--- title: "Scientists Say Ancient Earth Was Completely Covered in Water" description: "Waterworld Scientists at Iowa State and the University of Colorado say they’ve found compelling new evidence that the ancient Earth was an unbroken expanse of water, without a single continent. The research, published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience, examined ancient samples of sea floor found in Australia and found chemical clues that Earth used […]" date: "2020-03-03" modified: "2020-03-03" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-ancient-earth-completely-covered-water" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "earth" - "natural history" - "the digest" - "water" --- # Scientists Say Ancient Earth Was Completely Covered in Water ![Scientists say they've found compelling new evidence that the ancient Earth was an unbroken expanse of water, without a single continent.]() *\Image: Google\* ## Waterworld Scientists at Iowa State and the University of Colorado [say they've found]() compelling new evidence that the ancient Earth was an unbroken expanse of water, without a single continent. Yes: "[Waterworld]()." The research, [published this week]() in the journal *Nature Geoscience*, examined ancient samples of sea floor found in Australia and found chemical clues that Earth used to be a completely blue planet — a discovery, the scientists say, that could have deep implications for the history of life itself. ## Incontinent The key finding, Iowa State geoscientist Benjamin Johnson [told *Live Science*](), was that back when the Earth was a young 1.5 billion years old, its ocean was swimming with the isotope oxygen-18. Nowadays, he said, continental land masses suck much of the oxygen-18 out of the water. And in this ancient sample, he observed an abundance of it. So an abundance of oxygen-18 in the ancient ocean, the theory goes, implies a "[Waterworld]()" scenario. ## Oxygenesis Intriguingly, Johnson says, the discovery could shift the parameters around the origin of life on Earth. "There are two major camps for the origin of life: hydrothermal vents and ponds on land," Johnson told *Live Science*. "If our work is accurate, it means the number of environments on land for life to emerge and evolve was really small or absent until sometime after 3.2 billion years ago." **READ MORE:** [1.5 billion-year-old Earth had water everywhere, but not one continent, study suggests]() \[*Live Science*\] **More on ancient Earth:** [Is There an Ancient Earth Trapped in Earth’s Interior? “Yes,” Say Harvard Scientists]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()