Marcia, excellent report on the Precambrian Earth, one of my principle areas of study (1.7GA rocks of the southwest US, especially hydrothermal ones).
There is the suggestion by some (sorry, no link, no time right now and off the top o' my head) that early earth may have had a large ring from early collisions which may have shaded the earth. There is also a school of thought that calls for wide-spread glaciation during the Precambrian. There are till deposits in Africa, and other places, from this time. It's called the snowball earth theory.
Oh, chech this out: solar energy reaching the earth's surface is dropping. Oh no!
And you are right, the early earth was a stinking, nasty place. That has always been my issue with the "blue" mars idea. If there were large amounts of water at this same time on Mars, it was very salty, very acidic, and rather uninviting. It was not a pretty place. Bacteria could thrive there, though, as the earth's change to an O2 rich atmosphere was a result of bacterial activity (~2 GA).
Space/Science » in reply to re: Water is water is water... and sulfuric acid....
re: Water is water is water... and sulfuric acid....
The whole thread (40 posts)
- "liquid water once drenched the surface" (Opportunity site). WOW! LIVENASATV news announcements on now folks. (n/t)
- A virtual toast with my bottle of Perrier :-)
- re: Samples
- We should be careful that the evidence so far is conclusive of ground water not surface water
- About Jarosite
- If It Looks Like A Duckand and Wobbles Like A Duck
- When Squyres said; Opportunity's landing was a hole in one, he wasn't kidding. Cheers to this outstanding MER mission (n/t)
- Thank God for the internet connection to NASA TV
- You beat me to it.... (n/t)