Earth wasn't as riotous and violent right after its birth as we once thought

Right after Earth was born, it is believed to have been a hostile volcanic hellscape filled with magma. The Hadean period, the first phase of our planet's life, started 4.54 billion years ago and lasted till four billion years ago. With all that lava flowing around, you would think that life could have never survived on Earth.

However, a new study has now found it was not as bad as it sounds. Liquid oceans of water likely existed under an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and as per the research this environment could have been more habitable than once thought. 

The period was aptly named "Hadean" after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, to reflect the hostile and inhospitable conditions on Earth during its infancy, with volcanoes bursting everywhere. Meteorites and comets regularly impacted the atmosphere, but despite all this, water started accumulating which was possible brought by the comets. Two early continents are also believed to have formed.

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A team of researchers from the University of California has now pointed out that Earth was a much less tumultuous place contrary to what is has been believed to be. 

The team, led by Christopher K Jones, delved into the evolution of the Earth, from the time it was formed to how life evolved on the planet. They explored several ways life could have originated during the Hadean and where Earth would have been at the time in the Solar System.

Life on Earth and its origins

They assessed the relationships between the beginning of life and the processes and state of the environment at the time, besides the formation of the crust and evolution of the atmosphere. The paper also looks at different atmospheric processes, not just on Earth but in the solar system to understand whether there was any correlation. Comet impacts were also taken into consideration.

After looking at different aspects, the researchers concluded that Earth had liquid water during the Hadean period. However, they are still not sure whether continents existed at the time. 

All this worked together to trigger the birth of organic life on Earth, but just how that happened is not clear. But, they say that life likely gained a foothold by the end of the Hadean era and left evidence in the geological records of the Archean period that followed.