Asteroids, Volcanoes and Meteorites
The Earth has been impacted by asteroids and volcanoes throughout its history. Large meteorite impacts may not just throw up huge dust clouds but also punch right through the Earth’s crust, triggering gigantic volcanic eruptions 1. The heavy bombardment of terrestrial planets by asteroids from space has contributed to the formation of the early evolved crust on Earth that later gave rise to continents – home to human civilization 2. Comets and asteroids probably delivered some of the water and other ingredients that allowed the complex chemistry of life to begin on Earth. The amino acid glycine was discovered in the comet dust returned to Earth by NASA’s Stardust mission. Glycine is used by living organisms to make proteins 3. Meteorites contain the six most common elements found in living things: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus. These six elements, combined with other volatiles like water and zinc, may have helped establish life as we know it 45.
It is believed that the organic molecules that led to the origin of life on Earth were brought by meteorites 5. The fact that meteorites likely did bring organic molecules to Earth may explain why life formed so rapidly here 5. However, the exact mechanism of how meteorites contributed to the origin of life is still a topic of research and debate among scientists.
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