A formation known as the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa contains evidence of a giant impact that shook Earth 3.26 billion years ago, an event known as S2. Drabon and her colleagues performed a painstaking characterization of the minerals in the S2 rock layer, and devised a reconstruction of the sequence of events that followed.

Around 3.26 billion years ago, long before complex life forms roamed the Earth, a meteorite of staggering proportions slammed into the planet, dramatically altering its environment. This cosmic impact,

Billions of years ago, long before anything resembling life as we know it existed, meteorites frequently pummeled the planet. One such space rock crashed down about 3.26 billion years ago, and even today,

A new study from Harvard scientists reveals that the catastrophic impact actually allowed life on Earth to flourish. The post Massive meteorite impact 3 billion years ago aided life on Earth’s growth appeared first on Talker.