Blog Post Image: New Study Finds Oceans Arrived Early to Earth

In this illustration of the early solar system, the dashed white line represents the snow line—the transition from the hotter inner solar system, where water ice is not stable (brown) to the outer Solar system, where water ice is stable (blue). Two possible ways that the inner solar system received water are: water molecules sticking to dust grains inside the “snow line” (as shown in the inset) and carbonaceous chondrite material flung into the inner solar system by the effect of gravity from protoJupiter. With either scenario, water must accrete to the inner planets within the first ca. 10 million years of solar system formation. Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Click image to enlarge)