Ancient meteorite may have sparked life on Earth, research finds

A giant meteorite first discovered in 2014 caused a tsunami bigger than any in known human history and may have sparked life, scientists reveal.

It was four times the size of Mount Everest, unleashed a tsunami bigger than any in known human history and boiled the oceans — but an ancient meteor may also have nurtured life on Earth after smashing into it, scientists have discovered.

The meteorite, S2, was discovered in 2014. It hit the planet about 3.26 billion years ago and is estimated to have been up to 200 times larger than the space rock that later killed the dinosaurs.

The new findings, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, suggest that this massive collision not only brought destruction to Earth, but also helped early life thrive.

“We know that giant meteorite impacts were frequent during Earth’s infancy and that they must have affected the evolution of early life, but we didn’t have a good understanding of how,” Harvard University geologist Nadja Drabon, lead author of the study, told NBC News in an email.

The research has been a passion project for Drabon, who was inspired by numerous previous studies that showed the potential impact a meteorite collision can have on life forms.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/ancient-meteorite-s2-life-earth-thrive-research-rcna176535

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