early earth environments
...t. Shelter in the desert is also at a premium with many deserts been comprised of only endless sand dunes and little or no vegetation. Water would have been one of the major problems for life in the desert with rainfall coming infrequently and without warning. The lack of vegetation cover would ensure that most of the water would be quickly lost through evaporation, with much of what’s left soaking through to the water table which could be tens, if not hundreds, of meters underground, making it inaccessible for any plant or animal use. Because of these adverse conditions on early earth many organisms would have had to adapt or risk facing extinction. For example in present day deserts, not unlike those of early earth, many animals opted to burrow into the ground order to find shelter from the environmental extremes of the desert. Deep sea hydrothermal vents Deep sea hydrothermal vents are still in existence today and are arguably the most extreme environments on the whole planet. In these environments, which mirror the ones of early earth, no sunlight is available and hence the photosynthetic processes are rendered useless for the production of food. Rather a process called chemosynthesis which requires no light and ca...