Ancient Meteorite Impact Transforming Life on Earth: New Evidence Revealed

Billions of years ago, before life forms similar to those that exist on Earth appeared today, our planet was regularly bombarded by meteorites. One such impact occurred 3.26 billion years ago. Geological evidence of this event has been found in rocks in South Africa.

Nadja Drabon, a geologist in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, and her team collected rocks, studying their sediment, geochemistry and carbon isotopic composition. The results of this research have been published, showing the course of events that are said to have occurred more than 3 billion years ago, when an asteroid hit the Earth.

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This historic event, known as S2, was thought to be much larger than the one responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. We are talking about something up to 200 times bigger. The S2 impact triggered a tsunami that mixed the ocean waters and swept dust from land to coastal areas.

The heat from the impact was also important. It caused the boiling of the surface layer of the ocean and also had the effect of increasing the temperature of the atmosphere. A thick layer of dust covered the planet, preventing photosynthesis.

Despite this, the bacteria quickly rebuilt the population. At that time, a significant increase in the number of organisms feeding on phosphorus and iron was recorded. The iron was probably carried up from the depths of the ocean, and the phosphorus came from both meteorite and more land erosion.

Drabon’s analyzes show that bacteria with metabolisms based on iron grew quickly as a direct result of the effect. This shift of life towards iron-preferring bacteria, although short-lived, may have had a significant impact on the early development of life on Earth.

– We think of consequences as accidents for our lives. But this research shows that they also provided life benefits, especially at an early stage they could allow him to thrive, Drabon believes.

The research was carried out in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, a geological formation located on the eastern edge of the Kaapvaal Craton in South Africa. This area is thought to be the original crust of the Earth from 3.5 to 2.5 billion years ago. In addition to impact S2, evidence of at least eight other meteorite impacts has been found. Scientists plan to investigate these issues further.