Early arrival of water on Earth: Findings of planetologists in Münster contradict hypothesis of a late cometary origin / Publication in "Nature"

Water on Earth is the precondition for life as we know it. But where does it come from, and how long has it been here? Scientists currently discuss two possibilities: Either water was here at an early stage, during the main phase of Earth's formation, or Earth was initially completely dry and water only arrived later - through the impacts of comets or 'wet' asteroids originating from the outer areas of the solar system. Researchers at the Institute for Planetology at the University of Münster have now tested this hypothesis using very precise isotope measurements on samples that came from the asteroid belt. Their conclusion supports the first possibility, that water arrived early during the Earth's evolution. Their The Münster scientists examined the isotopic composition of ruthenium, a noble metal. Noble metals have an extreme tendency to bond with metal, so they likely moved completely into the planet's metallic core when the Earth was formed. However, even though the noble metals should have been removed entirely to the core, there still are some noble metals in the Earth's mantle.