Origins of Earth’s Salty Oceans
Scientists have long been interested in discovering the origin of Earth’s water and establishing why Earth’s oceans are so salty There has been speculation that earliest Earth was so hot that no liquid water existed, and all light elements (such as hydrogen and oxygen) were rapidly stripped away from Earth by the solar wind (a stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun). If this were true, then the elements needed to form water on Earth would not have been freely available. As a consequence, it was proposed that collisions with icy comets or similar gas-and water-rich materials brought water to Earth after the planet had sufficiently cooled to retain it. This concept was supported by comparisons of the gas compositions of meteorites with those of rocks from beneath Earth’s surface, notably using krypton and xenon, nonmetallic gases that do. not react with other materials. There certainly is enough ice in space to have supplied our water (and atmosphere)in this manner.
