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Primitive Atmosphere of the Earth

Nature volume 212, pages 1225–1226 (1966)Cite this article

Abstract

THIS communication reports the results of calculations on the temperature structure in a model of the primitive atmosphere, which suggest that during the early history of the Earth a reducing atmosphere could be stable against gravitational escape for as long as 109 yr. These results may help partly to resolve the considerable amount of controversy in the literature about the composition of the atmosphere of the Earth 3 × 109−4 × 109 yr ago when the first living organisms are thought to have been synthesized.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Space Studies, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, New York

    S. I. RASOOL

  2. Department of Meteorology and Oceanography, New York University, New York

    S. I. RASOOL

  3. Department of Meteorology and Oceanography, New York University, New York

    W. E. MCGOVERN

Authors
  1. S. I. RASOOL
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  2. W. E. MCGOVERN
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RASOOL, S., MCGOVERN, W. Primitive Atmosphere of the Earth. Nature 212, 1225–1226 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/2121225a0

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