Impact frustration of the origin of life
@article{Maher1988ImpactFO, title={Impact frustration of the origin of life}, author={Kevin Albert Maher and David J. Stevenson}, journal={Nature}, year={1988}, volume={331}, pages={612-614} }
One possible definition for the origin of life on Earth is the time at which the interval between devastating environmental insults by impact exceeded the timescale for establishing self-replicating proto-organisms. A quantitative relationship for the Hadean (pre-3,800 Myr ago) and Early Archean (3,800 to 3,400 Myr) impact flux can be derived from the lunar and terrestrial impact records. Also, the effects of impact-related processes on the various environments proposed for abiogenesis (the…
351 Citations
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