4.4 billion years ago · approximate date
The first oceans
The crust cools enough for water to stay liquid at the surface.
As the crust cooled, water from volcanic gas and impacts could stay liquid at the surface. Zircon crystals of this age carry a chemical signature that points to liquid water, though how much of it there was, and whether it formed true oceans, is still argued over.
- Period
- Hadean
- Earth's history already passed
- 3.0837 percent
- 4.54 kilometres
- 4.4 kilometres from the end
- One day
- 00:44:24
- One year
- January 12, 06:07
Source: US Geological Survey · Source to be verified