New insights into the origins of Earth's oceans and water
A new study from the AETHER project proposes that Earth's oceans could have formed from interactions between a hydrogen-rich early atmosphere and oxygen within the planet's magma. The research also demonstrates why Earth's core is lighter than it should be, owing to the presence of gaseous hydrogen. The authors propose that one of the protoplanets involved in the formation of Earth was heavier than thought. The calculations show that interactions with atmospheric hydrogen could produce enough water to fill the current volume of our oceans three times over.