The extra-terrestrial origin of terrestrial water Francis Albarede Ecole Normale Supeérieure de Lyon The Earth looks blue from space because of a remarkable feature among terrestrial planets, its liquid ocean. More water is held dissolved in the minerals of...
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The extra-terrestrial origin of terrestrial water Francis Albarede Ecole Normale Supeérieure de Lyon The Earth looks blue from space because of a remarkable feature among terrestrial planets, its liquid ocean. More water is held dissolved in the minerals of the terrestrial mantle and such a hidden water reservoir may be at least as largeas the ocean. For decades, geologists took the observation that volcanism is accompanied by large emission of water and other volatiles as incontrovertible evidence that both terrestrial ocean and atmosphere had evolved throughout geological time by mantle outgassing. Several recent geochemical findings now cast serious doubts on the paradigm of an internal origin of our volatiles. First, the different terrestrial planets received tremendously variable water endowments: Mercury and the Moon are deadly dry planetary bodies, while the Earth is quite water-rich, and our other relatives Mars and Venus are most likely probably intermediate. Second, as powerf
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