When was the Hadean era?
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The Cryptic era is an informal term for the earliest geologic evolution of the Earth and Moon. It is the oldest (informal) era of the Hadean eon, and it is commonly accepted to have begun close to 4533 million (about 4.533 billion) years ago when the Earth and Moon formed. No samples exist to date the transition between the Cryptic era and the following Basin Groups era for the Moon (see also Pre-Nectarian), though sometimes it is stated that this era ended 4150 million years ago for one or both of these bodies. Neither this time period, nor any other Hadean subdivision, has been officially recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.
Cryptic (geology)
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The Hadean () is a geologic eon of the Earth pre-dating the Archean. It began with the formation of the Earth about 4.6 billion years ago and ended, as defined by the ICS, 4 billion years ago. , the ICS describes its status as ""informal"". Geologist Preston Cloud coined the term in 1972, originally to label the period before the earliest-known rocks on Earth. W. Brian Harland later coined an almost synonymous term, the "Priscoan period", from "priscus", the Latin word for "ancient". Other, older texts simply refer to the eon as the Pre-Archean.
Hadean
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The Hadean eon represents the time before a reliable (fossil) record of life; it began with the formation of the planet and ended 4.0 billion years ago. The following Archean and Proterozoic eons produced the beginnings of life on Earth and its earliest evolution. The succeeding eon is the Phanerozoic, divided into three eras: the Palaeozoic, an era of arthropods, fishes, and the first life on land; the Mesozoic, which spanned the rise, reign, and climactic extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs; and the Cenozoic, which saw the rise of mammals. Recognizable humans emerged at most 2 million years ago, a vanishingly small period on the geological scale.
History of Earth
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In the geologic record the Chaotian eon or era is unofficially proposed to denote the time preceding the solidification of the Earth's crust and the formation of Earth's moon, it is the earliest era within the eon of Hadean. It lasted 196 million years, at to the beginning of the Zirconian era, . It is named after Chaos, the primeval void in Greek mythology. The Chaotian sets in with the emergence of Earth at 4.6 billion years ago. Its upper limit and thus the transition to the Zirconian era is defined by the occurrence of the first conservation capable mineral. These are zircon, the oldest mineral in the Jack Hills of Narryer Gneiss Terrane in Western Australia (Yilgarn craton) found and were dated 4,404 ± 8 million years ago
Chaotian (geology)
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The Eoarchean (; also spelled Eoarchaean) is the first era of the Archean Eon of the geologic record for which the Earth has a solid crust. It spans 400 million years from the end of the Hadean Eon 4 billion years ago (4000 Mya) to the start of the Paleoarchean Era 3600 Mya. The beginnings of life on Earth have been dated to this era and evidence of cyanobacteria date to 3500 Mya, just outside this era. At that time, the atmosphere was without oxygen and the pressure values ranged from 10 to 100 bar (around 10 to 100 atmospheres).
Eoarchean
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Hadean zircon is the oldest-surviving crustal material from the Earth's earliest geological time period, the Hadean eon, about 4 billion years ago. Zircon is a mineral that is commonly used for radiometric dating because it is highly resistant to chemical changes and appears in the form of small crystals or grains in most igneous and metamorphic host rocks.
Hadean zircon
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The Zirconian is the second Era within the Hadean Eon in a proposed revision of the Precambrian time scale. It lasted 373 million years from the end of the Chaotian Era to the beginning of Eoarchean Era . The Zirconian follows the Chaotian Era and its beginning is chronometrically set at 4.404 ± 0.008 Gya. This corresponds to the age of the first occurrence of Hadean zircons in the Jack Hills in Western Australia (Yilgarn craton). The end of the Zirconian Era and the transition to the Acastan Period (the earliest period of the Archean Eon and Eoarchean Era) occurred with the appearance of the oldest rock at 4.031 ± 0.003 Gya.
Zirconian
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The Hadean Earth is thought to have had a secondary atmosphere, formed through degassing of the rocks that accumulated from planetesimal impactors. At first, it was thought that the Earth's atmosphere consisted of hydrogen compounds—methane, ammonia and water vapour—and that life began under such reducing conditions, which are conducive to the formation of organic molecules. According to later models, suggested by study of ancient minerals, the atmosphere in the late Hadean period consisted largely of water vapour, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, with smaller amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and sulfur compounds. During its formation, the Earth lost a significant part of its initial mass, with a nucleus of the heavier rocky elements of the protoplanetary disk remaining. As a consequence, Earth lacked the gravity to hold any molecular hydrogen in its atmosphere, and rapidly lost it during the Hadean period, along with the bulk of the original inert gases. The solution of carbon dioxide in water is thought to have made the seas slightly acidic, giving it a pH of about 5.5. The atmosphere at the time has been characterized as a "gigantic, productive outdoor chemical laboratory." It may have been similar to the mixture of gases released today by volcanoes, which still support some abiotic chemistry.
Abiogenesis
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A September 2008 study of zircons found that Australian Hadean rock holds minerals pointing to the existence of plate tectonics as early as 4 billion years.
If this is true, the time when Earth finished its transition from having a hot, molten surface and atmosphere full of carbon dioxide, to being very much like it is today, can be roughly dated to about 4.0 billion years ago. The actions of plate tectonics and the oceans trapped vast amounts of carbon dioxide, thereby reducing the greenhouse effect and leading to a much cooler surface temperature and the formation of solid rock, and possibly even life.
Hadean
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In fact, recent studies of zircons (in the fall of 2008) found in Australian Hadean rock hold minerals that point to the existence of plate tectonics as early as 4 billion years ago. If this holds true, the previous beliefs about the Hadean period are far from correct. That is, rather than a hot, molten surface and atmosphere full of carbon dioxide, Earth's surface would be very much like it is today. The action of plate tectonics traps vast amounts of carbon dioxide, thereby reducing greenhouse effects, and leading to a much cooler surface temperature, and the formation of solid rock, and possibly even life.
Origin of water on Earth