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The mass of Earth's oceans is estimated to be 1.37 × 10 21 kg, which is 0.023% of the total mass of Earth, 6.0 × 10 24 kg. An additional 5.0 × 10 20 kg of water is estimated to exist in ice, lakes, rivers, groundwater, and atmospheric water vapor. [20] A significant amount of water is also stored in Earth's crust, mantle, and core.
The first eon in Earth's history, the Hadean, begins with the Earth's formation and is followed by the Archean eon at 3.8 Ga. [2]: 145 The oldest rocks found on Earth date to about 4.0 Ga, and the oldest detrital zircon crystals in rocks to about 4.4 Ga, [34] [35] [36] soon after the formation of the Earth's crust and the Earth
Oceanography (from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós) 'ocean' and γραφή (graphḗ) 'writing'), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology.
As depicted, Earth's planetary crust had largely cooled, leaving a water-rich barren surface marked by volcanoes and continents, eventually developing round microbialites. The Moon orbited Earth much closer, appearing much larger, producing more frequent and wider eclipses as well as tidal effects. [18]
The storehouses for the vast majority of all water on Earth are the oceans. It is estimated that of the 1,386,000,000 km 3 of the world's water supply, about 1,338,000,000 km 3 is stored in oceans, or about 97%. It is also estimated that the oceans supply about 90% of the evaporated water that goes into the water cycle. [20]
[68] [69] Originally it was thought that the Late Heavy Bombardment was a single cataclysmic impact event occurring at 3.9 Gya; this would have had the potential to sterilise all life on Earth by volatilising liquid oceans and blocking the Sun needed for photosynthesising primary producers, pushing back the earliest possible emergence of life ...
The Winchcombe meteorite, which crashed into a driveway in the Gloucestershire town last February, is also thought to hold clues about where the water in the Earth’s vast oceans came from.
The ocean is a major driver of Earth's water cycle. Ocean water represents the largest body of water within the global water cycle (oceans contain 97% of Earth's water). Evaporation from the ocean moves water into the atmosphere to later rain back down onto land and the ocean. [68] Oceans have a significant effect on the biosphere.