4.4 – 4.1 billion years ago – Exuberant volcanoes expel hotly agitated deep earth to the surface. Over hundreds of millions of years, Earth has grown from dust particles to a large, hot, molten rock. As the surface of Earth quiets and cools, an atmosphere begins to form. Then a miracle of transformation: when the temperature falls below 100 degrees centigrade, the first rain begins to fall! Torrential rains fall on, and on, and on for tens of millions of years leaving the Earth awash with shallow, island-studded seas. Most of that original water will be lost to space but ice-laden comets will more than make up for the losses.