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Pre-biotic organic matter from comets and asteroidsOnly meteoritic fragments small enough to be gently decelerated by the atmosphere (10 to the -12th g to 10 to the -6th g) can deliver organic matter intact. The amount of such 'soft-landed' organic carbon can be estimated from data for the infall rate of meteoritic matter. At present rates, only about 0.0006 g/sq cm intact organic carbon would accumulate in 100 million years, but at the higher rates of about four billion yr ago, about 20 g/sq cm may have accumulated in the few hundred million years between the last cataclysmic impact and the beginning of life. It may have included some biologically important compounds that did not form by abiotic synthesis on earth.
Document ID
19900029105
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Anders, Edward
(Chicago, University IL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
November 16, 1989
Publication Information
Publication: Nature
Volume: 342
ISSN: 0028-0836
Subject Category
Space Biology
Accession Number
90A16160
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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