Extended Data Fig. 3: Atmospheric O2 abundance after impact.
From: Delayed and variable late Archaean atmospheric oxidation due to high collision rates on Earth
The calculations assume chemical equilibrium between the total impactor vapor mass and background atmosphere. Here we take a background atmosphere of 0.7 bars N2, 0.3 bars CO2, and 1 ppm O2. The initial impact conditions are taken as 100 bars and 2000 K and used to derive the composition of the impactor vapor in equilibrium with the impacting meteoritic material. We then vary the mass of impactor vapor to atmospheric mass for different impactor diameters. Atmospheric O2 abundances are strongly depleted by 1000 K, indicating that quenching of chemical reactions within the vapor plume should not strongly affect the amount of O2 consumed by the impact.
