Below is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood,
by Dr. Walt Brown.
Copyright © Center for Scientific Creation. All rights reserved.
Click here to order the hardbound 8th edition (2008) and other material.
44. Earth: The Water Planet
The amount of water on Earth greatly exceeds that known on or within any other planet in the solar system. Liquid water, which is essential for life to survive, has unique and amazing properties; it covers 70% of Earth’s surface. Where did all Earth’s water come from?
If the Earth and solar system evolved from a swirling cloud of dust and gas, almost no water would reside near Earth’s present orbit. Any water (liquid or ice) that close to the Sun would vaporize and be blown by solar wind to the outer reaches of the solar system,a as we see happening with water vapor in the tails of comets.
Did comets or meteorites deliver Earth’s water? Although comets contain considerable water,b comets did not provide much of the Earth’s water, because comet water contains too much heavy hydrogen, relatively rare in Earth’s oceans. Comets also contain too much argon. If comets provided only 1% of Earth’s water, then our atmosphere should have 400 times more argon than it does.c The few types of meteorites that contain water also have too much heavy hydrogen.d [Pages 278–333 explain why comets and some types of meteorites contain so much water and heavy hydrogen. Pages 337–383 explain why comets have so much argon. Heavy hydrogen is described on page 286.]
These observations have caused some to conclude that water was transported from the outer solar system to Earth by objects that no longer exist.e If so, many of these “water tankers” should have collided with the other inner planets (Mercury, Venus, and Mars), producing water characteristics similar to those of Earth. In fact, their water characteristics are not like those of Earth.f Instead of imagining “water tankers” that conveniently disappeared, perhaps we should ask if the Earth was created with its water already present.