Ancient Meteorite: A Giant Fertilizer Bomb for Early Life on Earth

Why in the news?

A new study shows that a massive meteorite impact 3.26 billion years ago, much larger than the one that killed the dinosaurs, may have aided early microbial life by providing essential nutrients.

Ancient Meteorite: A Giant Fertilizer Bomb for Early Life on Earth

Meteorite Impact and Its Immediate Effects:

  • A meteorite, spanning 37-58 km, struck Earth 3.26 billion years ago, causing global devastation.
  • The impact vaporised rocks, created a rock vapour cloud, and turned the sky black, with heat causing the upper ocean layers to boil.
  • A massive tsunami swept across the globe, ripping up the seafloor and inundating coastlines.

Positive Role in Evolution of Life:

  • Despite the destruction, the meteorite delivered essential nutrients like phosphorus and iron, key for early microbial life.
  • These nutrients acted as “fertilisers,” aiding the recovery and growth of bacteria and archaea, which dominated the Earth at the time.
  • Microbial life not only survived but thrived after conditions stabilised within a few years to decades.

Long-Term Environmental Impact:

  • The meteorite impact mixed iron-rich deep waters with shallower waters, creating ideal conditions for microbial life.
  • Phosphorus, crucial for genetic material, provided microbes with the resources to flourish.
  • Researchers found evidence of life recovery in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, through fossilised bacterial mats.

Difference Between Meteoroid, Meteor and Meteorite:

  • Meteoroid: A small space object, ranging from dust grains to small asteroids, found in space.
  • Meteor: When a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere, it is referred to as a meteor, often visible as a bright streak of light or “shooting star.”
  • Meteorite: If a meteoroid survives its journey through the atmosphere and reaches the Earth’s surface, it is called a meteorite.
  • Key Difference: The classification (meteoroid, meteor, meteorite) depends on the object’s location—space (meteoroid), atmosphere (meteor), or Earth’s surface (meteorite).

Sources Referred:

PIB, The Hindu, Indian Express,Hindustan Times