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http://www.space.com/36661-late-heavy-bombardment.html

EXCERPT: Early Earth suffered constant threat of attack from leftover planet-building material. From about 4.5 to 3.8 billion years ago, failed planets and smaller asteroids slammed into larger worlds, scarring their surface. Near the end of the violence, during a period known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, impacts in the solar system may have increased. The increased activity most likely came from the movement of the giant planets, which sent debris raining down on the smaller rocky worlds....

(Apr 30, 2017 08:09 PM)C C Wrote: [ -> ]http://www.space.com/36661-late-heavy-bombardment.html

EXCERPT: Early Earth suffered constant threat of attack from leftover planet-building material. From about 4.5 to 3.8 billion years ago, failed planets and smaller asteroids slammed into larger worlds, scarring their surface. Near the end of the violence, during a period known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, impacts in the solar system may have increased. The increased activity most likely came from the movement of the giant planets, which sent debris raining down on the smaller rocky worlds....

What interests me most about the late heavy bombardment (if it actually occurred) is that it was apparently happening at the same time life was first appearing. I find it hard to understand how chemical evolution could have generated the first cells, along with the genetic code and the rest of it, while large numbers of planet-killer asteroid impacts were taking place creating what one would assume would be a very inhospitable environment.