Science Update: Origin of Earth's Oceans

This post examines possible implications of the discovery of "wet meteorites" and the origin of Earth's oceans.

The Bible contains several descriptive accounts about the creation of the Earth.  As scientific discoveries are made in the modern age, it is often fascinating to learn more about aspects of creation that were first revealed to the authors of the Bible.  This is a real encouragement to my faith in the God of the Bible as the Creator of the Universe and the Author of Salvation, and therefore, I also want to share these discoveries with you.

In contrast, it is not uncommon in our culture for fictional films and books involving scientific and philosophical concepts to grapple with the meaning and ultimate destiny of humankind.  Sometimes scientific progress fuels new ideas about how humans might cope in the future with current problems that seem to grow worse by the year.  But all of this sci-fi speculation falls flat when compared to the grand scheme of past, present, and future laid out in the pages of Scripture.  Scientific discoveries can serve a far more noble purpose than merely providing new technology and new avenues of contemplation for those groping in the dark.  Instead, they can fuel our trust in the revealed Truth of Scripture.

The case for the reliability of Scripture can be thought of as a cumulative one.  That means we can look at dozens of evidences in Scripture for its trustworthiness and build a robust case from multiple examples.  Creation studies provide some of these evidences.

In the Biblical book of Job, a discourse between Job and God is recorded in which God, in revealing a glimpse of His Glory, details a few aspects of His work in creating the Earth.  Job 38:8 captures this nugget of rhetorical dialog: "Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?"  More about how this verse fits into the overall flow of the creation narrative and the history of planet Earth is explored on the In the beginning sidebar page of this blog.

At first glance, one might just zoom over this verse when reading the discourse between God and Job, but it deserves a closer look.  The "who" in the verse refers of course to God, the Creator.  He is the one doing the action through the processes which He alone created.  The "sea" refers generally the combined waters of the Earth's oceans.  In this passage, the word "womb" refers metaphorically the depths of the Earth itself from which the oceans "burst out".

Matthew Henry, who wrote a renowned and highly regarded commentary on the Bible reflects this way on verse 38:8 "Out of the great deep or chaos, in which earth and water were intermixed, in obedience to the divine command the waters broke forth like a child out of the teeming womb." Published in the year 1710, this commentary provides a relevant reflection on this passage.

Now we can look at the subject of the scientific discovery cited in the article at the beginning of this post.

Researchers in France, including one now at Washington University St. Louis, conducted a detailed study of a kind of meteorite called an enstatite chondrite.  This kind of meteor is a leading candidate for what scientists think are leftover material from which God formed the Earth.  By studying them, scientists believe they can create a more accurate picture of what the early Earth was like.  

Why do scientists think that the Earth formed in part from enstatite chondrites?  Well, each element is made of up atoms that come in a variety of "flavors" called isotopes.  Each atom has a specific number of protons in its nucleus, and when neutrally charged, an equal number of electrons.  But the number of neutrons in its nucleus is determined by how, where, and when it was formed.  The researchers noted that the isotopes of oxygen, titanium, calcium, hydrogen, and nitrogen that occur in enstatite chondrite meteors are very similar to the overall isotopic composition of Earth.  This provides compelling evidence that Earth was formed in a large part from this kind of material.

The breakthrough discovery made by these researchers is that these meteors are not "dry" as previously expected from meteorites that come from the inner zones of the solar system, with its relatively high temperatures.

"The most interesting part of the discovery for me is that enstatite chondrites, which were believed to be almost 'dry,' contain an unexpectedly high abundance of water," said Lionel Vacher, a postdoctoral researcher in physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

The implications of this discovery are summed up nicely for us:

"If enstatite chondrites were effectively the building blocks of our planet -- as strongly suggested by their similar isotopic compositions -- this result implies that these types of chondrites supplied enough water to Earth to explain the origin of Earth's water, which is amazing!" Vacher said.

In plain terms, if this research result holds up under further scientific scrutiny, we can see the link between enstatite chondrites and Matthew Henry's reference to the primordial material "in which earth and water were intermixed".  Imagine the early Earth, aggregated block by block from these water and element-rich meteors into the roiling formless and void mass of the Hadean Earth.

In a long-playing scientific saga, the question of where Earth's ocean water came from has see-sawed between competing theories over many decades.  Was the water delivered primarily from icy comets bombarding the early Earth or did it burst out from the inner planet by volcanic outgassing of steam which condensed into water vapor and rained down to cover the pock-marked surface of our planet?

This discovery supports the idea that Earth itself was formed with most or all of the water necessary to fill the oceans, that the water was initially bound up in the Earth itself, and, to use Matthew Henry's terms "in obedience to the divine command the waters broke forth like a child out of the teeming womb."  Job 38:8 says the "sea burst out from the womb", a process that scientists would describe as volcanic outgassing.  On the one hand, we have a poetic description that has been comprehensible and valuable for meditation on the glory of God for millennia, while on the other we have a scientific description that none-the-less also inspires awe in our Creator God for His power and His providence.

When we think about the future of humankind on planet Earth, we should first look back on our history, and recognize that everything we are learning about our place in the Universe is according to the divine plan of God as revealed in the Bible and through His Son Jesus Christ.  Then, we can look to the present and future and pray and live in accordance with Jesus' teaching: "God's kingdom come, and God's will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven". Matthew 6:10