A huge meteorite has hit Earth – four times the size of Mount Everest

The giant meteorites that struck Earth early in life weren't all bad for life. A new study makes this clear.

CAMBRIDGE – In Earth's early days, our planet was often exposed to huge chunks of rock. While later meteorite impacts on Earth sometimes had devastating effects on life — just think of dinosaurs — such early strikes may have had benefits for life. This shows a new one He studiesPublished in the specialized magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences It has been published.

“We imagine the impacts as catastrophic lifelong events,” explains study author Nadia Drabon of Harvard University. “But this study shows that these effects also had benefits for life, especially in early times, and that these effects may have allowed life to flourish.”

The S2 meteorite was four times the size of Mount Everest

The study conducted by Drabon and her team looks at the impact of a meteorite called “S2”, which struck Earth more than three billion years ago. According to the research, the size of the piece in question was between 37 and 58 kilometres, four times the size of Mount Everest. Evidence of the impact of the giant boulder can be found in the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. The team conducted research there to learn more about what happened to Earth after the meteorite impact.

“Imagine you are standing off the coast of Cape Cod, in a shallow body of water. It is a low-energy environment, without strong currents. Then suddenly a huge tsunami comes and tears up the sea floor.” He notices. The size of the “S2” meteorite is about 200 times larger than the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Its impact led to a massive tsunami that shook the ocean. The upper layer of the sea began to boil, heating the atmosphere. A thick cloud of dust covered everything – and all photosynthesis activities stopped.

After the meteorite hit Earth, bacteria that use iron were able to thrive

But after the impact, bacterial life on Earth quickly recovered, the team's analysis shows. The tsunami likely moved iron from the deep sea and transported it to shallow waters. The same meteorite also brought phosphorus to Earth.

According to the study, this ensured that iron-using bacteria were able to thrive immediately after the impact. According to Drabon's study, the early impact of the S2 meteorite “likely had regional, if not global, positive and negative impacts on life,” the study notes. (unpaid bill)