University of Oxford researchers have helped overturn the popular theory that water on Earth originated from asteroids bombarding its surface. Instead, the material which built our planet was far richer in hydrogen than previously thought. The findings have been published today in the journal Icarus.
Using a rare type of meteorite, known as an enstatite chondrite, which has a composition analogous to that of the early Earth (4.55 billion years ago), they have found a source of hydrogen which would have been critical for the formation of water molecules.
Crucially, they demonstrated that the hydrogen present in this material was intrinsic, and not from contamination. This suggests that the material which our planet was built from was far richer in hydrogen than previously thought.
Tom Barrett, member of St Anne’s MCR and DPhil student in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, who led the study, said: “We were incredibly excited when the analysis told us the sample contained hydrogen sulphide – just not where we expected! Because the likelihood of this hydrogen sulphide originating from terrestrial contamination is very low, this research provides vital evidence to support the theory that water on Earth is native – that it is a natural outcome of what our planet is made of.”
Read more information about this groundbreaking discovery here.