Oceans have always fascinated us. The immense body of water has been feared and revered across many cultures. The scientific understanding of oceans have deepened the sense of awe and its connection with us. The origin of oceans on our planet has been shrouded in a mystery. It feels perplexing to think as to how could all the water end up on this planet?
 |
| Origin of oceans is tightly linked to origin of life on our planet. |
Comets, meteors, volcanism and water released from the molten rocks have all been suggested to contribute to the water content of our world. Some scientific groups have suggested that as the earth cooled gradually by venting out heat into the pace the bombardment of comets deposited major chunk of water on our planet. Then comes the next curiosity as to why only water, what is so special about it? Why not any other liquid? If we look around in our solar system we will find that water is ever pervasive. Or at-least was.
Today all the water of Mars is locked in its polar ice caps but indirect evidences in the form of slopes show that the flow of water existed on its surface in the past. Even the venus has been theorized to host water some time ago before runaway greenhouse effect took its hold on the planet. Moons of Jupiter and Saturn have watery interiors. Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, Titan, Enceladus have dense mixture of water-ammonia separating its core from the surface. Cassini spacecraft while orbiting the Ganymede has detected particles and hot water spewed by its geysers. It is suggested that these emerge from deep depth where gravity of Saturn churns the ice into water. The ocean has been thought to be the place where life originated. The ocean vent provide an ideal oxidative-reductiive environment for origin of life. We might find out in following years that the earth is not the only place to harbor oceans, there are many others.
Inspired from:
No comments:
Post a Comment