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Fuels and Earth Science

How the oceans formed and how oxygen appeared

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

How condensing water vapour formed the oceans, how dissolved carbon dioxide was locked into carbonate sediments, limestone and fossil fuels, and how photosynthesis by primitive plants gradually removed carbon dioxide and added oxygen.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Explain how the first oceans formed and why they could not appear while the surface was still very hot.

Key term

Give the word equation for photosynthesis and explain how it changed the early atmosphere and allowed animals to evolve.

Key term

Explain how the Earth's oceans formed.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Explain how the Earth's oceans formed.

    Model answer

    As the Earth cooled, water vapour in the atmosphere condensed into liquid water, which collected in hollows in the surface.

  2. 2

    Name the change of state that produced the first oceans.

    Model answer

    Condensation of water vapour into liquid water produced the oceans.

  3. 3

    Explain why oceans could not form while the Earth's surface was still very hot.

    Model answer

    The temperature was above the boiling point of water, so all the water stayed as vapour.

  4. 4

    State where the water vapour that formed the oceans came from.

    Model answer

    It was released into the atmosphere by volcanic activity.

  5. 5

    Describe how the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere changed as the oceans formed.

    Model answer

    The amount of water vapour fell sharply as it condensed out of the atmosphere.

  6. 6

    Explain how the formation of the oceans reduced the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

    Model answer

    Carbon dioxide is soluble in water, so large amounts of it dissolved into the newly formed oceans.

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