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ARCHEAN |
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THE ARCHEAN EON
3.8 to 2.5 Billion Years Ago
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The
Age of Slow Stabilization
The hot and violent Earth settles down - Life
first appears |
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And God
said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and
let dry ground appear." - Genesis 1:9
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Paleo-Geography |
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- The Earth's temperature 3 times hotter than today
- The Earth's
crust very thin
- Enormous volcanic and
tectonic activity
- Protocontinents begin to form over hotspots
- Dense, hot atmosphere
of CO², methane and ammonia
- Oceans hot, acidic and filled with dissolved metals
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Life |
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First life: simple bacterial cells
that live off iron and sulfur,
methane and ammonia,
in high heat and pressure.
(Image: Corzak)
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During the Archean, life existed only as single celled microbes that
lived in extreme conditions of heat, pressure and acidity. They digested
dissolved iron, sulfur and other minerals in the ocean and absorbed
methane and ammonia. They possibly formed in and around deep-ocean
'black smoker' volcanic vents.
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