Comets and the Origin and Evolution of Life

By Paul J. Thomas

Book Overview

Comets and the Origin and Evolution of Life.- The Origin of the Atmosphere and of the Oceans.- Cometary Micrometeorites in Planetology, Exobiology, and Early Climatology.- Macromolecules: From Star-Forming Regions to Comets to the Origins of Life.- Impact Delivery of Prebiotic Organic Matter to Planetary Surfaces.- Comets and Prebiotic Organic Molecules on Early Earth.- Impacts and the Early Evolution of Life.- Extraterrestrial Impact Episodes and Archaean to Early Proterozoic (3.8-2.4 Ga) Habitats of Life.- The Contemporary Hazard of Comet Impacts.- The Conditions for Liquid Water in Cometary Nuclei.- Spacecraft Missions to Comets.- Interstellar and Cometary Dust in Relation to the Origin of Life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3642069630
• ISBN13: 9783642069635
• Release Date: November 2010
• Publisher: Springer
• Length: 346 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Comets important in the evolution of biosphere

Series of articles considering the role of comets in the evolution of Earth's biosphere. For example, A. Delsemme writes about The Origin of the Atmosphere and of the Oceans. It is argued that Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, as well as much of the carbon found in its biosphere, was brought to the Earth by comets. Although present-day impacts of comets are modest, in the first billion years, and especially first half billion years, of the Earth's existence, a large bombardment of comets occurred, as reflected by the cratering record observed on the Moon, Mars and Mercury. The cometary delivery of matter would explain the siderophile metals in the Earth's crust, and would explain how an ocean and atmosphere remained despite depletion by large body impacts.