Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Caveats To Exogenous Organic Delivery From Ablation, Dilution, And Thermal Degradation, Chris Mehta, Anthony Perez, Glenn Thompson, Matthew A. Pasek

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

A hypothesis in prebiotic chemistry argues that organics were delivered to the early Earth in abundance by meteoritic sources. This study tests that hypothesis by measuring how the transfer of organic matter to the surface of Earth is affected by energy-dissipation processes such as ablation and airbursts. Exogenous delivery has been relied upon as a source of primordial material, but it must stand to reason that other avenues (i.e., hydrothermal vents, electric discharge) played a bigger role in the formation of life as we know it on Earth if exogenous material was unable to deliver significant quantities of organics. For …