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Annihilation of ecosystems by large asteroid impacts on the early earthLarge 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.
Document ID
19900027793
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Sleep, Norman H.
(Stanford University CA, United States)
Zahnle, Kevin J.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Kasting, James F.
(Pennsylvania State University University Park, United States)
Morowitz, Harold J.
(George Mason University Fairfax, VA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
November 9, 1989
Publication Information
Publication: Nature
Volume: 342
ISSN: 0028-0836
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
90A14848
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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