05/12/2022
Have you ever wondered where all of the water that formed our oceans came from? Or how old the ocean is? Oceanographers do their best to answer questions like these. Below is the general consensus amongst them.
As of this writing, it is agreed by most scientists that the molten hot early Earth first began to cool roughly 4.6 billion years ago (this is the accepted age of the Earth). All water on Earth around this period was in a gaseous form because the temperature was well above the boiling point of water (212°F or 100°C). Eventually, however, roughly 3.8-4 billion years ago, Earth cooled below the boiling point of water. This caused all of the gaseous water in the atmosphere to condense and it began to rain for centuries. As the water drained into the great hollows of the Earth's surface, the ocean came into existence. In the millions and millions of years that followed, volcanic 'degassing' continuously contributed to the accumulation of water v***r that eventually condensed to rain and helped form the ocean.
Where did the water come from in the first place? Most scientists agree it's probably a mixture of these 3 things:
1). Volcanic degassing
2). Water-rich meteorites
3). Icy comets
