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Oxford Study: Earth's Water Originates from Intrinsic Hydrogen

4/16/2025

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Summary

Story summary

A groundbreaking discovery by researchers at the University of Oxford reveals that Earth's water may have originated from intrinsic hydrogen in its building materials, not from asteroids. Their analysis of the enstatite chondrite meteorite LAR 12252 uncovered significant hydrogen sulfide, indicating that our planet was abundant in hydrogen since its formation over 4.55 billion years ago.

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Story summary

A groundbreaking discovery by researchers at the University of Oxford reveals that Earth's water may have originated from intrinsic hydrogen in its building materials, not from asteroids. Their analysis of the enstatite chondrite meteorite LAR 12252 uncovered significant hydrogen sulfide, indicating that our planet was abundant in hydrogen since its formation over 4.55 billion years ago.