Where did the water that currently fills our oceans, lakes, and rivers come from?

Question

Where did the water that currently fills our oceans, lakes, and rivers come from?

Answer 1

Awesome question but idk the answer cant wait to see what ppl say!

Thanks for the points!

Answer 2

Some speculate comets. Others say it formed from chemical procesess.

Answer 3

From taps left running by careless people.......

Answer 4

Well if you want to get all religious, it came from God. And after he was done making the earth he let the rains and sun circulate it through the air and sea.

Answer 5

well i think its because of this OK ...do you remember the great ice age ..? well when the earth finaly warmed up maybe all this water came from the melting ice ..its a thought ok ..?

Answer 6

Well, I've been reading about this for years as a general interest thing - and having studied geology two years way back in the 80's...  And, it seems for me to fall in two general categories.

1-  Water was released as lava cooled during the early formation of the earth...  It's still occurring today because water is released from lava that erupts out of volcanoes. (this is not to say some of that water came from plate subduction processes.)

2-  Water arrived here from the millions of comets that originally formed the primordial earth, which after enough bombardment and compaction formed a liquid center causing us to go back to number 1.

3- Bonus: Thinking about it, the earth is continually showered by micrometeorites and some water is contained in them, wouldn't you think?  Sure, it would be vaporized, but some must enter and fall into the atmosphere...