American researchers have simulated the scenario of how ancient asteroid impacts could have fractured the Earth’s crust, creating extensive networks of hot underground springs. Scientists consider such environments to be the most suitable for the origin of life. The calculations from the authors of the new study were published in the journal AGU Advances.
Hydrothermal systems are defined as networks of underground fissures through which hot, mineral-rich water circulates. According to several hypotheses, around four billion years ago, these systems may have hosted the formation of the first organic molecules and the simplest living structures.
Today, the largest terrestrial hydrothermal system is Yellowstone National Park, with its geysers and hot springs. The authors from the Southwest Research Institute used a specialized impact physics code that enables modeling of the behavior of a high-speed asteroid upon striking Earth.
This method revealed that a single powerful impact during the early Earth era could have triggered hydrothermal activity 100 times more intense than the entire Yellowstone Park system today.
The authors’ calculations indicate that the upper 8 kilometers of the Earth’s crust were highly permeable around 4.3 billion years ago and remained so until about 3.5 billion years ago, a period when the first reliable traces of life emerged.
The researchers emphasize that while asteroid bombardment in a later period was catastrophic for dinosaurs and many other species, it was likely this very process that created the conditions for prebiotic chemistry.
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