Open AccessEvaluating solutions to the faint young Sun problem
Author(s) -
Balcerak Ernie
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1002/2013eo440017
Subject(s) - archean , sunlight , astrobiology , billion years , earth (classical element) , earth science , early earth , history , geology , geography , astronomy , physics , paleontology , galaxy
During the Archean eon, between about 3.8 billion years ago and 2.5 billion years ago, the Sun was about 20%–25% fainter than it is today. With less sunlight to warm the Earth, the oceans should have been frozen over, but geological evidence suggests that this was not the case.