Waterworld Possibility: Can Planet Be Covered in Water?

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In summary, water is present on the surface of Earth in various forms and it is possible for a planet to be completely covered in water.
  • #1
saddlestone-man
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Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water?
Hello All

Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water, like in the film Waterworld?

Is it the ultimate fate of the Earth for all the land to be eroded into the oceans, and all the ice to melt, giving a planet showing no land?

best regards ... Stef

<minor edit - mentor>
 
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  • #2
If Earth had more water, the oceans would be deeper. I don't know of any upper bound on how much water a planet (including Earth) could have. Therefore, I have to say yes, it is possible.

By the way, high mountains are constantly renewed by plate tectonics on Earth. The Himalaya Mountains for example, are growing higher faster than they erode.

I'm not sure what we know about the surfaces of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. How do they define "surface"? are they liquid or gas?
 
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  • #3
saddlestone-man said:
Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water, like in the awful film Waterworld?

Although not a planet, but a moon of Saturn, Enceladus, is 500 kilometers in diameter, much like a planet, and covered by an ocean (which has a frozen surface). (You asked about water, not liquid water).

I see no real reason why such a thing could not happen to a larger body orbiting the sun.
 
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  • #4
anorlunda said:
I'm not sure what we know about the surfaces of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. How do they define "surface"? are they liquid or gas?
BillTre said:
Although not a planet, but a moon of Saturn, Enceladus, is 500 kilometers in diameter, much like a planet, and covered by an ocean (which has a frozen surface). (You asked about water, not liquid water).

I see no real reason why such a ting could not happen to a larger body orbiting the sun.
Concur that moons of the 'icy giants' are more accessible to our technology than the outer planets. Slightly smaller than Luna and one of the 'roundest' objects in the solar system, Europa, smallest of the Galilean moons of mighty Jupiter, contains an immense ocean under an oddly patterned icy crust.

Similar to Enceladus (see above), Europa exhibits icy plumes shooting kilometers above the surface likely from cryogeysers . These water plumes allow exploration and sampling of these moons' oceans and the search for microscopic organisms without the necessity of landing and drilling.

1613838532513.png
 
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  • #5
saddlestone-man said:
Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water, like in the awful film Waterworld?

BillTre said:
I see no real reason why such a thing could not happen to a larger body orbiting the sun.

Neither do I.
 
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  • #6
The movie Interstellar also had a water world.
1613857393797.png
 
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  • #7
saddlestone-man said:
Summary:: Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water?

Is it the ultimate fate of the Earth for all the land to be eroded into the oceans, and all the ice to melt, giving a planet showing no land?
Tectonics would have to stop, and that isn't happening any time soon.
Then it would take 100's of millions of years after that for erosion to flatten the highpoints
 
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  • #8
A discussion of Earth before continents arose from plate tectonic activity, when Earth was almost all ocean -
https://Earth'sky.org/earth/when-Earth's-continents-rose-above-its-oceans

So Earth was very likely an ocean world. Plus during Cryogenean times, 'snowball' Earth came to be, when virtually all of the Earth surface was under ice.

See artist versions of Earth during the two glacial periods and impacts on life - Snowball Earth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_Earth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryogenian
 
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  • #9
DaveC426913 said:
Also: Waterworld was not a bad film.
It cost more Mars Pathfinder.
 
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  • #10
U.S. Geological Survey
"Water, Water, Everywhere..." You've heard the phrase, and for water, it really is true. Earth's water is (almost) everywhere: above the Earth in the air and clouds and on the surface of the Earth in rivers, oceans, ice, plants, and in living organisms. But did you know that water is also inside the Earth? Read on to learn more.:smile:

[. . . ]

###
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/where-Earth's-water?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
 
  • #11
Many thanks for the answers.

I guess if Earth still had a moon in this water-covered scenario, then the water would form a massive pair of bulges, locked to the Moon, which would circle the Earth once every 24 hours. Thinking about this, the bulges would be moving at 1,000 mph at the equator, but the motion of the water itself would be a combination of movement up and down, with a much slower (than 1,000mph) rotational speed. The Sun would complicate the overall tidal motion.

best regards ... Stef
 
  • #13
We are going into movie reviews here, which are really far outside the topic. Please take your perfectly good set of comments on movies to General Discussion. They will be a really good fit there. Not so, here.
 
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  • #14
No reason why not. Earth's diameter is abt 8000 miles, while the highest mountain peak is only five miles above sea level while the deepest ocean trench is only seven miles below it Were Earth a yard across, the difference between highest and lowest points would be only abt a thirtieth of an inch. Yet there is just enough water to cover three fourths of its surface while leaving the other one-fourth high and dry. I suspect we are a bit of a freak, and that on most planets which have oceans at all, these will cover the entire world.
 
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  • #15
saddlestone-man said:
Summary:: Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water?

Hello All

Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water, like in the film Waterworld?

Is it the ultimate fate of the Earth for all the land to be eroded into the oceans, and all the ice to melt, giving a planet showing no land?

best regards ... Stef

<minor edit - mentor>

We have lost a lot of water too according to the below

https://sciencenordic.com/chemistry...earth-has-lost-a-quarter-of-its-water/1462713
 
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  • #16
Mikestone said:
the highest mountain peak is only five miles above sea level

Or it's Mount Lamlam, 1300 feet above sea level but 37000 feet above the ocean floor.
 
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  • #17
saddlestone-man said:
I guess if Earth still had a moon in this water-covered scenario, then the water would form a massive pair of bulges, locked to the Moon, which would circle the Earth once every 24 hours. Thinking about this, the bulges would be moving at 1,000 mph at the equator, but the motion of the water itself would be a combination of movement up and down, with a much slower (than 1,000mph) rotational speed. The Sun would complicate the overall tidal motion.
How does that differ from the current situation besides that the tidal motion would be less interrupted?
 
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  • #18
A planet, sure. A life-bearing planet, not so much. I recall discussions (will make a small effort to find some and edit them into here) that weathering of rock exposed to atmospheric gases is necessary to create phosphates, in turn necessary for both DNA & RNA.
 
  • #19
saddlestone-man said:
Summary:: Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water?

Hello All

Is it possible to have a planet completely covered in water, like in the film Waterworld?

Is it the ultimate fate of the Earth for all the land to be eroded into the oceans, and all the ice to melt, giving a planet showing no land?

best regards ... Stef

<minor edit - mentor>
Land errosion is only part of the cycle, land is also created by techtonic plates moving (subject to Coriolis effect and converction?).
Also as the ice melts water volume increase but land when not weight down by ice, raise at the same time so the ratio between emerged land and water volume may remains constant.
 
  • #20
pinball1970 said:
We have lost a lot of water too according to the below
These recent papers suggest that (besides or instead of into space) a lot of water has gone into
1) hydrating minerals in the mantle as the Earth cools
https://Earth'sky.org/earth/ancient-earth-water-world-global-ocean-harvard/
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020AV000323
2) forming the less dense rocks of the continental crust
https://theconversation.com/just-ad...ery-of-how-the-first-continents-formed-156845
 
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  • #21
Keith_McClary said:
These recent papers suggest that (besides or instead of into space) a lot of water has gone into
1) hydrating minerals in the mantle as the Earth cools
https://Earth'sky.org/earth/ancient-earth-water-world-global-ocean-harvard/
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020AV000323
2) forming the less dense rocks of the continental crust
https://theconversation.com/just-ad...ery-of-how-the-first-continents-formed-156845
It has been estimated that about 1/2 the volume of the current oceans went into hydrating the mantle after the Earth was formed.
It also took a while (details disputed) or plate tectonics to get started and for continents (less dense rocks) to form.
This line of thought holds that the Earth was initially covered with an ocean with only an ocassional volcanic island sticking out of the water. These would be mantle plume volcanic systems like Iceland or Hawaii, not those associated with subduction zones (which require active tectonics).

Here is a reference on the initiation of plate tectonics.
 
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  • #22
fducedam said:
Land errosion is only part of the cycle, land is also created by techtonic plates moving (subject to Coriolis effect and converction?).
Also as the ice melts water volume increase but land when not weight down by ice, raise at the same time so the ratio between emerged land and water volume may remains constant.
The Earth has ice and plate tectonics, but the OP was asking about a theoretical other planet.
 

1. What is the likelihood of the entire planet being covered in water?

The likelihood of the entire planet being covered in water is very low. While there is a possibility of sea levels rising due to climate change, it is highly unlikely that the entire planet will be submerged in water.

2. What would cause the entire planet to be covered in water?

The most likely scenario for the entire planet to be covered in water would be a catastrophic event such as a massive asteroid impact or a supervolcano eruption. These events could cause a significant rise in sea levels, but it is still highly unlikely that the entire planet would be submerged.

3. How much of the planet is currently covered in water?

Currently, approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered in water. This includes oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. The remaining 29% is land.

4. What would happen to life on Earth if the entire planet was covered in water?

If the entire planet was covered in water, it would have a catastrophic impact on life as we know it. Most land-dwelling animals would not survive, and the ocean ecosystem would be greatly disrupted. It is likely that only aquatic organisms would be able to survive in such an environment.

5. Is there any scientific evidence to support the possibility of the entire planet being covered in water?

While there is no scientific evidence to support the possibility of the entire planet being covered in water, there is evidence of past events where large portions of the Earth were submerged. For example, during the last ice age, sea levels were significantly lower, and land bridges connected continents. However, this is not the same as the entire planet being covered in water.

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