--Thought I would reply to this bit that caught my eye, by the way, did you write all of that, or is it an outside article?
"It was concluded in the 1960s that the earth's primitive atmosphere was derived from volcanic outgassing, and consisted of water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and trace amounts of hydrogen. With most of the hydrogen being lost to space, there would be nothing to reduce the carbon dioxide and nitrogen, so methane and ammonia could not have been major constituents of the early atmosphere."
--I found it as a bit of a 'possible', inconsistancy with the process of geologic and volcanic cycles within marine geology. Knowing this cycle, gases being volatiles are I believe produced as a consequence of subduction, a basic plate-tectonic phenomenon. Being of such an origin, I would wonder what came first, the atmosphere, or the oceans? Seeing that this process is what it seems is required for an atmosphere to be created, thereby requireing an ocean. Or am I wrong on gases in the earths asthenospheric mantle. Also, if this is the process that is required for gases to be an origination from volcano's, the genesis of the earth itself in the Solar system's evolution may be flawed. That is, the theory that the Earth was once a molten mass. If the earth ever was a liquid molten mass, gasses would easilly escape out of the earth, viscosity being of a much higher magnitude. Anyways, this is just a thought.
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