The ocean has been around for many billions of years. – Our first ocean took millions of years to mature into its present state. Before the temperature on Earth fell below 212 degrees Fahrenheit, water existed in the form of a gas. Around 3.8 billion years ago, the water in the atmosphere condensed into rain, which then filled the basins that are today known as the global ocean.
The vast majority of scientists are of the opinion that the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans were formed as a result of the continuous “degassing” of the planet’s interior over a period of millions and millions of years. According to this idea, the ocean was produced when water vapor and other gases escaped from the molten rocks of the Earth and into the atmosphere around the cooling planet.
This allowed the rocks to cool more quickly. After the surface of the Earth had cooled to a temperature that was lower than the point at which water boils, rain began to fall, and it continued to fall for hundreds of years after that. The primordial ocean was formed as a result of the water that drained into the large hollows that are found on the surface of the earth.
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Where did the oceans come from?
The water that arrived on Earth at each of these occasions contributed to the formation of our seas. The seas contain over 97% of all the water on Earth, yet researchers can’t seem to agree on how that water got there!
How did the Earth’s oceans and meteorites form?
Some scientists believe that meteorites arrived on Earth while it was still in the process of formation. Many experts in the scientific community are of the opinion that these two hypotheses are most likely correct. The water that arrived on Earth at each of these occasions contributed to the formation of our seas.
Why didn’t the oceans form earlier on Earth?
When Earth was first forming, there were no seas on it; they didn’t appear for many more billions of years. This is due to the fact that when Earth first formed, temperatures were far higher than those at which liquid water could form, hence water instead existed in its gaseous state.
How did Earth get its water?
Origins of Oceans | National Geographic
To begin, there is the hypothesis that water was involved in the formation of Earth and that this water migrated from deeper within the planet. The second idea proposes that there was no water on Earth when it first formed and that it was delivered here by other sources as they collided with the newborn planet.
