Annihilation of ecosystems by large asteroid impacts on the early Earth

Norman H. Sleep; Kevin J. Zahnle; James F. Kasting; Harold J. Morowitz

doi:10.1038/342139a0

Annihilation of ecosystems by large asteroid impacts on the early Earth

Norman H. Sleep, Kevin J. Zahnle, James F. Kasting, Harold J. Morowitz

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370 Scopus citations

Abstract

Large asteroid impacts produced globally lethal conditions by evaporating large volumes of ocean water on the early Earth. The Earth may have been continuously habitable by ecosystems that did not depend on photosynthesis as early as 4.44 Gyr BP (before present). Only a brief interval after 3.8 Gyr exists between the time when obligate photosynthetic organisms could continuously evolve and the time when the palaeontological record indicates highly evolved photosynthetic ecosystems.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	139-142
Number of pages	4
Journal	Nature
Volume	342
Issue number	6246
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/342139a0
State	Published - Jan 1 1989

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abstract = "Large asteroid impacts produced globally lethal conditions by evaporating large volumes of ocean water on the early Earth. The Earth may have been continuously habitable by ecosystems that did not depend on photosynthesis as early as 4.44 Gyr BP (before present). Only a brief interval after 3.8 Gyr exists between the time when obligate photosynthetic organisms could continuously evolve and the time when the palaeontological record indicates highly evolved photosynthetic ecosystems.",

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Annihilation of ecosystems by large asteroid impacts on the early Earth

Abstract

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