Stakeholder #3, Blog Post 3.8

The third and final stakeholder in this controversy are scientists who claim that volcanic activity was the main catalyst for bringing water to Earth. This group is the most unique in their beliefs in that they claim the Earth itself was able to produce most of its own water. This is a far cry from the the other two stakeholder groups.

1. Can you describe this third stakeholder in 200-250 words?

Like the other two stakeholder groups, this group is not one specific person. It is a group of scientists with the same claim: Volcanoes provided the planet its water. Looking at the BBC documentary Earth Story, it seems as if geologists would be more likely to back this theory than planetary scientists. This stakeholder group has arguably been around longer than the other two (Comet/Asteroid stakeholders). However, this is mostly due to the fact that the other two groups sprung out of theories made somewhat recently.

This stakeholder group is doing very interesting research, as well. They are studying volcanic processes here on Earth to see if their theory is a viable one. Though, since it is astronomically easier to study rocks here on Earth than out in the cosmos, this stakeholder group has a distinct advantage. Given all of these factors, I would give a slight edge to the Volcano stakeholders in this controversy. However, much more research needs to be done to even come close to crowning a "winner" in this controversy.

2. Can you identify THREE specific claims being made by this stakeholder?

Claim #1: Volcanic activity produced a great abundance of water vapor. Aubrey Manning in the BBC documentary series Earth Story quoted (41:30- 41:55 in the video) that, "The volcanoes erupting here (Ancient Earth) were producing vast quantities of water vapor with the lava."

Claim #2: The water vapor produced by early volcanoes condensed and fell back to the Earth over millions of years, creating the oceans. In the same Earth Story video, Aubrey Manning states (41:30-41:55) that, "It was this water (from the volcanoes) which was condensing to form the primitive ocean."

Claim #3: The Earth received most of its water from within itself due to the accretion process in the early Solar System. Chris Cesare's article in Nature provides a link to a scientific paper in Science claiming that, "water has been around since the Earth formed, trapped on grains of dust that aggregated to make a planet". 

3. Can you explain how valid these claims are?

Claims 1 and 2 have a great deal of evidence to back them up. The ancient lava rocks seen in the documentary show signs of crystallization involving water. As well, scientists have theorized for many years that Earth had oceans very early on in its existence.

Claim #3 is a very recent claim. Therefore, there is not a substantial amount of data that backs it up. The findings are, however, very intriguing and could tip the controversy in favor of the Volcano stakeholders in the future.

4. Can you explain how these claims are similar and/or different to the other stakeholders?

This stakeholder group is completely unique from the other two (Comets or Asteroids bringing water to the Earth). Rather than celestial bodies bringing most of Earth's water, the rocks trapped deep within the planet's interior provided most of the life giving liquid.

{sara-ann}. Red Hot Lava. March 3rd, 2008 via Flickr. Attribution license.