Could there be a flooded Earth?

[arc]

According to this research below, Mars could have experienced in its distant past a scenario similar to what the OP outlined.

 

 

http://seismo.berkeley.edu/~manga/phillips2001.pdf
Ancient Geodynamics and Global-Scale Hydrology on Mars
Roger J. Phillips,1 Maria T. Zuber, 2, 3 Sean C. Solomon, 4 Matthew P. Golombek,5 Bruce M. Jakosky 6 W. Bruce Banerdt, 5 David E. Smith,3
Rebecca M. E. Williams, 1 Brian M. Hynek, 1 Oded Aharonson, 2 Steven A. Hauck II, 1
1 McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
2 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3 Earth Sciences Directorate, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
4 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
5 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
6 Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

The release of CO2 and H2O to the martian atmosphere from magma erupted and intruded during Tharsis formation may have affected the Noachian climate. For the 100-km-thick elastic lithosphere we assume (2), the observed topography plus the volume of material contained within the depression resulting from Tharsis loading amounts to ~ 3 x 10^8 km^3 of igneous material, which is equivalent to a 2-km-thick global layer (30). For a magmatic CO2 content of 0.65 weight percent (wt %) [which is consistent with Hawaiian basaltic lavas (31)] and an H2O content of 2 wt % (32), the total release of gases from Tharsis magmas could produce the integrated equivalent of a 1.5-bar CO2 atmosphere and a 120-m-thick global layer of water. These quantities of volatiles are sufficient to warm the atmosphere to the point at which liquid water is stable at the surface (33). The accumulation of atmospheric CO2 may have made the latter part of the Noachian the most favorable time for this condition.

[Strange]

No doubt there are some people out there using this as "proof" that the Bible was written by Martians.

[MigL]

Its not just the lower density of Hydrogen and Helium which explains their scarcity in Earth's atmosphere, as Sensei has explained. That would just lead to a 'stratification'.

If the mean free velocity of a particle can exceed the escape velocity, then that particle/molecule can leave the Earth..

When the Sun first sparked up, its radiation was enough to 'blow' away all of mercury's atmosphere ( it being a small planet with low gravity.

The next three planets lost only their lightest gaseous atmospheric elements, while the last four, being massive and distant ( cold >> low free velocity ) retained even Hydrogen/Helium

Edited June 1, 2016 by MigL

[Bauer]

I just thought of this today. Could not find anything about. If Greenland and South Pole glaciers melted. Would there be any effect on the planet with the weight displacement? Because I heard if Greenland glaciers melted oceans would rise 10 ft. alone? Thanks

[EdEarl]

The weight of ice will be distributed throughout the oceans, instead of being on Greenland and Antarctica. What effect would you expect?

[swansont]

I just thought of this today. Could not find anything about. If Greenland and South Pole glaciers melted. Would there be any effect on the planet with the weight displacement? Because I heard if Greenland glaciers melted oceans would rise 10 ft. alone? Thanks

The earth's rotation would slow, as the mass moved away from the poles.

[EdEarl]

The earth's rotation would slow, as the mass moved away from the poles.

 

Rising Sea Level Will Slow Earth's Rotation - Harvard Study Shows

 

Scientists measure that in the next 100 years, the length of one day will increase by 1.7 milliseconds , hardly anything that you or I would notice. However, this small lengthening of a day has a cumulative effect when looking at thousands and millions of years.

[Bauer]

Would melting effect tectonic plates, salt levels in ocean to any effect.

[J.C.MacSwell]

The earth's rotation would slow, as the mass moved away from the poles.

After a (short?) period of time the Earth would tend back to the same mass distribution and rotation speed, would it not?

[EdEarl]

Would melting effect tectonic plates, salt levels in ocean to any effect.

Ice melting will dilute the oceans a bit, making them less salty, about 1.5%.

 

The weight of ice on Greenland, a couple of miles thick in places, pushes ground levels down; they will rebound as ice melts. IDK if the rebound will affect tectonics.

[swansont]

After a (short?) period of time the Earth would tend back to the same mass distribution and rotation speed, would it not?

 

 

No, I don't think so. The water would tend to distribute itself over the world, as it tends to do. This, on average, would be closer to the equator. The moment of inertia increases, so the speed decreases.

[J.C.MacSwell]

 

 

No, I don't think so. The water would tend to distribute itself over the world, as it tends to do. This, on average, would be closer to the equator. The moment of inertia increases, so the speed decreases.

Tidal forces aside, as water is much more responsive, doesn't all the other matter tend do the same, find the balance with the equatorial bulge and gravity balancing the angular momentum, and generally overwhelming any shear strength the materials might have other than very close to the surface?

[swansont]

Tidal forces aside, as water is much more responsive, doesn't all the other matter tend do the same, find the balance with the equatorial bulge and gravity balancing the angular momentum, and generally overwhelming any shear strength the materials might have other than very close to the surface?

 

 

Don't think so. Continents moving around isn't driven by this (or driven much), AFAIK.

[J.C.MacSwell]

 

 

Don't think so. Continents moving around isn't driven by this (or driven much), AFAIK.

I might be over-guesstimating the speed of adjustment but I would expect most of the rebalance to take place more radially, the vast majority of it well below the continental plates. A lot of effects going on at once, but over almost four thousand miles of depth.

Ice melting will dilute the oceans a bit, making them less salty, about 1.5%.

 

The weight of ice on Greenland, a couple of miles thick in places, pushes ground levels down; they will rebound as ice melts. IDK if the rebound will affect tectonics.

Similar in concept to this but globally

[Raider5678]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25723-massive-ocean-discovered-towards-earths-core/

Hmmmm. Go figure lol.

[Moontanman]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25723-massive-ocean-discovered-towards-earths-core/

Hmmmm. Go figure lol.

 

 

What has got to do with the premise of the earth being completely covered by water?

[Sorcerer]

OK, thanks for all your ideas everyone, please keep them coming!

Delta1212 - I get what you're saying, that there is only so much water on Earth and there isn't enough to flood all the land (or a large part of it). But can anyone envisage a situation where the very physical molecular structure of rainfall water is altered (by chemical pollutants for instance), making the water denser (if that is the right word) so that it physically occupies more space than it normally would (e.g. a rainstorm of 1 cubic litre of water per hectare would be the equivalent of, say, 10 cubic litres of water)?

I know this is very far-fetched, but could it theoretically happen, and if so, under what circumstances? Is it conceivable that man-made contaminants could change rainfall in this way (if clouds contained some kind of a gas or crystalline substance created by pollution which in turn brought about this "mutation"?)

 

Thanks for all your considered and imaginative responses!

You'd have to change physics not chemistry.

You could melt all of the rock and let it slide into the ocean. If the earth were a solid with no "bumps", the water would lie on top of it. But in the present configuration of the earth, no.

A possible scientific dystopia could be created semi believably by a process similar to fracking where geothermal energy was attempted to be tapped along the coast. Resulting in magma from under the continental crust flowing onto the seabed.

I think that's along the lines of a pretty good suggestion though. A hitherto undetected ice asteroid field takes on the Earth in a great snowball fight. A real meteor "shower".

 

Assuming it is steady and unrelenting until it floods the Earth, Everest included, my quick back of the envelope calculation says it would take about 5 weeks and 5 days.

I think he's looking for a scientific discovery causing it. So, space mining destabilizing the configuration.

I just thought of this today. Could not find anything about. If Greenland and South Pole glaciers melted. Would there be any effect on the planet with the weight displacement? Because I heard if Greenland glaciers melted oceans would rise 10 ft. alone? Thanks

Greenland and Antarctica would rise too.

 

 

What has got to do with the premise of the earth being completely covered by water?

Use your imagination ,it's for science FICTION.

[Moontanman]

You'd have to change physics not chemistry.

 

A possible scientific dystopia could be created semi believably by a process similar to fracking where geothermal energy was attempted to be tapped along the coast. Resulting in magma from under the continental crust flowing onto the seabed.

 

I think he's looking for a scientific discovery causing it. So, space mining destabilizing the configuration.

Greenland and Antarctica would rise too.

 

Use your imagination ,it's for science FICTION.

 

 

Well then why worry about where it came from or where it went... ?

[Sorcerer]

 

 

Well then why worry about where it came from or where it went... ?

https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/ask-writer/whats-the-difference-between-science-fiction-and-fantasy

[Moontanman]

https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/ask-writer/whats-the-difference-between-science-fiction-and-fantasy

 

 

Golly gee, thanks for the heads up, writing is so beyond me...

[Sorcerer]

Sarcasm is beyond me.