Apart from the initial formation event which was probably catastrophic and melted the Earth's surface, most of the effects upon the Earth have involved the tidal breaking of the Earth's rotation rate. Today, the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, but near the formation epoch, it may have rotated as fast as once every 10 hours. The gravitational tidal action of the Moon upon the Earth, and vice versa, has resulted in some of the tidal energy of the Moon being dissipated as the Moon deforms the Earth's surface. This causes the Moon to continuously spiral outward from the Earth as it attempts to conserve its angular momentum. One would imagine that during the first billion years, the Moon was causing significant crustal stresses upon the Earth which may have amplified continental drift and produced some very ugly earthquakes and volcanic activity.