Characteristic: ​Large bodies of water were present on Earth, though much of the surface was a hot desolate place lacking any resemblance to the modern planet. The only lifeforms present in this low oxygen environment may have been stromatolites, consolidated in the form of microbial mats, (layers of bacteria on rocks). More asteroid strikes brought large quantities of water to earth, in the form of hydrogen and oxygen stored individually within the rock.

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​​Description -

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The heat flow of the Earth's core to the surface was much higher then than it is now. (Heat flow comes from two major contributors, the earth's molten core, and the decay of radioactive matter in it's mantle and crust). Earth, likely cooled enough within 500 million years of it's original formation however, (well before the Archean began) for a solid surface to form, and continents to take shape. So, by the Archean, large swaths of land were present. The first substantial evidence of life appears at this time as well. Appropriately, the first oceans appeared during this age also, likely brought into existence by meteor collisions that carried large quantities of hydrogen and oxygen. Lifeforms lacked anything near the complexity of today's most recognizable species: instead, it looked comparable to today's simplest bacteria (specifically: single celled organisms "lacking nuclei"). Where and how life began on Earth is still debated, but the present evidence suggests that life may have grown out of graphite with biogenic origin - a single occurrence that would begin the evolution of all species on the planet.

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​Biology -

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Organic life formed largely in shallow pools of tepid water and resembled more simple forms of today's bacteria, at this time growing in microbial mats.

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Geology -

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The Earth's crust had cooled enough for distinguishing swaths of land to appear, and for the modern makeup of plate tectonics to take shape.

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