How and when did life form on Earth? The oldest supracrustal rock we have found
has evidence for life at around 3850 Myr (Greenland). The oldest terrestrial
materials (Jack Hill zircons at 4350 Myr) also show evidence of meteoric water
activity. So, very early in Earth’s history it was transformed from a
hot, accreting protoplanet, to the more bucolic environment we know today. Water
is the essential ingredient in the recipe of life. The atmosphere is growth
medium. Through tracing vestiges of natural plutonium decay, constraints can
be placed on the age of the atmosphere. The early atmosphere was likely lost
during initial high solar activity, but oxygenation of the atmosphere did not
occur until the late Archean.
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The Earth after accretion would have been hot and inhospitable, but must have rapidly evolved to a watery bucolic environment suitable for rapid evolution of life.
Contact
Mark Harrison
Trevor Ireland
Vickie Bennett
Allen Nutman
Masahiko Honda
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