| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Earth May Have Lost Some Primoridial Atmosphere to Meteors
4.5 billion years ago, during the Hadean Eon, Earth was bombarded regularly by meteorites. Credit: NASA
During the Hadean Eon, some 4.5 billion years ago, the world was a much different place than it is today. As the name Hades would suggest (Greek for “underworld”), it was a hellish period for Earth, marked by intense volcanism and intense meteoric impacts. It was also during this time that outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and water vapor.
Little of this primordial atmosphere remains, and geothermal evidence suggests that the Earth’s atmosphere may have been completely obliterated at least twice since its formation more than 4 billion years ago. Until recently, scientists were uncertain as to what could have caused this loss.
But a new study from MIT, Hebrew Univeristy, and Caltech indicates that the intense bombardment of meteorites in this period may have been responsible.(…)
Read the rest of Earth May Have Lost Some Primoridial Atmosphere to Meteors (1,058 words)
© mwill for Universe Today, 2014. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Post tags: caltech, earth’s atmosphere, Hadean Eon, Hebrew University, impactors, MIT, Moon, Theia, Venus
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/116955/earth-may-have-lost-some-primoridial-atmosphere-to-meteors/
