Final answer:
In the last billion years, Earth has formed craters due to impacts from space debris, but these events have not fully melted the surface, eradicated all life, or evaporated the oceans. Active geology continually renews the Earth's crust, erasing evidence of these impacts over time. Such impacts have, however, significantly influenced life's evolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the last billion years, when meteorites, asteroids, or comets collided with Earth, the most frequent outcome has been the formation of craters. These events are evident from geological records and findings such as Meteor Crater and the Tunguska explosion. While some impacts in Earth's early history were intense enough to boil away oceans and strip away the atmosphere, potentially sterilizing the planet, no such event has completely melted the entire Earth's surface nor resulted in the total extinction of all life or the complete evaporation of the oceans in the last billion years. Life on Earth has shown resilience, with microbial ancestors taking hold about 4 billion years ago, and subsequent adaptions to various catastrophic events.
Throughout Earth's history, it has been impacted as heavily as the Moon, but due to Earth's active geology and plate tectonics, evidence of past cratering events is slowly erased. Over time, these impacts have significantly influenced the evolution of life, as indicated by events like the large impact 65 million years ago, which has been linked to a mass extinction event. These impacts have been recognized by scientists as major factors in shaping our planet's biological and geological history.