The Early Earth

Visual sources include third-party material incorporated into custom animations. License information is reproduced from source records; an unrecorded license does not mean a work is public domain.

• MediaObjects image

  Springer Nature

  View original source ↗License not recorded

• The Far Side of the Moon -- And All the Way Around

  GSFC

  View original source ↗NASA media usage guidelines; often public-domain U.S. government work, verify item-specific restrictions.

• Scientific image

  Creator credit under review

  View original source ↗License not recorded

  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• MediaObjects image

  Springer Nature

  View original source ↗License not recorded

• MediaObjects image

  Springer Nature

  View original source ↗License not recorded

• Image result for query 'Bell 2015 4.1 billion year Jack Hills zircon graphite inclusion figure'; source host: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; file: pnas.1517557112sfig03.jpg.

  Creator credit under review

  View original source ↗License not recorded

  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• LRO eastern limb lunar topographic map

  NASA/Goddard/MIT/Brown

  View original source ↗Public domain

• Scientific image

  Creator credit under review

  View original source ↗License not recorded

  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• Scientific figure · source page 3

  Yue et al, Chinese Academy of Sciences collaborators

  View original source ↗CC BY 4.0

  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

• Scientific figure · source page 12

  Zhang et al.; Chinese Academy of Sciences and Curtin collaborators

  View original source ↗Copyrighted material — used for documentary commentary

  Figure or page excerpt cropped from the source publication.

  Editorial use; no open license asserted.

• Image result for query 'ancient xenon isotope fractionation Archean barite figure Avice Marty 2017'; source host: nature.com; file: 41467_2017_Article_BFncomms15455_Fig4_HTML.jpg.

  Creator credit under review

  View original source ↗License not recorded

  Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

Research references

Selected sources from the episode’s research and scientific figures.

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2075 ↗
2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08719-3 ↗
3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12871470/ ↗
4. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aee8718 ↗
5. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lro/lola/ ↗
6. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/atlas/ ↗
7. https://doi.org/10.1038/35051550 ↗
8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2005.04.028 ↗
9. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2006GC001449 ↗
10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.10.005 ↗
11. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4664351/ ↗
12. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01450-0 ↗
13. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6398955/ ↗
14. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature00982 ↗
15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2009.06.023 ↗
16. https://sseh.uchicago.edu/doc/Zahnle2007.pdf ↗
17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-007-9225-z ↗
18. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.181020898 ↗
19. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/734/1/3 ↗
20. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2869525/ ↗
21. DOI: 10.1126/science.aba1948 ↗
22. barrett-2025-hydrogen ↗
23. DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116588 ↗
24. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65729-5 ↗
25. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261952 ↗
26. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10519 ↗
27. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935595 ↗
28. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65438-z ↗
29. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2011RG000375 ↗
30. https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.06265 ↗
31. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08955 ↗
32. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09961 ↗
33. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo692 ↗
34. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL054381 ↗
35. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42490427/ ↗
36. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5047187/ ↗
37. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-063016-020131 ↗
38. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5602003/ ↗
39. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JE001583 ↗
40. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7043912/ ↗
41. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5454381/ ↗
42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.09.017 ↗
43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2021.120405 ↗
44. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016JE005098 ↗
45. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202243445 ↗
46. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/exploration/training/illustrations/earthMoon/ ↗
47. https://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n6758823/n6758838/c10639360/pic_10639360.jpg ↗
48. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ↗
49. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivi1ObFGOwQ ↗
50. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8nxfMkzzTE: ↗
51. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwbK9jkQHJM: ↗

Music

• Meditation From The Star Orion
  OctahedronMusic · Envato Elements