Hadean-Archean Eon & the Solar System

99.34%

The percentage of mass the Sun occupies in the whole Solar System.

Caloris Basin

A large "bulls-eye" impact crater and is the largest feature in the surface of Mercury.
One of the largest impact crater in the Solar System.

Theia

Name of the planetesimal that smashed against Earth whose debris formed the Moon.

Olympus Mons

The largest volcano in the Solar System.
Located in Mars.

Phobos and Deimos

Name of the two satellites of Mars.

Ganymede, Io, Europa, Callisto

The Galilean Moons.
The 4 largest moons of Jupiter.

Io

The only volcanically active object in the Solar System other than Earth.

Europa

The satellite of Jupiter composed wholly of an ocean water.
Currently studied for its possible potential for life.

Ganymede

The largest moon in the Solar System.
Owned by Jupiter.

Highlands

Lighter hued craggy and heavily cratered regions of the moon.
Dated around 4.2 BYO.

Maria

Dark, flat areas on the moon's surface formed from huge ancient lava flows.

Ceres

The largest asteroid and the first discovered.

Valles Marineris

Largest system of canyons/rifts in the solar system, and runs about 25% around of Mars.

Meteorite impact, gravitational compression, and radioactive decay

Early sources of heat in the Earth that caused the differentiation of materials to form its chemically-zoned layers.

4600-4400 million years ago

Age estimate of the formation of the Moon.

Outgassing

The process by which water vapor and other gases are released from the rocks to form the primitive atmosphere of the Archean.

Granulite gneiss and greenstone

Rock composition of the first formed continents during the Archean Eon.

Kuiper Belt

A region of the solar system that is just beyond the orbit of Neptune and that contains small bodies made mostly of ice.

Oort Cloud

A spherical region that surrounds the solar system, that extends from the Kuiper Belt to almost halfway to the nearest star, and that contains billions of comets.

Meteor

Interplenary bits and chunks of space rocks that succumb to Earth's gravity and streak through the atmosphere, superheating and glowing like "falling stars".

Meteorite

Any portion of a meteoroid that reaches Earth's surface.

Meteoroid

A small body moving in the solar system that would become a meteor if it entered the Earth's atmosphere.

Chondrite

A meteorite that contains chondrules.

Achondrite

A stony (or stony-iron) meteorite devoid of the granular structures known as chondrules.

Isua Supercrustal Belt

Earliest evidence of plate tectonics.
Formed in the Archean.
750 MY after formation of Earth.

Supercrustal

Consist of sediments and volcanics that do not rest on their original basement.

Protein, nucleic acid, organic P compounds, and cell membrane

Essential components of life.

Yarrabubba Crater

Oldest impact crater in the world.
2.229 BYO.

Kenoran Orogeny

Orogeny that marked the closing of the Archean Eon in Canada.

Vaalbara

A theoretical super continent made up of Kaapvaal and Pilbara. Formed 3.6 Ga and broke-up 2.5 Ga.

Verona Rupes

Tallest cliff in the Solar System about 10km in height and found in Miranda.

Alba Patera

Largest volcano on Mars in terms of area.

Maxwell Montes

It is the tallest mountain range on Venus at 7.4 miles tall also making it the coolest and least pressurized location on the surface of Venus.

Alta Regio

Complex dome of shield volcanoes in Venus.

Thetis Regio

Highland plateau in Venus formed by crustal compression.

Chiasmata

Prominent canyons in Venus.