Thursday, November 5, 2026
Science

Earth's slowing spin may have shaped its primordial crust

Around 4.5 billion years ago, a planet-sized object collided with the newly formed Earth, throwing out the debris that would later form the moon. The collision left Earth spinning extremely fast, with days lasting just two to five hours. Yet existing models of how Earth's first crust formed and evol...

Earth's slowing spin may have shaped its primordial crust
Image: Phys.org
Around 4.5 billion years ago, a planet-sized object collided with the newly formed Earth, throwing out the debris that would later form the moon. The collision left Earth spinning extremely fast, with days lasting just two to five hours. Yet existing models of how Earth's first crust formed and evolved have largely overlooked how the planet's later slowdown might have affected it.

Originally published at Phys.org

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