Water trapped in dust grains from which the Earth formed can explain the current large amount of water on Earth. This is suggested by scientists from the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, based on calculations and simulations. The research will appear in two articles in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

For a long time, scientists have been struggling with an explanation for the large amount of water on Earth. A first scenario states that the water is delivered by comets and asteroids that hit the Earth.

According to a second scenario, the Earth was born 'wet' and the water was already present on ten-kilometer-big boulders from which the Earth was built up. However, the amount of water that these large boulders can contain is limited.

Now, an international team of scientists has devised and calculated a variant of the boulder-with-water scenario. The team shows that in the region where the Earth once originated, small up to mm-sized dust grains can hold enough water.

The water-rich dust grains then clump together to form pebbles and eventually kilometer-big boulders. These boulders can then contain large amounts of water and they will eventually proceed to form the Earth.

The new calculations also show that the small dust grains can collect enough water in 'only' a million years to explain the amount of water on Earth. A million years fits easily in the time it takes to form the larger boulders.

Research Report: On Water Delivery in the Inner Solar Nebula - Monte Carlo Simulations of Forsterite Hydration - M. D'Angelo (2), S. Cazaux (4), I. Kamp (2), W. F. Thi (1) and P. Woitke (3), to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Related Links
Netherlands Research School For Astronomy
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Drought, groundwater loss sinks California land at alarming rate
Ithaca NY (SPX) Sep 11, 2018
The San Joaquin Valley in central California, like many other regions in the western United States, faces drought and ongoing groundwater extraction, happening faster than it can be replenished. And the land is sinking as a result - by up to a half-meter annually according to a new Cornell University study in Science Advances. Despite much higher-than-normal amounts of rain in early 2017, the large agricultural and metropolitan communities that rely on groundwater in central California experienced ... read more