Research led by Carnegie Science’s Anat Shahar and UCLA’s Edward Young and Hilke Schlichting explores the origins of Earth’s water, suggesting it arose from interactions between early planetary embryos’ hydrogen-rich atmospheres and their magma oceans. Their study, published in Nature, utilized insights from recent exoplanet discoveries, reshaping models of planetary formation that now consider how common hydrogen atmospheres are in young planets. The new models demonstrated that these hydrogen atmospheres could produce Earth’s distinctive features, including its water abundance and oxidized state, without requiring additional water sources.
The researchers conducted mathematical simulations examining 25 compounds and 18 reactions, revealing that these early atmospheric interactions caused hydrogen to permeate the metallic core and oxidize the mantle, subsequently generating significant water quantities. This approach links Earth’s formation to Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes discovered around distant stars. The project, part of the AEThER initiative, aims to understand the chemical makeup of these exoplanets, providing frameworks for detecting biosignatures associated with life. Enhanced telescope technology promises to deepen insights into exoplanet atmospheres, further guiding life detection strategies in the cosmos. This research enhances our understanding of Earth and informs future explorations of habitability on other worlds.
