I wish I had access to the published study but the interesting bit is the idea that asteroid collisions could have created the different biomes on our blue marble, in-turn sparking a dramatic increase in speciation. What do you think?
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Also rising oxygen levels, the formation of the ozone layer, increased calcium availabilty for shell formation, geothermal vent activity, repeated cycles of climate change...and don't forget good old Jupiter.
I don't mean the god but the giant planet hoovering up most of the dangerous debris that would have otherwise have destroyed all life.
Not many cracks left for the god of the gaps to exist in.
That is a viable hypothesis. I have always maintained that the conditions for life are present on many planets including ours. But what propelled life from a simple organism into ones that could achieve intelligence has always appeared to be problematic.
Life may be "easy" to achieve, but "intelligence" much more difficult.
There are several books on this subject, one of which I have read. This "theory" is close to scientific consensus. However, we would be remiss to leave out a more common climate changing event that lead to eventual biodiversity (usually starts as a biodiversity loss, but gives rise to new species as space is made for them) And that is volcanic activity.
Of the "5" major extinction/biodiversity loss events, at least 4 of them were mostly volcanic activity related. I can link the book on amazon and my notes on it if anyone is interested.
Well pickle me grandmother! Life on earth may be extraterrestial after all . Erich Von Daniken will be thrilled.