Asteroid impacts kept early Earth hot and unstable, study finds

Asteroid impacts kept early Earth hot and unstable, study finds

A new study says repeated asteroid impacts drove heat deep into the young Earth and kept its crust weak. This suggests heavy bombardment may have helped form continents while erasing most Hadean rocks.

Asteroid Assault Made Ancient Earth Too Hot And Chaotic For Continents To Form

New research led by Curtin University and QUT (Queensland University of Technology) has revealed repeated asteroid impacts may have been the dominant force shaping the early Earth, delivering vast amounts of heat into the planet’s interior and delaying the formation of stable continents. The study suggests that during the Hadean — more than four billion years ago — Earth was struck far more frequently than today, with each impact injecting energ…