Planetologists have made a remarkable discovery that water was initially introduced to Earth during the formation of the Moon approximately 4.4 billion years ago.

Several features make the Earth special in its relation to other planets in the solar system, for instance, besides Venus, Earth is the only terrestrial planet that has a large moon, which regulates its axis and has significant amounts of water. Both of them played a major role in the evolution of life on planet Earth. Planetary scientists from the University of Münster in Germany say that water has always been an inherent component of Earth from the time of the formation of the moon approximately 4. 4 billion years ago.

The Moon has been theorized to have been formed from an impact between the Earth and another celestial object, known as Theia. Earlier, theorists thought that Theia formed in the inner region of the solar system close to Earth. However, in a study conducted by the Münster University researchers have provided evidence that Theia was indeed an exoplanet which contributed massive amount of water to the earth. These highlights have been published in the latest publication of Nature Astronomy.

From the outer into the inner solar system

In this context of the formation of the solar system in the ‘dry’ inner region the origin of water in the earth remains a mystery. In order to solve this mystery, let us travel back in time to the beginning of the formation of the solar system, approximately 4. 5 billion years ago.

It has been suggested in earlier research that the Solar System transitioned through a phase where ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ components were separated. The outer solar system hosts the dry ‘non-carbonaceous’ meteorites while the inner solar system hosts water-rich ‘carbonaceous’ meteorites. The origin of this material, and water especially, has been inconclusive, although previous studies indicated that carbonaceous bodies were involved in the delivery of water to the Earth.

According to Dr. Gerrit Budde from the Institute of Planetology in Münster, the author of the study, they employed molybdenum isotopes to answer this question. These isotopes help distinguish carbonaceous material from non-carbonaceous material and can serve as a ‘fingerprint’ of material from outer and inner solar system.

The analysis by the researchers from Münster shows that a part of the molybdenum present on the Earth arrived from the outer space. From this isotopic composition of the Earth’s molybdenum is intermediate between that of the CCMs and NCMs. Considering molybdenum’s affinity to iron, its chemical properties are also relevant in this case, knowing that the majority of the planet’s molybdenum is found in the earth’s core.

According to the second author of the study, Dr. Christoph Burkhardt, the molybdenum existing in Earth’s mantle today formed at a relatively later time in the evolution history of the Earth. Meanwhile, all the molybdenum from the previous phases is now confined to the core only. This finding, which is highly revolutionary, suggests that the extraterrestrial carbonaceous material reached the Earth at a much later date.

In addition to that, the scientists have even proceeded further by proving that a protoplanet known as Theia collided with the Earth 4. 4 billion years ago and birthed the moon, was the main source of molybdenum in the Earth’s mantle. Thus, this conclusion means that Theia formed in the outer solar system too since ~30% of the Earth’s mantle molybdenum comes from there.

Their impact caused formation of the moon and also delivered enough carbonaceous material to Earth to explain all the water on the planet. This perspective enables us to link the beginnings of water on Earth with the birth of the Moon for the first time.

To sum up, Thorsten Kleine, a planetaryology professor at the University of Münster, claims that the Moon is likely the reason life on Earth exists at all.

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