Origin of Earth's Oceans Flyer

Water is so vital to our survival, but strangely enough, we don’t know the first thing about it—literally the first. Where does water, a giver and taker of life on planet Earth, come from?

Geoscientists continue to debate two competing theories on the origin of Earth's water.  One suggests that Earth’s water might have been captured from asteroids and comets that collided with the planet. But recent research has strengthened the case for the other theory that water was always present in the rocks of the Earth’s mantle and was gradually released to the surface through volcanoes. Working out which mechanism was more important would not only give us a better understanding of the Earth’s history but also help us in the search for other planets that could support life. So which theory is best? That is the topic for discussion, but it may be a combination between the two.

For this assignment, you will be creating an online flyer discussing the two theories of how the earth got it's water.  As mentioned above, the two leading theories are:

A) Captured ice from asteroids/comets

B) Outgassing of volcanoes 

Before you start this assignment, skim through the following 2 articles to help you research how the earth got it's water and to better understand the theories that are the most credible.

Link Links to an external site. to Theory #1 - From Earth formation and Outgassing of volcanoes

Link Links to an external site. to Theory #2 - Meteors/Asteroids

In your flyer, you should address an audience who is not from this world.  You want to advertise your flyer in such a way that would attract extra terrestrials (not necessarily little green things...but hey it could be) to our planet so that they can learn about how they could get their home planets to develop water.  You could include bold texts, pictures, sketches, diagrams or charts.  Your flyer needs to at least contain the following items:

1) A title (ex: "How Earth got it's water" or "Want water on your planet? Come and learn how!")

2) A brief explanation to both theories of where water came from.  Each theory explanation should be at least 2 sentences.  

3) Include a time and location of where they could come to learn about it (you may want to include something about spaceship parking....)

4) Must be aesthetically pleasing.  Nobody will pay attention to the flyer if it isn't organized and presented well.  Use text that stands out and good pictures to grab a readers attention.   

Links to an external site. You need to make a flyer that is completed online.  The easiest way to do it is to create it through google docs or google draw.  If you do not have a gmail account, you will need to set one up.  To turn in your assignment, you will need to save your flyer as a jpeg and upload it onto canvas through this assignment page.  This assignment will be due Tuesday, January 23. 

Here are some examples of some different types of flyers: