volatile element depletion in the Earth tagged posts

This is an image illustrating the late-stage building blocks of planetary formation (planetessimals and proto-planets) and the extensive volatile degassing that took place.
Credit: Ashley Norris, Oxford University

Oxford University scientists have shed new light on how Earth was first formed. Based on observations of newly-forming stars, scientists know that the solar system began as a disc of dust and gas surrounding the centrally-growing sun. The gas condensed to solids which accumulated into larger rocky bodies like asteroids and mini-planets. Over a period of 100 million years these mini-planets collided with one another and gradually accumulated into the planets we see today, including Earth.

Although it is widely understood that Earth was formed gradually, from much smaller bodies, ma...