Meteorite was a 'giant fertilizer bomb' for early life

Key Points

• 1A meteorite impact 3.26 billion years ago may have benefited early life by providing key nutrients.
• 2The meteorite was a carbonaceous chondrite rich in carbon and containing phosphorus.
• 3The meteorite's diameter was approximately 37-58 km, about 50-200 times the mass of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
• 4The impact likely occurred in the ocean, initiating a tsunami that swept across the globe.
• 5The meteorite delivered a large amount of phosphorous, a nutrient crucial for microbes, and mixed iron-rich deep waters into shallower waters.