Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Microbial habitability of the Hadean Earth during the late heavy bombardment

Nature volume 459, pages 419–422 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Lunar rocks1,2 and impact melts3, lunar4 and asteroidal meteorites5, and an ancient martian meteorite6 record thermal metamorphic events with ages that group around and/or do not exceed 3.9 Gyr. That such a diverse suite of solar system materials share this feature is interpreted to be the result of a post-primary-accretion cataclysmic spike in the number of impacts commonly referred to as the late heavy bombardment (LHB)1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Despite its obvious significance to the preservation of crust and the survivability of an emergent biosphere, the thermal effects of this bombardment on the young Earth remain poorly constrained. Here we report numerical models constructed to probe the degree of thermal metamorphism in the crust in the effort to recreate the effect of the LHB on the Earth as a whole; outputs were used to assess habitable volumes of crust for a possible near-surface and subsurface primordial microbial biosphere. Our analysis shows that there is no plausible situation in which the habitable zone was fully sterilized on Earth, at least since the termination of primary accretion of the planets and the postulated impact origin of the Moon. Our results explain the root location of hyperthermophilic bacteria in the phylogenetic tree for 16S small-subunit ribosomal RNA8, and bode well for the persistence of microbial biospheres even on planetary bodies strongly reworked by impacts.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A three-dimensional thermal model representing the Earth’s lithosphere at various times during the LHB in our baseline scenario.
Figure 2: Impactor mass distribution for the Earth during the LHB.
Figure 3: Immediate thermal effects of impacts on the lithosphere.
Figure 4: Global habitable volumes.
Figure 5: Global habitable volumes in hydrothermal environments.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Turner, G., Cadogan, P. H. & Yonge, C. J. Argon selenochronology. Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 4, 1889–1914 (1973)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tera, F., Papanastassiou, D. A. & Wasserburg, G. J. Isotopic evidence for a terminal lunar cataclysm. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 22, 1–21 (1974)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Dalrymple, G. B. & Ryder, G. 40Ar/39Ar age spectra of Apollo 15 impact melt rocks by laser step-heating and their bearing on the history of lunar basin formation. J. Geophys. Res. 98, 13085–13095 (1993)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Cohen, B. A., Swindle, T. D. & Kring, D. A. Support for the lunar cataclysm hypothesis from lunar meteorite impact melt ages. Science 290, 1754–1756 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kring, D. A. & Cohen, B. A. Cataclysmic bombardment throughout the inner solar system 3.9–4.0 Ga. J. Geophys. Res. 107 10.1029/2001JE001529 (2002)

  6. Ash, R. D., Knott, S. F. & Turner, G. A 4-Gyr shock age for a Martian meteorite and implications for the cratering history of Mars. Nature 380, 57–59 (1996)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ryder, G. Lunar samples, lunar accretion, and the early bombardment history of the Moon. Eos 71, 313–323 (1990)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Pace, N. R. A molecular view of microbial diversity and the biosphere. Science 276, 734–740 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Trail, D., Mojzsis, S. J. & Harrison, T. M. Thermal events documented in Hadean zircons by ion microprobe depth profiles. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 71, 4044–4065 (2007)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Zahnle, K. J. & Sleep, N. H. in Comets and the Origin and Evolution of Life (eds Thomas, P., Chyba, C. & McKay, C.) 175–208 (Springer, 1997)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Baross, J. A. & Hoffman, S. E. Submarine hydrothermal vents and associated gradient environments as sites for the origin and evolution of life. Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 15, 327–345 (1985)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Manning, C. E., Mojzsis, S. J. & Harrison, T. M. Geology, age and origin of supracrustal rocks at Akilia, West Greenland. Am. J. Sci. 306, 303–366 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Dauphas, N. et al. Clues from Fe isotope variations on the origin of early Archean BIFs from Greenland. Science 206, 2077–2080 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Mojzsis, S. J. et al. Evidence for life on Earth by 3,800 million years ago. Nature 384, 55–59 (1996)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. McKeegan, K. D., Kudryavtsev, A. B. & Schopf, J. W. Raman and ion microscopic imagery of graphitic inclusions in apatite from older than 3830 Ma Akilia supracrustal rocks, west Greenland. Geology 35, 591–594 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Gogarten-Boekels, M., Hilario, E. & Gogarten, J. P. The effects of heavy meteorite bombardment on the early evolution - the emergence of the three domains of life. Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 25, 251–264 (1995)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Maher, K. A. & Stevenson, D. J. Impact frustration of the origin of life. Nature 331, 612–614 (1988)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hamilton, W. B. in Precambrian – Conterminous United States (eds Reed, J. C. Jr et al.) 597–614, 630–636 (Geol. N. Am. Vol. C-2, Geological Society of America, 1993)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Bowring, S. A. & Williams, I. S. Priscoan (4.00–4.03 Ga) orthogneisses from northwestern Canada. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 134, 3–16 (1999)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Mojzsis, S. J., Harrison, T. M. & Pidgeon, R. T. Oxygen isotope evidence from ancient zircons for liquid water at Earth’s surface 4,300 Myr ago. Nature 409, 178–181 (2001)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Hopkins, M., Harrison, T. M. & Manning, C. E. Low heat flow inferred from >4 Gyr zircons suggests Hadean plate boundary interactions. Nature 456, 493–496 (2008)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Strom, R. G., Malhotra, R., Ito, T., Yoshida, F. & Kring, D. A. The origin of planetary impactors in the inner solar system. Science 309, 1847–1850 (2005)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Gomes, R., Levison, H. F., Tsiganis, K. & Morbidelli, A. Origin of the cataclysmic Late Heavy Bombardment period of the terrestrial planets. Nature 435, 466–469 (2005)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Bottke, W. F. et al. The fossilized size distribution of the main asteroid belt. Icarus 175, 111–140 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Hartmann, W. K., Ryder, G., Dones, L. & Grinspoon, D. in Origin of the Earth and Moon (eds Canup, R. & Righter, K.) 493–512 (Univ. Arizona Press, 2000)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ryder, G., Koeberl, C. & Mojzsis, S. J. in Origin of the Earth and Moon (eds Canup, R. & Righter, K.) 475–492 (Univ. Arizona Press, 2000)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Abramov, O. & Kring, D. A. Impact-induced hydrothermal activity on early Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 110 10.1029/2005JE002453 (2005)

  28. Sleep, N. H. & Zahnle, K. Refugia from asteroid impacts on early Mars and the early Earth. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 28529–28544 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Abramov, O. & Kring, D. A. Numerical modeling of an impact-induced hydrothermal system at the Sudbury crater. J. Geophys. Res. 109 10.1029/2003JE002213 (2004)

  30. Ryder, G. Mass flux in the ancient Earth-Moon system and benign implications for the origin of life on Earth. J. Geophys. Res. 107 10.1029/2001JE001583 (2002)

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute (through the NASA Postdoctoral Program) and the NASA Exobiology program. Office space and computer resources provided by the Department of Space Studies of the Southwest Research Institute in the early stages of this project are greatly appreciated. Reviews by E. Asphaug, as well as comments by D. Trail and T. M. Harrison, are gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, 2200 Colorado Avenue, UCB 399, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0399, USA,

    Oleg Abramov & Stephen J. Mojzsis

Authors
  1. Oleg Abramov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stephen J. Mojzsis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oleg Abramov.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Methods and Data, Supplementary References, Supplementary Tables S1-S3 and Supplementary Figures S1-S6 with Legends. (PDF 812 kb)

Supplementary Data

This file contains a total of 9 tables which show the data used to generate the figures presented in the main manuscript. (XLS 661 kb)

Supplementary Movie 1

This movie shows the thermal evolution of the Earth's lithosphere during the Late Heavy Bombardment in our baseline scenario. Only impactors larger than 10 km in diameter are included in this animation. The upper surface shows temperatures at a depth of 4 km. Dark areas denote crater imprints. (MOV 9689 kb)

Supplementary Movie 2

This movie shows the thermal evolution of the Earth's lithosphere during the Late Heavy Bombardment in the extreme scenario: surface temperature of 50∘C, geothermal gradient of 48∘C km-1, and 100X mass delivered. Only impactors larger than 10 km in diameter are included. The upper surface shows temperatures at a depth of 4 km. (MOV 9690 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Abramov, O., Mojzsis, S. Microbial habitability of the Hadean Earth during the late heavy bombardment. Nature 459, 419–422 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08015

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08015

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing