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Earth took a multibillion-year beating

Estimates grow for length of the Late Heavy Bombardment

By Nadia Drake

- More than 2 years ago

It’s no secret the early Earth took a beating from above, but now it seems the planet sustained a longer bombardment than initially thought.

Tiny beads formed by enormous impacts tell the story of Earth’s multibillion-year bombardment from above. The ages of these impact spherules, like those pictured in this sample from Western Australia, point toward the conclusion that large asteroids hit the Earth for much longer than scientists initially thought.