A brief and non comprehensive history of Earth:

Accretion (protoplanetary disc) > Big Whack (Moon formation) > differentiation (core formation) > surface cooling (retention of volatiles)

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(By the way, I hate it that so many papers in the areas of planetary science and geology are not easily available to the dreaded "non-subscribers". It is like they are screaming at me: "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH". Good, I feel better now.)

"Quaerendo inventis"