The Hadean Eon

from 4570 to 3850 Ma

The Hadean Eon

The earliest eon in Earth's history

What was the world like?

The Hadean Eon was the earliest eon in history. This eon representing Earth's beginning was nothing short of a hellscape, with Earth undergoing routine disasters, including:

Volcanism

Molten Rock

Asteroid Impacts

Did you know?

Earth was so infantile that our moon didn't even orbit around us yet!

The hadean eon was named after the greek god of the underworld, hades. Fitting for such an intensely infernal eon.

The earth was perpetually covered in magma due to the fact that the surface's instability would cause convection to bring cooling rock to magma seas and lava up from below the surface.

The Late Heavy bombardment

This massive event marked the end of the Hadean Eon. It is theorized that the Late Heavy Bombardment was an event in which a largely disproportionate number of asteroids bombarded Earth. The cause of this event is still debated, along with whether or not it even happened. The ramifications of this event were massive, as the craters left by the bombardment changed the Earth's surface and disrupted the perpetual Hades-like conditions. It is theorized that the asteroids impacting Earth had actually delivered water (and microbial life!) to our planet.

References

Russell, D. A., & Morris, S. C. (2009). THE HADEAN EON: 4,567–3,800 MYR (17 PERCENT OF EARTH HISTORY). In Islands in the Cosmos: The Evolution of Life on Land (pp. 35–45). Indiana University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19wcd05.8

The Conversation. (July 17, 2024 Wednesday). Six things we've learned about Earth from meteorites and comets. Knowridge Scientific Report. https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn%3acontentItem%3a6CH3-9T71-JCMC-W27C-00000-00&context=1519360&identityprofileid=4VDQGQ54811.