How did the ocean form?

Amtmann

The single body of water I mean. Did it just rain continuously for millions and millions of years when the earth was newly formed?

karlog

The oceans formed on Earth 3.8 billion years ago. At this time the Solar System was about 1 billion years old. To explain the formation of the oceans, it is necessary to briefly discuss the evolution of the Solar System.

The Solar System started as a swirling cloud of dust and gases. The dust and gas particles aggregated into bodies that became the Sun, planets, comets, and asteroids. The planets closest to the Sun are the most dense and consist mostly of rock and metal. These terrestrial planets include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, are called the jovian planets. They are primarily composed of gases and ice, and are less dense than the terrestrial planets.

4 billion years ago, the Earth could be described as a very large, hot rock without a trace of water on its surface. Water on the young Earth came from two sources, outgassing from within the Earth and bombardment by comets. Outgassing is the process whereby gases are released from molten rock in the mantle of the planet by volcanic activity. This was probably the primary source of gases for the early atmosphere. Comets and meterorites also bring with them gases which contributed to the Earth's atmosphere.

Some of the gases in the new atmosphere were methane (CH3), ammonia (NH3), water vapor (H2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2). The water on Earth stayed in gaseous form until the planet's surface cooled below 100 degrees Celsius. At this time, 3.8 billion years ago, water condensed into rain and poured onto the land. Water collected in low lying areas which gradually became the primitive oceans.

As water entered the oceans from the atmosphere, it brought with it dissolved gasses released from the mantle by volcanoes and geysers. Water also flowed as runoff from the land, bringing in dissolved minerals from the rocks on the surface. These minerals include the salts which make seawater taste salty.

The geochemical cycles had their beginnings here, with minerals entering the oceans from the land and sky and minerals leaving the oceans through tectonic activity and by evaporation/deposition processes. These cycles were well established about 1 billion years ago. Since then the overall composition of the oceans (chemically, that is) has remained very constant.


.......and yes i did copy and paste this

uncle-mofo

karlog wrote: »

The oceans formed on Earth 3.8 billion years ago. At this time the Solar System was about 1 billion years old. To explain the formation of the oceans, it is necessary to briefly discuss the evolution of the Solar System.

The Solar System started as a swirling cloud of dust and gases. The dust and gas particles aggregated into bodies that became the Sun, planets, comets, and asteroids. The planets closest to the Sun are the most dense and consist mostly of rock and metal. These terrestrial planets include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, are called the jovian planets. They are primarily composed of gases and ice, and are less dense than the terrestrial planets.

4 billion years ago, the Earth could be described as a very large, hot rock without a trace of water on its surface. Water on the young Earth came from two sources, outgassing from within the Earth and bombardment by comets. Outgassing is the process whereby gases are released from molten rock in the mantle of the planet by volcanic activity. This was probably the primary source of gases for the early atmosphere. Comets and meterorites also bring with them gases which contributed to the Earth's atmosphere.

Some of the gases in the new atmosphere were methane (CH3), ammonia (NH3), water vapor (H2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2). The water on Earth stayed in gaseous form until the planet's surface cooled below 100 degrees Celsius. At this time, 3.8 billion years ago, water condensed into rain and poured onto the land. Water collected in low lying areas which gradually became the primitive oceans.

As water entered the oceans from the atmosphere, it brought with it dissolved gasses released from the mantle by volcanoes and geysers. Water also flowed as runoff from the land, bringing in dissolved minerals from the rocks on the surface. These minerals include the salts which make seawater taste salty.

The geochemical cycles had their beginnings here, with minerals entering the oceans from the land and sky and minerals leaving the oceans through tectonic activity and by evaporation/deposition processes. These cycles were well established about 1 billion years ago. Since then the overall composition of the oceans (chemically, that is) has remained very constant.


.......and yes i did copy and paste this

Just to be a prick I'm going to say methane is CH4

copeyhagen

Furet wrote: »

The single body of water I mean.

on the seventh day, god created the oceans

Capt'n Midnight

Earth is protected from the solar wind by our magnetism. Venus and Mars aren't so there is a tiny chance that any Hydrogen in ther upper atmospheres will gain enough energy to be stripped off into space. Duterium , Nitrogen and Oxygen being heavier won't be stripped off to the same extent. It's a tiny effect but over 3 billion years has caused Venus to loose enough Hydrogen for an ocean a mile deep. Mars has lost between 60-90% of it's water.

And since they don't have the same volcanic activity as they initially did there isn't much chance of getting it renewed from internal volcanoes.

http://www.solstation.com/stars/venus.htm

Venus probably once had large amounts of water like Earth, but the planet is now quite dry. Its oceans probably boiled away into its atmosphere as its runaway greenhouse effect progressed. This may have occurred because Venus is closer than Earth to the Sun, which has also grown about 40 percent brighter over the past 4.6 billion years. One recent theory suggests that Earth may suffer the same fate within 900 million years as Sol continues to brighten by about 10 percent.

EPD

Furet wrote: »

The single body of water I mean. Did it just rain continuously for millions and millions of years when the earth was newly formed?

The first thing you have to ask yourself is "where did the water come from"
The water arriver on the earth over millions of years in the form of comets.
The early solar system was very chaotic every thing crashing into each other,in fact that's how we have our moon but that's another story.As the comets and asteroids collided with the early earth the water vaporised and built up as gasses in the atmosphere (at that time the planet was still very hot ) as the earth cooled down the water vapour turned into liquid and fell to ground witch in turn cooled down the planet even further and more comets collided with the earth building up all the water we see today.I hope that answers your question
EPD.

Redsunset

uncle-mofo wrote: »

Just to be a prick I'm going to say methane is CH4

Correct and ethane consists of two carbon atoms single-bonded to each other, with each carbon atom having three hydrogen atoms bonded to it.

After methane, ethane is the second-largest component of narural gas. Natural gas from different gas fields varies in ethane content from less than 1% to over 6% by volume. Prior to the 1960s, ethane and larger molecules were typically not separated from the methane component of natural gas, but simply burnt along with the methane as a fuel.

Ethane is most efficiently separated from methane by liquefying it at cryogenic temperatures.

Marvinthefish

redsunset wrote: »

Correct and ethane consists of two carbon atoms single-bonded to each other, with each carbon atom having three hydrogen atoms bonded to it.

After methane, ethane is the second-largest component of narural gas. Natural gas from different gas fields varies in ethane content from less than 1% to over 6% by volume. Prior to the 1960s, ethane and larger molecules were typically not separated from the methane component of natural gas, but simply burnt along with the methane as a fuel.

Ethane is most efficiently separated from methane by liquefying it at cryogenic temperatures.

Cool story bro.

_Tombstone_

Earth may have kept its own water rather than getting it from asteroids