s history, before planets formed, there existed two large gas reservoirs.
One of these was the solar gas reservoir, which would eventually condense to form the cores of subsequent objects in the Solar System. The other contained water-rich material, originating from a massive flow of interstellar material that accidentally fell inward into the Solar System at the time the pre-stellar shell collapsed.
This second gas reservoir provided additional material and created strange worlds within the Solar System, and it seems our Earth was fortunate to receive a significant portion of water from this reservoir, which has isotopic composition matching that of Earth’s water. Therefore, it can be said that Earth’s oceans have a primordial origin as an influx of extraterrestrial material that entered the Solar System.
