Life on planet Earth, from microbes to great apes, is boiling and actively developing. But even if we don't count the organisms that inhabit the Earth, our planet is still full of life. She "lives" herself.
The molten hot core activates processes, as a result of which the planet is enveloped in a protective electromagnetic field; volcanoes emit huge amounts of gases into the atmosphere, and hot lava is clearing new lands. The collision of lithospheric plates helps to maintain the normal amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The surface of the Earth is a complex puzzle of continental plates that collide, move apart, or try to sink each other. All these processes lead to the formation of mountains, sea troughs and new earth's crust.
Living planet
The earth is not only an ideal place to form and sustain life. Our planet lives, and its geological processes contribute to the creation of the very conditions that led to organic life. If our planet were a cold and inert ball of stone, there would be no life on it. Geology and biology go hand in hand on the Earth's surface today.
Of the entire solar system, the Earth is the only planet with active tectonic processes, and the only one on which life exists. However, does this mean that tectonic activity is a necessary component for life on the planet? This is not an easy question to answer.
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Space geology
Over the past few decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of planets outside the solar system. Some of them might well be livable. At the same time, active tectonic changes taking place on the planet only increase this suitability, especially for complex organisms.
Despite the fact that research space expeditions have discovered geologically active planets and satellites, none of these objects show signs of tectonic activity.
The moon and Mars are occasionally shaken by "earthquakes", volcanoes and geysers are occasionally activated on the surface of some of Jupiter's moons, a weak magnetic field is noticed around Mercury, and even the distant surface of Pluto is much more dynamic than scientists suspected.
But despite the amazing list of activity, Earth is the only planet with an outer crust broken into several moving plates floating on a layer of active mantle. All other cosmic surfaces well known to us are decorated with traces of ancient activity, which are millions or even billions of years old. In turn, the surface of the Earth is constantly changing, the continuous movement of tectonic plates leads to the growth of new mountains, the formation of depressions and the movement of continents.
Tectonic processes
In places where mid-ocean ridges form, magma rises up, forming a new oceanic crust, which leads to the expansion of tectonic plates. In places where tectonic plates collide in the ocean, two types of processes occur: subduction, as a result of which deep-sea depressions are formed, and obduction, as a result of which one lithospheric plate moves over another.
The fact is that when two lithospheric plates collide, one of them plunges into magma. As a result, either a depression can be formed if one of the plates "sunk" the edge of the other, or a new oceanic crust, if the edges of one plate are drowning in magma as a result of natural erosion.
On continents, tectonic processes lead to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and mountain building. All this is an integral part of life on planet Earth.
Biodiversity
Tectonic activity brings new stones to the surface, which play an important role in chemical reactions, the result of which is the formation of minerals necessary for life.
Mountains, which have grown in the process of mountain building, direct air currents upward, where the air cools, condenses and collects into clouds, turning into rain.
According to some research data, erosion resulting from tectonic changes leads to the fact that chemical elements such as zinc, copper and phosphorus are washed from the Earth's surface into the seas and oceans, where these elements play the role of important nutrients for plankton and become the main cause of biological diversity. Historically, periods of high erosion have coincided with explosions in biodiversity, and declines in erosion have coincided with mass extinctions of species.
Life source
The movement of the continents has created a rich habitat for a huge number of organisms. This is probably what became the main impetus for evolution. If for millions of years the continents had not moved from one climatic zone to another, the geography of the Earth would not be as diverse as it is today.
In addition, tectonic processes of the movement of lithospheric plates are responsible for the formation of hydrothermal vents, where magma has open access to ocean water. Magma heats it up and releases hot streams into cold water. Such hydrothermal springs, according to the assumptions of many scientists, could become the place where life originated on Earth.
Hope Chikanchi