It was four times larger than Mount Everest , triggered a tidal wave larger than any recorded in human history and caused the seas to boil — but an ancient meteor might have also fostered life on Earth following its impact, researchers have found.
The meteorite named S2 was initially found in 2014. This celestial body struck the Earth approximately 3.26 billion years in the past and is believed to have been as much as 200 times bigger than the asteroid responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The new findings, released in the scientific periodical National Academy of Sciences Proceedings On Monday, propose that this colossal impact did not just cause devastation on Earth, but also facilitated the flourishing of early life forms.
"We understand that massive meteorite impacts occurred frequently during Earth's early stages and had an impact on the development of primitive life forms, but we lacked a clear comprehension of this process," said Nadja Drabon, a geologist at Harvard University and the principal investigator of the study, via email to NBC News.
Drabon’s research has been a labor of love, driven by inspiration from various prior investigations highlighting how collisions with meteorites could potentially affect living organisms.
"We have always been aware that meteorite impacts were considerably more common and generally bigger during the early stages of Earth’s history," stated Andrew Knoll, a Harvard geologist and co-author of the study.
"While individuals have pondered the possible biological and environmental outcomes of past collisions, there hasn’t been much concrete evidence to examine different theories," Knoll noted additionally.
The research team traveled for three field seasons to Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa to collect the samples needed for the study, accompanied with years of laboratory work, Drabon said.
When Earth was still young, a meteorite collided with our planet during an era dominated by vast oceans, where just a handful of landmasses protruded above the surface.
Drabon mentioned that during their fieldwork, they were searching for spherule particles or minuscule rock shards remnants from the meteorite’s impact.
The group gathered 220 pounds of rocks and transported them to the laboratory for examination.
Scientists discovered that the massive meteorite triggered a tsunami that engulfed the entire globe. The heat generated by the collision vaporized the surface layers of the ocean and warmed the air significantly.
They discovered geological proof indicating that the tsunami stirred up nutrients like iron and phosphorus.
Moreover, there was partial ocean evaporation accompanied by periods of darkness, which probably adversely affected shallow-water photosynthetic microorganisms in the short term.
The researchers discovered that life in the deeper parts of the ocean was less impacted.
Jon Wade, associate professor of planetary materials at Oxford University in England, said the distribution of this iron-rich water is the crucial element to how life began.
Wade mentioned that iron is the most plentiful element by weight in our planet, yet much of it resides within the Earth’s core, approximately 1,800 miles below us.
Even so, living organisms depend on iron for their existence. Currently, only two types of lifeforms—lactobacilli, commonly present in yogurt, and Borrelia burgdorferi, known for causing Lyme disease—are not reliant on iron.
Consequently, there was a brief surge in microorganisms that depended on iron.
The research has garnered worldwide media attention, which the team mentioned they had not expected.
"There has been an unexpectedly high level of interest in the paper; I guess we owe that to the dinosaurs," Knoll stated.
I feel incredibly enthusiastic about my research, and I'm aware of its significance to the scientific community," Drabon stated. "It was a delightful shock to see how engaged the general audience has become.
The article was initially posted on Pawonation.com
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