In the spring of 1999 some scientists concluded that the Earths water probably did not come from comets. So how could the small comets be responsible for the water in the Earths oceans?
The possibility that the water in our oceans is due to an influx of large comets during the early history of our planet has been quite popular among many scientists until recently. But things have changed now that we can remotely determine the amount of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, in these well-known large comets. These remarkable measurements have shown that the fraction of deuterium relative to that for hydrogen in the large comets is inconsistently high relative to that in our oceans. That is, the large comets cannot be the source of our oceans because this hydrogen “fingerprint” does not match. And because some scientists view the small comets as simply miniature versions of the large comets , they have concluded that the hydrogen fingerprint of the small comets is similarly inconsistent as the source of water in our oceans. But this conclusion is not necessarily correct because the small comets have already been shown to be much different in composition than the large comets. Me
Related Questions
- In the spring of 1999 some scientists concluded that the Earths water probably did not come from comets. So how could the small comets be responsible for the water in the Earths oceans?
- Is there any geological evidence to support the need for such an "outside" source of water as the small comets?
- How much water do the small comets add to the Earths surface?
