User:Quack04quack/sandbox/Water's Creation and Retention of Planet Earth

/Water's Creation and Retention of Planet Earth

Liquid water is only found in the solar system in plain sight on planet Earth and is truly a mystery. Water may exist in hidden deep chambers on other celestial bodies but never on the surfaces of these bodies. Water exists in hydrated materials of asteroids and comets but never as a separate compound in its different phases. This article will examine all the plausible ideas or hypotheses that try to explain water's existence. The shortcomings of these ideas are outlined and hopefully the best hypotheses or some combination will be revealed. In order to perform this project many connections to other solar system mysteries must be included. The study of one aspect of the solar system such as liquid water cannot be achieved in isolation to other topics that are directly connected. For example, connections that need to be made are reasons for the inner rocky terrestrial planets differing from the outer planets, the reason for the Main Belt of asteroids, the reason for the Kuiper Belt objects, the reason for comets with highly elliptical orbits, the reason for isotopic ratios found on asteroids not matching or only closely matching those found on Earth, etc.

These connections will be explained and divided into categories: current consensus ideas; past, so-called superseded ideas; ideas not supported by plausible hypothesis, and a new idea that makes many connections. The connections to the creation of liquid water shall be reduced to the following: 1) the presence of liquid water and atmosphere on Earth; 2) the permanence of the Main Belt of asteroids; 3) the elliptical orbits of the comets; 4) Jupiter's captured Trojan asteroids, 5) the enigma of the Moon as Earth's satellite; 6) the occurrence of the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB); 7) the mystery of Earth's first super-continent of raised granitic rock; 8) the reason for Earth's lithosphere and continental drift; and 9) the 'granite problem.  The best hypothesis or model for explaining liquid water in the solar system should also make claim to addressing these listed issues or connection in the fields of astrophysics and planetary science.

Current, Consensus Ideas


 * 1) Planetary Cooling Created Liquid Water  Cooling of Earth's surface to create a first crust where the differentiated volatile components were held in an atmosphere of sufficient pressure possibly by CO2 and N2 gases to condense water vapor and form the first oceans is notably difficult to refute.  This process had to happen prior to the age of the discovery of the most ancient water at about 4.4 billion years ago.  The birth of the solar system is around 4.6 billion years based on the oldest meteorites and zircon crystals on Earth. This timeline only allows for less than 200 million years for the Earth and surrounding space to cool enough.  Since the study of exo-solar systems reveals accretion disks lasting only about 100 million years leaves even less time for cooling and crystallization of molten rock after the accretion process is completed.  The conclusion is that Earth needed to be in a cooler place such as the region near the 'snow line' between Mars and Jupiter.  Any volatiles that outgassed to the surface one AU from the Sun would have boiled and escaped Earth's gravity during the end of accretion process and the warm T-Tauri phase of the protostar.  These timeline parameters are very compelling.
 * 2) Hydrated Mineral Trapped in the Earth's Forming Mantle