Ancient Water Source

Geophys. Res. Lett. (2023) 10.1029/2023GL105178: "Earth's early crustal water source." Archean [think really archaic] 'cratons' are remanants of the very first continents formed on Earth. But forming these first continents would have required the proper chemistry and dynamics, with a water source in the mantle being one of the toughest problems to explain. "Wu et al. hypothesize that a water-rich [subsurface] magma ocean may have overturned after the moon-forming impact, supplying sufficient water to the lithosphere to generate Earth’s earliest continental crust." This hypothesis may resolve the question of the source of much of our water [later contributions from asteroids], as well as other features of very early crustal growth. So the next time you look up at the Moon, realize that the impact which formed our satellite may also have released huge amounts of water from the deeper mantle of the planet to kick-start our ocean. The Wikipedia graphic shows the location of the cratons of what are now South America and Africa. The cratonic structures are older than 1.3 billion yrs. No doubt all of this would be a bit hard for a Young-Earth creationist to swallow. But the geologic history of our planet is a beautiful story.