Earth had an atmosphere as toxic as that of Venus 4,500 years ago

To reach this conclusion, the scientists created magma with dust from the Earth’s mantle in the laboratory, which they heated to 2,000 degrees in a special furnace.

4.5 billion years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was similar to that of Venus due to gas leaking from the magmatic ocean which formed the surface of the Earth, concluded a group of researchers after a series of laboratory experiments.

According to scientists, at that moment an object the size of Mars would have hit the Earth, releasing enough energy loosen the cloak the entire planet – the layer between the core and the crust – and turn it into magma.

This event would have replaced the Earth’s atmosphere at that time with a new one, dominated by the carbon dioxide and with a small percentage of nitrogen, similar to the atmospheric composition of today’s Venus, the team exhibits in their study, published this week in the journal Science Advances.

To reproduce the conditions of the young Earth, the group, led by Paolo Sossi, of the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich (Switzerland), created its own magma in the laboratory by taking rock dust of the earth’s mantle and heating it around 2,000 degrees centigrade with the laser.

This task required a special oven in which the powder was suspended in one gas jet, mixed in various proportions competing as candidates for the first atmosphere. With each new blend, the researchers analyzed the changes in the level of oxidation of iron in the magma after cooling it. By comparing the level of rust in these samples with that of natural rocks in the Earth’s mantle, the researchers found the composition of the gas closest to that of the atmosphere 4,500 years ago.

“What we found is that after the magma cooled, the early Earth had a slightly oxidizing atmosphere, with carbon dioxide as the main component, more nitrogen and some water,” Sossi explained.

Even the surface pressure It was almost 1,000 times higher than today, while the atmosphere reached higher altitudes due to the great warming of the earth’s surface.

Earth and Venus had similar atmospheres at the time, but the second planet subsequently lost all of its water due to its proximity to the Sun and associated higher temperatures. Meanwhile, on Earth, water has been stored in the form of oceans, which they absorbed much of CO2 air, thereby creating favorable conditions for the development of life.

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