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Early Earth

¹ Department of Geology & Geophysics
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1215 W Dayton St
Madison WI 53706, USA
E-mail: valley{at}geology.wisc.edu

The earliest Earth was a strange inhospitable world, yet transitions to a more familiar planet occurred within the first billion years. In spite of sparse preservation of an ambiguous rock record, recent studies refine the nature and timing of key events. This issue reviews current knowledge of the age of the Earth, massive early meteorite impacts, the early atmosphere and hydrosphere, the rock record, and the first life.

KEYWORDS: Hadean, early Earth, geochronology, meteorites, atmosphere, oceans, zircon, life