A recent scientific study from Massachusetts' Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on the planet's water origin found that the oceans have always been present and weren't formed in a late process as previously imagined.
The co-author of the research and the geologists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hold, Massachusetts said that many scientists argued that any water present on Earth at its molten beginning "would have evaporated or been blown off into space." The popular theory about the origin of earth's ocean is that it arrived later by means of collisions with water-laden comets and asteroids, explained in their statement.
Recent study also found evidence that runs counter to the idea that Earth's surface water came hundreds of millions of years later.
The researchers looked at the most ancient known meteorites, called carbonaceous chondrites. These space bodies were formed in the same environment in which the sun was born, about 4.6 billion years ago.
Co-author Sune Nielsen, also at Woods Hole, said, "These primitive meteorites resemble the bulk solar system composition. They have quite a lot of water in them, and have been thought of before as candidates for the origin of Earth's water."
Measurements show that meteorites from Vesta have the same chemical makeup as the carbonaceous chondrites and rocks found here on Earth. According to the scientists, the findings demonstrate that carbonaceous chondrites are likely responsible for most of the planet's water.
"The study shows that Earth's water most likely accreted at the same time as the rock," Marschall said. "The planet formed as a wet planet with water on the surface."
"Knowing that water came early to the inner solar system also means that the other inner planets could have been wet early and evolved life before they became the harsh environments they are today," said Nielsen.
The study gives a new perspective, a reorientation on the first signs of water on Earth as well as first appearance of life.
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