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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Planetary Science Journal

Coupled Evolution of Earth’s H2-rich Proto-atmosphere and Oxidized Magma Ocean: Efficient H2O Production through Dissolved H2 Transport and Atmospheric Buffering of the Magma Ocean Redox State

  • Tatsuya Yoshida1,2,3
  • Kirara Arima4
  • Naoki Terada3
  • Takeshi Kuroda3,5
  • Kiyoshi Kuramoto4
5 affiliations
  1. 1Institute of Science Tokyo
  2. 2University of Washington
  3. 3Tohoku University
  4. 4Hokkaido University
  5. 5National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Giant impacts during Earth’s final accretion likely generated global magma oceans, where the disproportionation of Fe ²⁺ at lower mantle pressures and segregation of the resulting metallic iron into the core could have oxidized the magma ocean. Earth may nevertheless have had an H ₂ -rich proto-atmosphere in chemical disequilibrium with the magma ocean, but the chemical coupling between this atmosphere and an oxidized magma ocean remains poorly constrained. Here, we develop a coupled interior-atmosphere evolution model that includes diffusive transport in the boundary layer between the magma ocean and atmosphere, redox reactions in the melt, partitioning of oxide components and H ₂ O among coexisting phases, and planetary cooling through a proto-atmosphere, with metallic iron produced by Fe ²⁺ disproportionation removed into the core as it forms. Atmospheric H ₂ transport into the magma ocean and subsequent H ₂ O production become more efficient with increasingly frequent boundary layer renewal driven by buoyant overturn of dense melt cooled at the surface, allowing the atmosphere and magma ocean to chemically equilibrate within ∼10 ⁴ yr when the magma ocean is sufficiently deep and hot to extend into the lower mantle. Redox exchange with the atmosphere buffers the solidification-driven redox evolution of the magma ocean, preventing extreme oxidation or reduction of the coupled system. These results suggest that the coupled evolution could have contributed to early Earth’s water inventory while maintaining a reducing H ₂ -rich atmosphere.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{yoshida2026coupled,
  title = {{Coupled Evolution of Earth’s H2-rich Proto-atmosphere and Oxidized Magma Ocean: Efficient H2O Production through Dissolved H2 Transport and Atmospheric Buffering of the Magma Ocean Redox State}},
  author = {Tatsuya Yoshida and Kirara Arima and Naoki Terada and Takeshi Kuroda and Kiyoshi Kuramoto},
  journal = {The Planetary Science Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/psj/aeb09d},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/aeb09d},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Coupled Evolution of Earth’s H2-rich Proto-atmosphere and Oxidized Magma Ocean: Efficient H2O Production through Dissolved H2 Transport and Atmospheric Buffering of the Magma Ocean Redox State
AU  - Tatsuya Yoshida
AU  - Kirara Arima
AU  - Naoki Terada
AU  - Takeshi Kuroda
AU  - Kiyoshi Kuramoto
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/26
JO  - The Planetary Science Journal
DO  - 10.3847/psj/aeb09d
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/aeb09d
AB  - Giant impacts during Earth’s final accretion likely generated global magma oceans, where the disproportionation of Fe ²⁺ at lower mantle pressures and segregation of the resulting metallic iron into the core could have oxidized the magma ocean. Earth may nevertheless have had an H ₂ -rich proto-atmosphere in chemical disequilibrium with the magma ocean, but the chemical coupling between this atmosphere and an oxidized magma ocean remains poorly constrained. Here, we develop a coupled interior-atmosphere evolution model that includes diffusive transport in the boundary layer between the magma ocean and atmosphere, redox reactions in the melt, partitioning of oxide components and H ₂ O among coexisting phases, and planetary cooling through a proto-atmosphere, with metallic iron produced by Fe ²⁺ disproportionation removed into the core as it forms. Atmospheric H ₂ transport into the magma ocean and subsequent H ₂ O production become more efficient with increasingly frequent boundary layer renewal driven by buoyant overturn of dense melt cooled at the surface, allowing the atmosphere and magma ocean to chemically equilibrate within ∼10 ⁴ yr when the magma ocean is sufficiently deep and hot to extend into the lower mantle. Redox exchange with the atmosphere buffers the solidification-driven redox evolution of the magma ocean, preventing extreme oxidation or reduction of the coupled system. These results suggest that the coupled evolution could have contributed to early Earth’s water inventory while maintaining a reducing H ₂ -rich atmosphere.
SN  - 2632-3338
ER  -