Acute range of knowledge about Earth’s origin (4)
I believe the answer is:
keen
'acute' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'range of knowledge about earth's origin' is the wordplay.
'range of knowledge' becomes 'ken' (ken can mean someone's range of knowledge).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'origin' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'earth' is 'e'.
'ken' placed around 'e' is 'KEEN'.
(Other definitions for keen that I've seen before include "Avid, enthusiastic" , "devoted" , "Fierce - sharp" , "Agog" , "(Of a blade) sharp" .)