A massive asteroid’s impact billions of years ago diversified life on Earth: Study

[JACK AYLMER]

GEOLOGISTS UNCOVERED REMNANTS FROM A GIANT SPACE ROCK THAT COULD PROVIDE ANSWERS TO WHAT IGNITED AN ABUNDANCE OF LIFE ON EARTH.

NEW RESEARCH PUBLISHED MONDAY REVEALS A GIANT SPACE ROCK SLAMMED INTO WHAT’S NOW SOUTH AFRICA MORE THAN THREE BILLION YEARS AGO.

WITH ONE STUDENT RESEARCHER CALLING IT A “FERTILIZER BOMB” FOR LIFE.

THE STUDY SHOWS THE MASSIVE ASTEROID THE SIZE OF MOUNT EVEREST SMASHED INTO EARTH, BOILING THE OCEAN AND CREATING A GLOBAL TSUNAMI.

BUT SCIENTISTS SAY IT DIDN’T LEAD TO MASS DIE-OFFS BECAUSE LIFE WAS VERY MINIMAL STILL ON EARTH.

RESEARCHERS BELIEVE AFTER THE DESTRUCTIVE IMPACT IT EVENTUALLY STIRRED UP THE INGREDIENTS FOR MORE LIFE WITH A COMBINATION OF IRON AND PHOSPHORUS FROM THE METEORITE FALLING INTO THE OCEAN.

ORGANISMS QUICKLY RECOVERED AND THRIVED GREATER THAN EVER DUE TO A MASSIVE INCREASE IN NUTRIENTS FROM THE METEORITE THAT EVENTUALLY SEEPED INTO THE OCEAN.

THE STUDY HAS SPURRED NEW INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES SPACE ROCKS HAVE BROUGHT TO EARTH.

BILLIONS OF YEARS AGO, IMPACTS FROM METEORITES WERE MUCH MORE COMMON GEOLOGISTS HOPE IT PROVIDES SOME ANSWERS TO SOME OF THE MYSTERIES OF HOW LIFE BEGAN ON EARTH.

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FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS– I’M JACK AYLMER.