History of the Ocean

In the beginning of Earth’s history, approximately 4.5 billion years ago, this planet was molten because of extreme volcanism and frequent collisions with comets and other celestial bodies such as meteorites, asteroids space rocks. These frequent collisions created volcanic eruptions and made the Earth’s core temperature extremely hot. However, once these collisions tapered off, the Earth’s crust began to cool. Water vapour and other gases began to escape from the cooling molten rock to form clouds in the Earth’s atmosphere.   This in turn created rain, forming the Earth’s first oceans. Scientists have hypothesised that degassing alone could not have generated enough rain to create oceans. It is theorised that a collision with a large comet made of ice may have also contributed to such great water mass on Earth.

Approximately 300 million years ago it is hypothesised by scientists that a super continent existed on Earth known as Pangaea. There is evidence of previous continents existing such as Oldrenia and Nena, however Pangaea is believed to have been the origin of the current configuration of the Earth’s continents before it was broken up, approximately 200 million years ago. Alfred Wegener theory suggests that continents are continually drifting, known as the continental drift and are always in a state of flux. The scientific theory explains that the split was caused by shifting tectonic plates beneath the Earth’s surface. These plates can move the Earth’s crust and upper mantle, which is known as lithosphere, and are believed to be responsible for the creation of the five continents and seven oceans we see on Earth today.