Impact delivery and erosion of planetary oceans in the early inner solar system

The terrestrial planets may have acquired oceans of water (and other surface volatiles) as a late-accreting veneer from impacts of comets and carbonaceous asteroids during the period of heavy bombardment 4.5 to 3.5 Gyr ago. On any given body, the efficiency of this mechanism depended on a competitio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature (London) Vol. 343; no. 6254; pp. 129 - 133
Main Author Chyba, Christopher F.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Legacy CDMS Nature Publishing 11.01.1990
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects
Cosmochemistry. Extraterrestrial geology
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Extraterrestrial geology
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Oceanography
Planets
Prehistoric era
Solar system
Earth
Terrestrial planets
Volatile elements
Life origin
Moon
Asteroids
Meteor craters
Impactite
Hydrosphere
Solar system
World ocean
Erosion
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Summary:The terrestrial planets may have acquired oceans of water (and other surface volatiles) as a late-accreting veneer from impacts of comets and carbonaceous asteroids during the period of heavy bombardment 4.5 to 3.5 Gyr ago. On any given body, the efficiency of this mechanism depended on a competition between impact delivery of new volatiles and impact erosion of those already present. For the larger worlds of the inner Solar System, this competition strongly favored the net accumulation of planetary oceans.
Bibliography:CDMS
Legacy CDMS
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SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/343129a0