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Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
Begins approximately 4 Ga
According to the latest scientific understanding, water formation on the earth derives from two sources – water from asteroid bombardment and water from the mantle and core of the earth from the original accretion process during earth formation. This water was enough to cover the entire surface of the earth sometime during the Archaean eon from 4 bya to 2.4 bya.
The second phrase of Genesis 1:2 seems to move Earth’s history forward from the point where earth has just become a planet to the point where deep water has covered the earth and there is darkness above this water-covered earth. In this visualization we take the point of view of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters, where everything is very dark. We could also have taken the point of view of viewing the dark cloud covered earth from outer space as well. But in either case, the earth has been transformed to the point of water covering the entire earth and dark clouds of carbon dioxide above. Some light reflection is shown on the water for artistic purposes, but there would not be much light falling on the water at this point because of the dense could cover.