Ahh, but what you don’t know is Jupiter and Saturn were also probably primarily responsible for all the inner planets getting the shit blasted out of them by any period of exceptionally intense meteor bombardment about 3.9 billion years ago.
We have clear mineralogical evidence that the earth had mild surface conditions and a good solid crust at least 4.2 billion years ago. But so intense was the bombardment the age of intact crust and geological structure on earth abruptly cut off at 3.9 billion years. It is as if significant amount of crust formed after 3.9 billion years survives. But everything formed before 3,9 billion years were utterly pulverized and nothing intact remains, only tiny mineral fragment that gets incorporated into later minerals.
We have clear mineralogical evidence that the earth had mild surface conditions and a good solid crust at least 4.2 billion years ago. But so intense was the bombardment the age of intact crust and geological structure on earth abruptly cut off at 3.9 billion years. It is as if significant amount of crust formed after 3.9 billion years survives. But everything formed before 3,9 billion years were utterly pulverized and nothing intact remains, only tiny mineral fragment that gets incorporated into later minerals.
