Abstract
The paradigm that has emerged to describe the origin of the solar system excludes the presence of water and of carbon in the planetesimals that agglomerated to form the proto-Earth. An unlikely but possible primary atmosphere of solar composition was transient enough not to play any significant role in the retention of water or carbon. However, the latter evolution of the planetesimals formed in the zone of the Jovian planets, brings a large number of objects made at cooler temperatures into the zone of the terrestrial planets. These objects are mainly the comets, that are going to bring to the Earth more water than needed to explain our oceans, and more carbon than needed to explain the carbonates and the biosphere. This general mechanism seems to work in the late evolution of numerous accretion disks around young stars, and promises to bring enough water and volatile compounds on rocky planets that would have otherwise remained barren.
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© 1991 Springer-Verlag
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Delsemme, A.H. (1991). Origin of the biosphere of the earth. In: Heidmann, J., Klein, M.J. (eds) Bioastronomy. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 390. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-54752-5_201
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-54752-5_201
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