NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Impact melting of frozen oceans on the early Earth: implications for the origin of lifeWithout sufficient greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the early Earth would have become a permanently frozen planet because the young Sun was less luminous than it is today. Several resolutions to this faint young Sun-frozen Earth paradox have been proposed, with an atmosphere rich in CO2 being the one generally favored. However, these models assume that there were no mechanisms for melting a once frozen ocean. Here we show that bolide impacts between about 3.6 and 4.0 billion years ago could have episodically melted an ice-covered early ocean. Thaw-freeze cycles associated with bolide impacts could have been important for the initiation of abiotic reactions that gave rise to the first living organisms.
Document ID
20040089679
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Bada, J. L.
(Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego La Jolla 92093-0212, United States)
Bigham, C.
Miller, S. L.
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
February 1, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume: 91
ISSN: 0027-8424
Subject Category
Exobiology
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
NASA Discipline Exobiology
Non-NASA Center

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available