GEOS1001
Assignment 1
Topic 1
Christiana Willenborg
SID: 430039708
GEOS1001: Assignment 1 – Topic 1: Discuss the role of mantle/core convection and plate tectonics as a life-support system on Earth, and outline other factors that make our planet unique in the Solar System.
Our Solar System was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago during the Big Bang with the collapse of an interstellar body (Lammer et al., 2009). During these supernova explosions, the dusts and gases that were expelled were mixed and processed to form the planets of our system (Lammer et al., 2009, Nisbet and Sleep, 2001).
It is during this phase of planetary formation that all the requirements for life were most likely gathered (Lammer et al., 2009)
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Volcanism is a major part of the Galapagos and their formation. The island chain is positioned on the Nazca Plate, which is subducting beneath the South American Plate at a geologically rapid pace of 2.5 inches per year. In addition, this Nazca Plate is located directly on top of the Galapagos Hotspot. It is here that mantle plumes melt Earth’s crust, creating volcanoes as a product. The oldest island was first shaped by this ...
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Studies shows that extraterrestrial life can come from dying stars. Dying stars can support planets with life. This study comes from a new theory study of earth orbiting white dwarf stars. When a star dies, it puffs off its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core called a white dwarf. A white dwarf air contains water vapor, or even signatures of life, such as oxygen. Abbie Lo...
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... lead many to consider life on Titan an impossibility. However, there are multiple points in favor of Titan’s ability to support life. The presence of a “methanological” cycle provides a medium for theorized non-water-based life, where living things comparable to the methanogens found on earth could take in hydrogen in place of oxygen, metabolize it with acetylene in place of glucose, and produce methane in place of carbon dioxide. It is also predicted (via interpretation of rotational data) that Titan might contain a global sub-surface ocean (of water), providing basis for more “conventional” forms of life. The composition of the atmosphere provides one of the more compelling arguments for life on Titan – many of the “primitive atmosphere” gases and their experimental outputs discovered in the Miller experiment discussed in lecture last week are present on Titan.
Perhaps one of the most interesting features of our fathomless universe are the planets that are classified as gas giants. Huge, turbulent, and distant, the gas giants are some of the most enigmatic features in our Solar System. I have a personal interest to the gas giants and celestial bodies in general. When I was a child, I was fascinated by our Solar System. I read innumerable books about space, and my interests of outer space had been piqued further by other forms of media. Although I held this interest of space, growing up left me with little time to learn about space, and I lost interest for a while. Taking Earth Science in Milpitas High re-invigorated my interests in the celestial bodies. Using this class, I’m now able to focus on learning more about our colossal universe, in particular, the outer planets.
One argument that supports the panspermia theory is the emergence of life soon after the heavy bombardment period of earth, between 4 and 3.8 billion years ago. During this period, researchers believe the Earth endured an extended and very powerful series of meteor showers. However, the earliest evidence for life on Earth suggests it was present some 3.83 billi...