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Cometary Delivery of Organic Molecules to the Early Earth
Abstract
It has long been speculated that Earth accreted prebiotic organic molecules important for the origins of life from impacts of carbonaceous asteroids and comets during the period of heavy bombardment 4.5 × 10 9 to 3.8 × 10 9 years ago. A comprehensive treatment of comet-asteroid interaction with the atmosphere, surface impact, and resulting organic pyrolysis demonstrates that organics will not survive impacts at velocities greater than about 10 kilometers per second and that even comets and asteroids as small as 100 meters in radius cannot be aerobraked to below this velocity in 1-bar atmospheres. However, for plausible dense (10-bar carbon dioxide) early atmospheres, we find that 4.5 × 10 9 years ago Earth was accreting intact cometary organics at a rate of at least ∼10 6 to 10 7 kilograms per year, a flux that thereafter declined with a half-life of ∼10 8 years. These results may be put in context by comparison with terrestrial oceanic and total biomasses, ∼3 × 10 12 kilograms and ∼6 × 10 14 kilograms, respectively.
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“Input of material from comets and primitive meteorites such as chondrites in Earth's early history led to a biosphere (containing life and its environment) rich in the volatile elements hydrogen and oxygen (mostly as water) along with carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus (mostly as dissolved salts or gases) (Chyba et al., 1990).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Chyba et al., 1990
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Metadata
- Authors
- Chyba, C. F., Thomas, P. J., Brookshaw, L., & Sagan, C.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1990-07-27
- Volume
- 249
- Issue
- 4967
- Pages
- 366-373
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2076605024
- Cited by
- 577
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 29.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Keywords
- origin of life, early Earth, heavy bombardment, carbonaceous asteroids, comets, impact velocity, aerobraking
- MeSH terms
- Origin of Life, Amino Acids, Atmosphere, Carbon Dioxide, Chemistry, Organic, Biological Evolution, Formaldehyde, Hot Temperature, Hydrogen Cyanide, Solar System, Earth, Planet, Minor Planets, Organic Chemistry Phenomena
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