Gary sent in 3 smashing links – all from the Daily Mail. The stories have done the rounds in the media, including at PhysOrg and the like. However, the Daily Mail usually provides images as well as extra information, in boxes and sidebars, for those not up to scratch on some of the underlying science and assumptions. At www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8671093/ … water was not brought to earth by comets, or asteroids, according to a new study on what is basically a meteorite. This particular piece of cosmic rock is said to originate from the early solar system, possibly even before that, when the solar system had yet to condense into some kind of order. The assumption underlying the research is that the meteorite has such an ancient origin.
The idea that water arrived on comets has been around for a while now but various chippings into the theory have emerged of late. Earth's supply of water is the mystery. Where did it come from? A few months ago we were told a great deal of it came from inside the earth but in this new study we learn that water may have been around since the beginning of the solar system. In other words, water was around when the earth first formed. It didn't have to arrive from anywhere. It has always been here. Over at https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/08/28/earths-water-may-have-come-from-e… … where a geologist says he was taught that the source of earth's water was volcanic outgassing. The water that fills the oceans and makes possible plate tectonics, providing lubrication, and also made life possible, was expelled by volcanoes as water vapour. This was superseded by the comet theory, and comets were being blamed for all kinds of things. Now we have some guys looking at an enstatite chondrite meteorite (s). The study suggests earth's water may have come from materials that were present in the inner solar system at the time the planet formed – instead of invoking comets and asteroids from outer space. Earth's building blocks may well have significantly contributed to the earth's water. Hydrogen bearing material was present in the inner solar system at the time of the rocky planet formation – even though the temperatures were too high for water to condense. Enstatite chondrites are rare but their isotopic similarity to earth make them particularly compelling. Enstatite chondrites have similar oxygen, titanium, and calcium isotopes as earth, and this study showed that their hydrogen and nitrogen isotopes are similar to the earth as well. Further, enstatite chondrite meteorites are thought to have formed in the inner solar system, where earth is thought to have been formed. It has long been considered that earth and enstatite chondrites formed from essentially the same material. That isn't new. He then quotes the study which says enstatite chondrites had always been thought as dry rocks, mainly because the early inner solar system is thought to have been very hot. However, they contain an unexpectedly high abundance of water. Well, actually hydrogen.
At www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8661551/ .. a mysterious radio burst from a galaxy 3 billion light years away (or is that millions). It appears to repeat itself every 157 days. Chinese scientists have narrowed this down to near 156. Fast radio bursts are very short but very intense – a pulse of radio waves. Their origin is unknown.
At www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8670057/ … we learn that earth has been travelling through a cloud of radioactive debris left behind by a supernova – according to deep sea sediments. I have already posted this story on the News. The interesting thing is that the debris goes back 33,000 years ago, at the time of a mass die off event in the animal kingdom, and the disappearance of the Neanderthals. Richard Firestone played with this idea of a major supernova at this time in his book, The Cycle of Cosmic Catstrophes. He has since become involved in research into the Younger Dryas Boundary event.
Over at https://phys.org/news/2020-08-meteorite-earth.html … here we have more on he chondrite meteorite that led to the water theory (as above) …
Robert also sent in a link to the meteorite story. He also posted a link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant-impact_hypothesis …. which may or may not be relevant. If the earth was formed wet this will be a big problem for meteorite impacts, he adds. He is of course referring to the big event mainstream proposes during the early solar system when an impact led to the formation of the moon. It is not a reference to Chicxulub.