Oceans: Earth’s Blue Engine

How the first oceans formed and why they still run our planet.

TODO machine-draft translation: English for review.

Early Earth ocean, around 3.8 billion years ago: steaming volcanic islands, a closer Moon, and microbial mats in the shallows.
Early Earth ocean, around 3.8 billion years ago: steaming volcanic islands, a closer Moon, and microbial mats in the shallows.
Artist’s interpretation — SI render made for Before Saving Planets; science per cited sources (not a photo).

Water arrived early

A 4.4-billion-year-old zircon crystal from Western Australia suggests liquid water existed on Earth very early in its history.

Life began in the sea

The earliest life was microbial. Ocean microbes made oxygen by photosynthesis, leading to the Great Oxidation Event about 2.4 billion years ago.

Oceans today

The ocean covers about 71% of Earth’s surface and holds about 97% of Earth’s water. Its average depth is about 3,700 meters (12,100 feet).

The deepest place

Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest known point: nearly 11,000 meters (about 36,000 feet).

Sources

🌍 The same oceans need help today: plastic, warming, overfishing.Ocean solutions on Saving Planets →

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