Abstract
The history of our planet is 4,500 million years old. During this time, it has undergone multiple changes that have clearly affected its global properties as seen from space. In this chapter, after an introduction on the present structure of the planet, we make a journey from the early days of the Earth to the present day, in its current state of global warming. Dissipation of the internal energy has configured a variable aspect of the surface. Together with the changes in the solar output, the varying concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has produced several climate changes with different periods and amplitudes. The activities of life, both in the past and in the present, have played an active role in the global evolution of the planet. At the end of the chapter, we stress the importance of the current age, the Anthropocene, in which humans are starting to influence the global environment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See also the 2008 report of the National Research Council on Origin and Evolution of Earth: Research Questions for a changing Planet.
- 2.
Pressure (P) waves travel at the greatest velocities within solids and the particle motion is parallel to the direction of wave propagation. Shear (S) waves are transverse waves.
- 3.
The strength of the field at the Earth’s surface ranges from less than 30 μT (0.3 gauss) in an area including most of South America and South Africa to over 60 μT (0.6 gauss) around the magnetic poles in northern Canada and southern Australia, and in parts of Siberia.
- 4.
Mantle materials are poor conductors of heat.
- 5.
The heat flow is larger in the oceans than in the continents.
- 6.
The amount of generated energy is proportional to the planetary volume ( ∝ R 3), and the amount of dissipated energy depends on the planetary surface ( ∝ R 2). Therefore, it takes a certain time to cool.
- 7.
In a letter written on September 1782 to the Abbe Soularie, Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) recognized that the crust was a shell, which could be broken and parts moved about.
- 8.
In 1620 he said, if the fit between South America and Africa is not genetic, surely it is a device of Satan for our confusion.
- 9.
In stagnant lid convection, heat is transported by conduction in most of the top layer. The convectively unstable bottom is restricted to this region, which is significantly colder than the interior and not so cold that it is too stiff to participate in the convection.
- 10.
Venus has a thick lithosphere and mantle plumes (stagnant lid convection) and although plate tectonics may have existed in the past in Mars, it now has become a ‘single-plate’ planet dominated by hot-spot volcanism (see also Sect. 2.3.2).
- 11.
Heat absorbed during a change of state.
- 12.
Diatomic molecules are molecules made only of two atoms. If a diatomic molecule consists of two atoms of the same element, then it is said to be homonuclear, otherwise it is said to be heteronuclear.
- 13.
Calculated according to the current amount in carbonates, continental sediments and the biosphere.
- 14.
This parameter has been measured only in three comets: Halley, Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. The values are factor two larger than the Earth water.
- 15.
Because Earth’s effective cross section is 20 times bigger than the Moon, our planet must have suffered many more impacts than those recorded on the lunar surface.
- 16.
Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4.
- 17.
The Sun transforms 4 million tons per second into energy and has lost about 1% of its original mass during its 4.5 billion years of evolution.
- 18.
The main organelles are Mitochondria, producing energy from oxygen and food, and Chloroplasts, converting sunlight into energy. Plastids provided eucaryotes with the ability to generate their own oxygen.
- 19.
On the Early Earth, molecular hydrogen, H 2, reached concentrations of up to thousands of parts per million.
- 20.
It refers to any chemical or physical process that acts to separate isotopes, where the amount of separation does not scale in proportion to the difference in the masses of the isotopes.
- 21.
Here CH2O is shorthand for more complex forms of organic matter.
- 22.
To preserve this signature three conditions are needed: very low atmospheric oxygen, sufficient sulphur gas in the atmosphere and substantial concentrations of reducing gases (methane).
- 23.
One mole of an element is equal to 6. 02 ×1023 atoms of that substance.
- 24.
The wavelength ranges of these three spectral bands are UV-C (100–280 nm), UV-B (280–315 nm) and UV-A (315–400 nm).
- 25.
Pastids are a group of organelles that play central roles in plant metabolism via photosynthesis, lipid and aminoacid synthesis (Wise and Hoober 2006).
- 26.
- 27.
Also called methane hydrate, this is a solid form of water that contains methane within its crystal structure. Its current locations are the continental margins and the permafrost of Siberia and Antarctica.
- 28.
Allen and Etienne (2008) quoted Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) saying: the Earth may have avoided death enveloping all nature in a shroud.
- 29.
The Hawaii and Canary Island archipelagos are probably a consequence of two such hotspots.
- 30.
Four types of uniformities were the base of the theory: laws, processes (actualism), rates (gradualism) and state.
- 31.
In this context, the theory of ‘punctuated equilibrium’ should be mentioned, which supported the effect of chaotic events as a major force driving bursts in diversity. Evolutionary change occurs relatively rapidly in comparatively brief periods of environmental stress, separated by longer periods of evolutionary stability. This theory has been popularized in various books by S.J. Gould (1940–2002).
- 32.
Large carbon compounds consisting of 60 or more carbon atoms, arranged as regular hexagons in a hollow shell. They are often called buckyballs, after Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), inventor of the geodesic dome, which their natural structure resembles.
- 33.
K stands for Cretaceous (from German) and T for the Tertiary Era – the Age of Mammals.
- 34.
ppmv: parts per million in volume.
- 35.
Written by 21 members of a commission organized by the London Geological Society to elucidate if we have entered a new geological period. This commission unanimously answered ‘yes’ to the question: ‘Are we now living in the Anthropocene?’.
- 36.
They include humans, domesticated plants and animals and synanthropes (e.g. rats, rabbits etc.).
- 37.
Since its founding, in 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published four reports: 1990, 1995, 2001 and 2007.
References
Abbott, D.H., Isley, A.E.: Extraterrestrial influences on mantle plume activity. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 205, 53–62 (2002)
Allègre, C.J., Manhès, G., Göpel, C.: The age of the Earth. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59, 1445–1456 (1995)
Allen, P.A., Etienne, J.L.: Sedimentary challenge to snowball Earth. Nat. Geosci. 1, 817–825 (2008)
Alvarez, L.W., Alvarez, W., Asaro, F., Michel, H.V.: Extraterrestrial cause for the cretaceous tertiary extinction. Science 208, 1095–1108 (1980)
Anguita, F.: Biografía de la Tierra: Historia de un planeta singular. Editorial Aguilar (2002)
Araki, T., et al.: Experimental investigation of geologically produced antineutrinos with KamLAND. Nature 436, 499–468 (2005)
Arbab, A.I.: Evolution of angular momenta and energy of the Earth-Moon system. ArXiv Astrophysics e-prints (2003)
Bains, S., Norris, S.D., Corfield, R.M., Faul, K.L.: Termination of global warmth at the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary through productivity feedback. Nature 407, 171–174 (2000)
Becker, L., Poreda, R.J., Basu, A.R., Pope, K.O., Harrison, T.M., Nicholson, C., Iasky, R.: Bedout: A possible end-permian impact crater offshore of Northwestern Australia. Science 304, 1469–1476 (2004)
Becker, L., Poreda, R.J., Hunt, A.G., Bunch, T.E., Rampino, M.: Impact event at the permian-triassic boundary: Evidence from extraterrestrial noble gases in fullerenes. Science 291, 1530–1534 (2001)
Benton, M.J.: Late triassic extinctions and the origin of dinosaurs. Science 260, 769–770 (1993)
Benton, M.J.: Diversification and extinction in the history of life. Science 268, 52–58 (1995)
Benton, M.J.: When life nearly died. Thames and Hudson, London (2003)
Berger, A., Loutre, M.F.: CLIMATE: An exceptionally long interglacial ahead? Sci. 297, 1287–1288 (2002)
Berner, R.: The phanerozoic carbon cycle: CO2 and O2. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2004)
Berner, R.A.: Examination of hyphotheses for the permo-triassic boundary extinction by carbon cycle modeling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 99, 4172–4173 (2002)
Berner, R.A., Kothavala, Z.: GEOCARBIII: A revised model of atmospheric CO2 over phanerozoic time. Am. J. Sci. 301, 182–204 (2001)
Berner, R.A., Lasaga, A.C., Garrels, R.M.: The carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle and its effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 million years. Am. J. Sci. 283, 641–683 (1983)
Betts, R.A.: Offset of the potential carbon sink from boreal forestation by decreases in surface albedo. Nature 408, 187–190 (2000)
Bolfan-Casanova, N.: Water in the Earth’s mantle. Mineral. Mag. 69, 229–257 (2005)
Bounama, C.: Thermische Evolution und Habitabilität erdähnlicher Exoplaneten. Thesis, Potsdam University (2007)
Brocks, J.J., Buick, R., Logan, G.A., Summons, R.E.: Composition and syngeneity of molecular fossils from the 2.78 to 2.45 billion-year-old Mount Bruce Supergroup, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 67, 4289–4319 (2003)
Brownlee, D., Ward, P.D.: Rare Earth: Why complex life is uncommon in the Universe. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)
Brownlee, D., Ward, P.D.: The life and death of planet earth. Owl Books (2004)
Budyko, M.I.: Te effect of solar radiation variations on the climate of the Earth. Tellus 21, 611–619 (1969)
Burchfield, J.D.: Lord Kelvin and the age of the Earth. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1990)
Burroughs, W.J.: Climate change in prehistory. Cambridge University Press, London (2005)
Caldeira, K., Kasting, J.F.: The life span of the biosphere revisited. Nature 360, 721–723 (1992)
Came, R.E., Eiler, J.M., Veizer, J., Azmy, K., Brand, U., Weidman, C.R.: Coupling of surface temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the Palaeozoic era. Nature 449, 198–201 (2007)
Canfield, D.E.: The early history of atmospheric oxygen: Homage to Robert M. Garrels. An. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 33, 1–36 (2005)
Canup, R.M.: Dynamics of lunar formation. An. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 42, 441–475 (2004)
Canup, R.M., Asphaug, E.: Origin of the Moon in a giant impact near the end of the Earth’s formation. Nature 412, 708–712 (2001).
Canup, R.M., Righter, K., et al.: Origin of the earth and moon. University of Arizona Press, AZ (2000)
Canuto, V.M., Levine, J.S., Augustsson, T.R., Imhoff, C.L.: UV radiation from the young sun and oxygen and ozone levels in the prebiological palaeoatmosphere. Nature 296, 816–820 (1982)
Canuto, V.M., Levine, J.S., Augustsson, T.R., Imhoff, C.L., Giampapa, M.S.: The young sun and the atmosphere and photochemistry of the early earth. Nature 305, 281–286 (1983)
Carver, J.H., Vardavas, I.M.: Precambrian glaciations and the evolution of the atmosphere. Ann. Geophys. 12, 674–682 (1994)
Cess, R.D., Zhang, M.H., Ingram, W.J., Potter, G.L., Alekseev, V., Barker, H.W., Cohen-Solal, E., Colman, R.A., Dazlich, D.A., Del Genio, A.D., Dix, M.R., Esch, M., Fowler, L.D., Fraser, J.R., Galin, V., Gates, W.L., Hack, J.J., Kiehl, J.T., Le Treut, H., Lo, K.K.W., McAvaney, B.J., Meleshko, V.P., Morcrette, J.J., Randall, D.A., Roeckner, E., Royer, J.F., Schlesinger, M.E., Sporyshev, P.V., Timbal, B., Volodin, E.M., Taylor, K.E., Wang, W., Wetherald, R.T.: Cloud feedback in atmospheric general circulation models: An update. J. Geophys. Res. 101, 12,791–12,794 (1996)
Chamberlain, J.W.: Theory of planetary atmospheres. Academic, NY (1987)
Charlson, R.J., Schwartz, S.E., Hales, J.M., Cess, R.D., Coakley Jr., J.A., Hansen, J.E., Hofmann, D.J.: Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols. Science 255, 423–430 (1992)
Claire, M.W., Catling, D.C., Zahnle, K.J.: Biochemical modelling of the rise in atmospheric oxygen. Geobiology 4, 239–269 (2006)
Cleaves, H.J., Chalmers, J.H., Lazcano, A., Miller, S.L., Bada, J.L.: A reassessment of prebiotic organic synthesis in neutral planetary atmospheres. Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 38, 105–115 (2008)
Cockell, C.S.: The ultraviolet history of the terrestrial planets – implications for biological evolution. Planet. Space Sci. 48, 203–214 (2000)
Condie, K.C.: Episodic continental growth and supercontinents: a mantle avalanche connection? Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 163, 97–108 (1998)
Condie, K.C.: Mantle plumes and their record in earth history. Cambridge University Press, London (2001)
Condie, K.C.: Continental growth during a 1.9-Ga superplume event. J. Geodyn. 34, 249–264 (2002)
Condie, K.C.: Earth as an evolving planetary system. Academic, NY (2004a)
Condie, K.C.: Supercontinents and superplume events: distinguishing signals in the geologic record. Phys. Earth Planet. In. 146, 319–332 (2004b)
Courtillot, V.: Evolutionary catastrophes. Cambridge University Press, London (1999)
Courtillot, V., Olson, P.: Mantle plumes link magnetic superchrons to phanerozoic mass depletion events. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 260, 495–504 (2007)
Crowley, T.J., Hyde, W.T.: Transient nature of late Pleistocene climate variability. Nature 456, 226–230 (2008)
Crutzen, P.J.: The anthropocene. J. Phys. 12, 1–5 (2002a)
Crutzen, P.J.: Geology of mankind. Nature 415, 23 (2002b)
Crutzen, P.J., Stoermer, E.F.: The anthropocene. Global Change Newslett. 41, 12–13 (2000)
Darling, D.: Life everywhere. Basic Books, London (2002)
Dauphas, N., Cates, N.L., Mojzsis, S.J., Busigny, V.: Identification of chemical sedimentary protoliths using iron isotopes in the > 3750 Ma Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt, Canada. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 254, 358–376 (2007)
de Jager, C.: Solar Energy Sources. In: ASSL Vol. 29: The sun. Part 1 of solar-terrestrial physics/1970, pp. 1–8. D. Reidel, Dordrecht (1972)
De Laubenfels, M.W.: Dinosaur extinction: One more hypothesis. J. Paleontology 30, 207–218 (1956)
de Pater, I., Lissauer, J.J.: Planetary sciences. Cambridge University Press, London (2001)
De Wit, M.J., Hart, R.A.: Earth’s earliest continental litosphere, hydrothermal flux and crustal recycling. Lithos 30, 309–335 (1993)
Delaye, L., Lazcano, A.: Prebiological evolution and the physics of the origin of life. Phys. Life Rev. 2, 47–64 (2005)
Dickey, J.O., Bender, P.L., Faller, J.E., Newhall, X.X., Ricklefs, R.L., Ries, J.G., Shelus, P.J., Veillet, C., Whipple, A.L., Wiant, J.R., Williams, J.G., Yoder, C.F.: Lunar laser ranging – a continuing legacy of the apollo program. Science 265, 482–490 (1994)
Diziewonski, A.M., Anderson, D.L.: Preliminary Earth reference model. Phys. Earth Plan. In. 25, 297–356 (1981)
Ebelmen, J.J.: Sur les produits de la decomposition des especes minérales de la famile des silicates. Annu. Rev. Moines 12, 627–654 (1845)
Ervin, D.H.: The permo-triassic extinction. Nature 367, 231–236 (1994)
Erwin, D.H.: Extinction: How life on Earth nealy ended 251 million years ago. Princeton University Press, NJ (2006)
Fletcher, B.J., Brentnall, S.J., Anderson, C.W., Berner, R.A., Beerling, D.J.: Atmopsheric carbon dioxide linked with Mesozoic and early Cenozoic climate change. Nat. Geosci. 1, 43–48 (2008)
Fourier, J.: Remarques Générales Sur les Temperatures Du Globe Terrestre et des Espaces Planétaires. Annales de Chemie et de Physique 27, 136–167 (1824)
Franck, S.: Evolution of the global mean heat flow over 4.6 Gyr. Tectonophysics 291, 9–18 (1998)
Franck, S., Block, A., von Bloh, W., Bounama, C., Schellnhuber, H.J., Svirezhev, Y.: Habitable zone for Earth-like planets in the solar system. Planet. Space Sci. 48, 1099–1105 (2000)
Franck, S., Bounama, C.: Continental growth and volatile exchange during Earth’s evolution. Phys. Earth Planet. In. 100, 189–196 (1997)
Franck, S., Bounama, C., von Bloh, W.: Causes and timing of future biosphere extinction. Biogeosciences Discussions 2, 1665–1679 (2005)
Franck, S., Kossacki, K.J., von Bloh, W., Bounama, C.: Long-term evolution of the global carbon cycle: historic minimum of global surface temperature at present. Tellus B Chem. Phys. Meteorol. 54, 325 (2002)
Garcia-Pichel, F.: Solar ultraviolet and the evolutionary history of cyanobacteria. Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 28, 321–347 (1998)
Gehrels, T., Matthews, M.S., Schumann, A.M. (eds.): Hazards due to comets and asteroids. University of Arizona Press, AZ (1994)
Glatzmaier, G.A., Coe, R.S., Hongre, L., Roberts, P.H.: The role of the Earth’s mantle in controlling the frequency of geomagnetic reversals. Nature 401, 885–890 (1999)
Glatzmaier, G.A., Roberts, P.H.: Rotation and magnetism of Earth’s inner core. Science 274, 1887–1891 (1996)
Goldblatt, C., Lenton, T.M., Watson, A.J.: Bistability of atmospheric oxygen and the great oxydation. Nature 443, 683–686 (2006)
Gough, D.O.: Solar interior structure and luminosity variations. Sol. Phys. 74, 21–34 (1981)
Graham, J.B., Dudley, R., Aguilar, N.M., Gaub, C.: Implications of the late Paleozoic oxygen pulse for physiology and evolution. Nature 375, 117–120 (1995)
Güdel, M.: The Sun in time: Activity and environment. Living Rev. Sol. Phys. 4, 3 (2007)
Hallan, A., Wignall, P.B.: Mass extinctions and their aftermath. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1997)
Hanslmeier, A.: Habitability and cosmic catastrophes. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Harries, J.E.: The greenhouse Earth: A view from space. Q. J. Meteorol. Soc. 122, 799–818 (1996)
Hartmann, W.K., Davis, D.R.: Satellite-sized planetesimals and lunar origin. Icarus 24, 504–514 (1975)
Hedges, S.B., Blair, J.M., Venturi, M., Shoe, J.L.: A molecular timescale of eukaryote evolution and the rise of complex multicellular life. BMC Evol. Biol. 4 (2004)
Herndon, J.M.: Sub-structure of the inner core of the Earth. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93, 646–648 (1996)
Hess, H.: History of Ocean Basins. In: A.E. Engel, H.L. James, B.F. Leonard (eds.) Petrologic Studies, pp. 599–620. Geological Society of America, Co (1962)
Hilburn, I.A., Kirschvink, J.L., Tajika, E., Tada, R., Hamano, Y., Yamamoto, S.: A negative fold test on the Lorrain formation of the huronian supergroup: Uncertainty on the paleolatitude of the Paleoproterozoic Gowganda glaciation and implications for the great oxygenation event. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 232, 315–332 (2005)
Hillebrand, A.R., Pemfield, G., Kring, D.A., Pilkington, M., Camargo, A., Jacobsen, S.B., Boynton, W.V.: Chicxulub crater: a possible cretaceous/tertiary boundary impact crater on the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. Geology 19, 867–871 (1991)
Hoffman, P.F., Kaufman, A.J., Halverson, G.P., Schrag, D.P.: A Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth. Science 281, 1342–1346 (1998)
Hoffman, P.F., Schrag, D.P.: The snowball Earth hypothesis: Testing the limits of global change. Terra Nova 14, 129–155 (2002)
Holland, H.D.: Volcanic gases, black smokers, and the great oxidation event. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 66, 3811–3826 (2002)
Hopkins, M., Harrison, T.M., Manning, C.E.: Low heat flow inferred from > 4 Gyr zircons suggests Hadean plate boundary interactions. Nature 456, 493–496 (2008)
Houghton, J.: The physics of atmospheres, 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, London (2002)
Houghton, J.: Global warming. Rep. Progr. Phys. 68, 1343–1403 (2005)
Houghton, J.T.: Global warming: The complete briefing. Cambridge University Press, London (1997)
Houghton, J.T., Meiro Filho, L.G., Callander, B.A., Harris, N., Kattenburg, A., Maskell, K.: Climate change 1995: The science of climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK (1996)
Hoyle, F., Wickramasinghe, C.: Comets, ice ages, and ecological catastrophes. Astrophys. Space Sci. 53, 523–526 (1978)
Hyde, W.T., Crowley, T.J., Baum, S.K., Peltier, W.R.: Neoproterozoic ‘snowball Earth’ simulations with a coupled climate/ice-sheet model. Nature 405, 425–429 (2000)
IPCC: Climate change 2007 – The physical science basis. Cambridge University Press, London (2007)
Isley, A.E., Abbott, D.H.: Plume-related mafic volcanism and the deposition of banded iron formation. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 15,461–15,477 (1999)
Johnson, A.P., Cleaves, H.J., Dworkin, J.P., Glavin, D.P., Lazcano, A., Bada, J.L.: The miller volcanic spark discharge experiment. Science 322, 404 (2008)
Kasting, J.: Comments on the BLAG model: The carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle and its effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 million years. Am. J. Sci. 284, 1175–1182 (1984)
Kasting, J.F.: Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee’s rare Earth. Perspect. Biol. Med. 44, 117–131 (2000)
Kasting, J.F., Catling, D.: Evolution of a habitable planet. Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 41, 429–463 (2003)
Kasting, J.F., Donahue, T.M.: The evolution of atmospheric ozone. J. Geophys. Res. 85, 3255–3263 (1980)
Kasting, J.F., Ono, S.: Paleoclimates: The first two billion years. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B 361, 917–929 (2006)
Kasting, J.F., Siefert, J.L.: Life and the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere. Science 296, 1066–1068 (2002)
Kasting, J.F., Toon, O.B.: Climate evolution on the terrestrial planets, pp. 423–449. University of Arizona Press, AZ (1989)
Katz, M.E., Cramer, B.S., Mountain, G.S., Katz, S., Miller, K.G.: Uncorking the bottle: What trigered the Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum methane release? Paleoceanography 16, 549–562 (2001)
Kelvin, W.T.: On the secular cooling of the earth. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 23, 157–170 (1863)
Kennedy, M., Mrofka, D., Von der Borch, C.: Snowball Earth termination by destabilization of equatorial permafrost methane clathrate. Nature 453, 642–645 (2008)
Kirschvink, J.L.: Late Proterozoic low latitude glaciation: The snowball Earth. In: Schopf, J.W., Klein, C. (eds.) The Proterozoic Biosphere: A Multidisciplinary Study, pp. 51–52. Cambridge University Press, London (1992)
Kirschvink, J.L., Ripperdan, R., Evans, D.: Evidence for a large-scale reorganization of early cambrian continental masses by inertial interchange true polar wander. Science 277, 541–545 (1997)
Kleine, T., Münker, C., Mezger, K., Palme, H.: Rapid accretion and early core formation on asteroids and the terrestrial planets from Hf-W chronometry. Nature 418, 952–955 (2002)
Knauth, L.P., Lowe, D.R.: High Archean climatic temperature inferred from oxygen isotope geochemistry of cherts in the 3.5 Ga Swaziland Supergroup, South Africa. GSA Bull. 115, 566–580 (2003)
Knoll, A.: The early evolution of eukaryotes: A geological perspective. Science 256, 622–627 (1992)
Knoll, A.H.: A geological consequences of evolution. Geobiology 1, 3–14 (2003)
Kopp, R.E., Kirschvink, J.L., Hilburn, I.A., Nash, C.: The Paleoproterozoic snowball Earth: A climate disaster triggered by the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102, 11,131–11,136 (2005)
Korenaga, J.: Urey ratio and the structure and evolution of Earth’s mantle. Rev. Geophys. 46, G2007 (2008)
Kump, L.R.: The rise of atmospheric oxygen. Nature 451, 277–278 (2008)
Kump, L.R., Barley, M.E.: Increased subaerial volcanisms and the rise of atmospheric oxygen 2.5 billion years ago. Nature 448, 1033–1036 (2007)
Kump, L.R., Kasting, J.F., Crane, R.: The Earth system, 2nd edn. Pearson, Prentice-Hall (2004)
Kusky, T.M., Li, J.H., Tucker, R.D.: The Archean Dongwanzi Ophiolite Complex, North China Craton: 2.505-billion-year-old oceanic crust and mantle. Science 292, 1142–1145 (2001)
Kyte, F.T.: A meteorite from the cretaceous/tertiary boundary. Nature 361, 608–615 (1998)
Lambeck, K.: The Earth’s variable rotation. Cambridge University Press, London (2005)
Lane, N.: Oxygen, the molecule that made the world. Oxford University Press, London (2002)
Lee, K.K.M., Jeanloz, R.: High-pressure alloying of potassium and iron: Radioactivity in the Earth’s core? Geophys. Res. Lett. 30(23), 230000–1 (2003)
Lenton, T.M., von Bloh, W.: Biotic feedback extends the life span of the biosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 1715–1718 (2001)
Levrard, B., Laskar, J.: Climate friction and the Earth’s obliquity. Geophys. J. Int. 154, 970–990 (2003)
Lindsay, J.F., Brasier, M.D.: Did global tectonics drive early biosphere evolution? Carbon isotope record from 2.6 to 1.9 Ga carbonates of Western Australian basins. Precambrian Res. 114, 1–34 (2002)
Liou, K.N.: An introduction to atmospheric physics. In: International Geophysics Series, vol. 84, 2nd edn. Academic, NY (2002)
Lisiecki, L., Raymo, M.E.: A Pliocene-Pleiostocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic 180 records. Paleoceanography 20 (2005)
Loulergue, L., Schilt, A., Spahni, R., Masson-Delmotte, V., Blunier, T., Lemieux, B., Barnola, J.M., Raynaud, D., Stocker, T.F., Chapellaz, J.: Orbital and millennial-scale features of atmospheric CH4 over the past 800,000 years. Nature 453, 383–386 (2008)
Lovelock, J.: Gaia: A new look at life on Earth. Oxford University Press, London (1979)
Lovelock, J.E., Margulis, L.M.: Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: The Gaia hypothesis. Tellus 26, 2–10 (1974)
Lovelock, J.E., Whitfield, M.: Life span of the biosphere. Nature 296, 561–563 (1982)
Lunine, J.I.: Earth: Evolution of a habitable world. Cambridge University Press, London (1999)
Lüthi, D., Le Floch, M., Bereiter, B., Blunier, T., Barnola, J., Raynaud, D., Jouzel, J., Fischer, H., Kawamura, K., Stocker, T.F.: High-resolution carbon dioxide concentration record 650,000-800,000 years before present. Nature 453, 379–382 (2008)
Marshall, C.R.: Explaining the Cambrian explosion of animals. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 34, 355–384 (2006)
Martin, P., van Hunen, J., Parman, S., Davidson, J.: Why does plate tectonics occur only on Earth? Phys. Educ. 43, 144–150 (2008)
Mc Ghee, G.R.: The late devonian mass extinction. Columbia University Press, NY (1996)
Mc Neill, J.R.: Something new under the Sun. W.W. Norton Co., New York (2000)
McDonough, W.F.: Compositional model for the Earth’s core. Treatise on Geochemistry 2, 547–568 (2003)
McMenamin, M.: The Garden of Ediacara: Discovering the first complex life. Columbia University Press, New York (1998)
Messina, S., Guinan, E.F.: Magnetic activity of six young solar analogues I. Starspot cycles from long-term photometry. Astron. Astrophys. 393, 225–237 (2002)
Miller, S.: A production of aminoacids under possible primitive Earth conditions. Science 117, 528–529 (1953)
Mojzsis, S.J., Arrhenius, G., McKeegan, K.D., Harrison, T.M., Nutman, A.P., Friend, C.R.L.: Evidence for life on Earth before 3,800 million years ago. Nature 384, 55–59 (1996)
Morbidelli, A., Chambers, J., Lunine, J.I., Petit, J.M., Robert, F., Valsecchi, G.B., Cyr, K.E.: Source regions and time scales for the delivery of water to Earth. Meteoritics Planet. Sci. 35, 1309–1320 (2000)
Morgan, W.J.: Convection plumes in the lower mantle. Nature 230, 42–43 (1971)
Mullally, F., Winget, D.E., Degennaro, S., Jeffery, E., Thompson, S.E., Chandler, D., Kepler, S.O.: Limits on planets around pulsating white dwarf stars. Astrophys. J. 676, 573–583 (2008)
Name, A.N.: Impact eject layer from the mid-Devonian: possible connection to global mass extinctions. Science 300, 1734–1737 (2003)
Neukum, G., Ivanov, B.A., Hartmann, W.K.: Cratering records in the inner solar system in relation to the lunar reference system. Space Sci. Rev. 96, 55–86 (2001)
Newman, M.J., Rood, R.T.: Implications of solar evolution for the earth’s early atmosphere. Science 198, 1035–1037 (1977)
Nield, T.: Supercontinent: Ten billion years in the life of our planet. Harvard University Press, MA (2007)
North, G.R., Cahalan, R.F., Coakley Jr., J.A.: Energy balance climate models. Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 19, 91–121 (1981)
Oldham, R.D.: The constitution of the interior of the Earth as revealed by Earth quakes. Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 62, 456–472 (1906)
Olsen, P.E., et al.: Ascent of dinosaurs linked to iridium anomaly in the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Science 296, 1305–1307 (2002)
Oró, J., Lazcano, A., Ehrenfreund, P.: Comets and the origin and evolution of life. In: McKay, C.P. (ed.) Comets and the Origin and Evolution of Life, pp. 1–28 2nd edn. Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Orth, C.J., Gilmore, J.S., Knight, J.D., Pillmore, C., Tschudy, R., Fasset, J.E.: An iridium abundance anomaly at the palynological cretaceous-tertiary boundary in northern New Mexico. Science 214, 1341–1343 (1981)
Palme, H., O’Neill, H.S.C.: Cosmochemical estimates of mantle composition. Treatise on Geochemistry 2, 1–38 (2003)
Palmer, T.: Controversy: Catastrophism and evolution: The ongoing debate. Kluwer, Dordecht (1997)
Patterson, C.: Age of meteorites and the earth. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 10, 230–237 (1956)
Pavlov, A.A., Brown, L.L., Kasting, J.F.: UV shielding of NH3 and O 2 by organic hazes in the Archean atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 23,267–23,288 (2001)
Pavlov, A.A., Kasting, J., Brown, L., Rages, K.A., Freedmsan, R.: Greenhouse warming by CH4 in the atmosphere of early Earth. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 11,981–11,990 (2000)
Pavlov, A.A., Kasting, J.F.: Mass-independent fractionation of sulfur isotopes in archean sediments: Strong evidence for an anoxic archean atmosphere. Astrobiology 2, 27–41 (2002)
Peltier, W.R., Liu, Y., Crowley, J.W.: Snowball Earth prevention by dissolved organic carbon remineralization. Nature 450, 813–818 (2007)
Petit, J.R., Jouzel, J., Raynaud, D., Barkov, N.I., Barnola, J., Basile, I., Bender, M., Chapellaz, J., Davis, M., Delaygue, G., Delmotte, M., Kotlyakov, V., Legrand, M., Lipenkov, V.Y., Lorius, C., Pepin, L., Ritz, C., Saltzman, E., Stievenard, M.: Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica. Nature 399, 429–436 (1999)
Pinti, D.L.: The Origin and evolution of the oceans. In: Lectures in Astrobiology, vol. 1, pp. 83–112. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Poirier, J.P.: Introduction to the physics of the Earth’s interior. Cambridge University Press, London (1991)
Pollack, H.N., Hurter, S.J., Johnson, J.: Heat flow from the Earth’s interior: analysis of the global data set. Rev. Geophys. 31, 267–280 (1993)
Rahmstorf, S., Cazenave, A., Church, J.A., Hansen, J.E., Keeling, R.F., Parker, D.E., Somerville, R.C.J.: Recent climate observations compared to projections. Science 316, 709 (2007)
Ramanathan, V., Cess, R.D., Harrison, E.F., Minnis, P., Barkstrom, B.R., Ahmad, E., Hartmann, D.: Cloud-radiative forcing and climate: Results from the Earth radiation budget experiment. Science 243, 57–63 (1989)
Rampino, M.R., Stothers, R.B.: Flood basalt volcanism during the past 250 million years. Science 241, 663–667 (1998)
Randall, D.A., Cess, R.D., Blanchet, J.P., Chalita, S., Colman, R., Dazlich, D.A., Del Genio, A.D., Keup, E., Lacis, A., Le Treut, H., Liang, X.Z., McAvaney, B.J., Mahfouf, J.F., Meleshko, V.P., Morcrette, J.J., Norris, P.M., Potter, G.L., Rikus, L., Roeckner, E., Royer, J.F., Schlese, U., Sheinin, D.A., Sokolov, A.P., Taylor, K.E., Wetherald, R.T., Yagai, I., Zhang, M.H.: Analysis of snow feedbacks in 14 general circulation models. J. Geophys. Res. 99, 20,757–20,772 (1994)
Rasio, F.A., Tout, C.A., Lubow, S.H., Livio, M.: Tidal decay of close planetary orbits. Astrophys. J. 470, 1187–1191 (1996)
Raup, D.M.: Extinctions: Bad genes or bad luck. W.W. Norton, NY (1992)
Raval, A., Ramanathan, V.: Observational determination of the greenhouse effect. Nature 342, 758–761 (1989)
Raymond, S.N., Quinn, T., Lunine, J.I.: Making other earths: dynamical simulations of terrestrial planet formation and water delivery. Icarus 168, 1–17 (2004)
Retter, A., Marom, A.: A model of an expanding giant that swallowed planets for the eruption of V838 Monocerotis. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 345, L25–L28 (2003)
Ribas, I., Guinan, E.F., Güdel, M., Audard, M.: Evolution of the solar activity over time and effects on planetary atmospheres. I. High-energy irradiances (1-1700 Å). Astrophys. J. 622, 680–694 (2005)
Richter, F.M.: Kelvin and the age of the Earth. J. Geology 94, 395–401 (1986)
Rogers, J.W., Santosh, M.: Continents and supercontinents. Oxford University Press, London (2004)
Royer, D.L., Berner, R.A., Park, J.: Climate sensitivity constarined by CO2 concentrations over the past 420 million years. Nature 446, 530–532 (2007)
Ruddiman, W.F.: Plows, plagues and petroleum. Princeton University Press, NJ (2005)
Rudwick, M.: Georges cuvier, fossil bones, and geological catastrophes. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1997)
Russell, M.J., Hall, A.J., Cairns-Smith, A.G., Braterman, P.: Submarine hot springs and the origin of life. Nature 336, 117 (1988)
Rybicki, K.R., Denis, C.: On the final destiny of the Earth and the solar system. Icarus 151, 130–137 (2001)
Ryder, G.: Mass flux in the ancient Earth-Moon system and benign implications for the origin of life on Earth. J. Geophys. Res. (Planets) 107, 5022 (2002)
Ryder, G.: Bombardment of the hadean Earth: Wholesome or deleterious? Astrobiology 3, 3–6 (2003)
Rye, R., Holland, H.D.: Life associated with a 2.76 Ga ephemeral pond? Evidence from Mount Roe 2 paleosol. Geology 28, 483–486 (2000)
Rye, R., Kuo, P.H., Holland, H.D.: Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations before 2.2 billion years ago. Nature 378, 603–605 (1995)
Sackmann, I.J., Boothroyd, A.I.: Our Sun. V. A bright young sun consistent with helioseismology and warm temperatures on ancient Earth and Mars. Astrophys. J. 583, 1024–1039 (2003)
Sackmann, I.J., Boothroyd, A.I., Kraemer, K.E.: Our Sun. III. Present and Future. Astrophys. J. 418, 457–468 (1993)
Sankaran, A.V.: When did plate tectonics begin? Curr. Sci. 90, 1596–1597 (2006)
Schellnhuber, H.J.: Earth system analysis and the second Copernican revolution. Nature 402, C19–C23 (1999)
Schopf, J.: Earth’s earliest biosphere, its origin and evolution. Princeton University Press, NJ (1983)
Schröder, K.P., Connon Smith, R.: Distant future of the Sun and Earth revisited. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 386, 155–163 (2008)
Schroder, P., Smith, R., Apps, K.: Solar evolution and the distant future of Earth. Astron. Geophys. 42, 26–29 (2001)
Schubert, G., Turcotte, D.L., Olson, P.: Mantle convection in the Earth and planets. Cambridge University Press, London (2001)
Schwartzman, D.: Temperature and the evolution of the Earth’s biosphere. In: Shostak, G.S. (ed.) ASP Conf. Ser. 74: Progress in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life, pp. 153–164 (1995)
Schwartzman, D., Caldeira, K., Pavlov, A.: Cyanobacterial emergence at 2.8 Gya and greenhouse feedbacks. Astrobiology 8, 187–203 (2008)
Schwartzman, D., Middendorf, G.: Biospheric cooling and the emergence of intelligence. In: Lemarchand, G., Meech, K. (eds.) ASP Conf. Ser. 213: Bioastronomy 99, pp. 425–430 (2000)
Schwartzman, D.W., Volk, T.: Biotic enhancement of weathering and the habitability of Earth. Nature 340, 457–460 (1989)
Scott, A., Glasspool, I.J.: The diversification of Paleozoic fire systems and fluctuations in atmospheric oxygen concentration. Proc. Acad. Natl. Sci. USA 103, 10,861–10,865 (2006)
Scott, C., Lyons, T.W., Bekker, A., Shen, Y., Poulton, S.W., Chu, X., Ambar, A.D.: Tracing the stepwise oxygenation of the Proterozoic ocean. Nature 452, 456–459 (2008)
Sheehan, P.M.: The late ordovician mass extinction. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 29, 331–364 (2001)
Shields, G.A., Veizer, J.: The Precambrian marine carbonate isotope database: Version 1.1. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 3, 1031 (2002)
Shoemaker, E.M.: Asteroid and comet bombardment of the earth. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 11, 461–494 (1983)
Silver, P.G., Behn, M.D.: Intermittent plate tectonics? Science 319, 85–88 (2008)
Silvotti, R., Schuh, S., Janulis, R., Solheim, J.E., Bernabei, S., Østensen, R., Oswalt, T.D., Bruni, I., Gualandi, R., Bonanno, A., Vauclair, G., Reed, M., Chen, C.W., Leibowitz, E., Paparo, M., Baran, A., Charpinet, S., Dolez, N., Kawaler, S., Kurtz, D., Moskalik, P., Riddle, R., Zola, S.: A giant planet orbiting the extreme horizontal branch star V391 Pegasi. Nature 449, 189–191 (2007)
Skumanich, A.: Time scales for CA II emission decay, rotational braking, and lithium depletion. Astrophys. J. 171, 565–567 (1972)
Sleep, N.H.: Evolution of the mode of convection within terrestrial planets. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 17,563–17,578 (2000)
Sleep, N.H.: Evolution of the continental lithosphere. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 33, 369–393 (2005)
Sonett, C.P., Kvale, E.P., Zakharian, A., Chan, M.A., Demko, T.M.: Late proterozoic and paleozoic tides, retreat of the moon, and rotation of the Earth. Science 273, 100–104 (1996)
Stanley, S.M.: Exploring the Earth through time. W.H. Freeman, CA (1992)
Stanley, S.M.: Earth system history. W.H. Freeman, CA (1999)
Steffen, W., Sanderson, A., Tyson, P., Jäger, J., Matson, P., Moore, B., Oldfield, F., Richardson, K., Schellnhuber, H., Turner, B., Wasson, R.J.: Global change and the Earth system: A planet under pressure. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Stern, N.: The economics of climate change: The stern review. Cambridge University Press. (2006)
Stern, R.J.: Subduction zones. Rev. Geophys. 40, 1012 (2002)
Stern, R.J.: Evidence from ophiolites, blueschists, and ultra-high pressure metamorphic terranes that the modern episode of subduction tectonics began in neoproterozoic time. Geology 33, 557–560 (2005)
Stevenson, D.J.: Origin of the moon – The collision hypothesis. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 15, 271–315 (1987)
Strom, R.G., Malhotra, R., Ito, T., Yoshida, F., Kring, D.A.: The origin of planetary impactors in the inner solar system. Science 309, 1847–1850 (2005)
Taylor, F.W.: The Stratosphere. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. 361, 11–22 (2003)
Tera, F., Papanastassiou, D.A., Wasserburg, G.J.: Isotopic evidence for a terminal lunar cataclysm. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 22, 1–21 (1974)
Thomas, C.D.: Extinction risk from climate change. Nature 427, 145–148 (2004)
Tice, M.M., Lowe, D.R.: Photosynthetic microbial mats in the 3,416-Myr-old oecan. Nature 431, 549–552 (2004)
Torsvik, T.H., Rehnströhm, E.F.: Cambrian paleomagnetic data from Baltica:Implications for true polar wander and Cambrian paleogeography. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 158, 321–329 (2001)
Touboul, M., Kleine, T., Bourdon, B., Palme, H., Wieler, R.: Late formation and prolonged differentiation of the Moon inferred from W isotopes in lunar metals. Nature 450, 1206–1209 (2007)
Touma, J., Wisdom, J.: Resonances in the early evolution of the Earth-Moon system. Astron. J. 115, 1653–1663 (1998)
Trainer, M.G., Pavlov, A.A., Curtis, D.B., McKay, C.P., Worsnop, D.R., Delia, A.E., Toohey, D.W., Toon, O.B., Tolbert, M.A.: Haze aerosols in the atmosphere of Early Earth: Manna from heaven. Astrobiology 4, 409–419 (2004)
Tyndall, J.: On the relation of radiant heat to aqueous vapor. Phil. Mag. 4 26, 30–54 (1863)
Urey, H.C.: The planets: Their origin and development. Yale University Press, New Haven (1952)
Urey, H.C.: Cometary collisions and geological periods. Nature 242, 32–33 (1973)
Valley, J.W., Peck, W.H., King, E.M., Wilde, S.A.: A cool early Earth. Geology 30, 351–354 (2002)
Veizer, J., Godderis, Y., François, L.M.: Evidence for decoupling of atmospheric CO2 and global climate during the Phanerozoic eon. Nature 408, 698–701 (2000)
Villaver, E., Livio, M.: Can planets survive stellar evolution? Astrophys. J. 661, 1192–1201 (2007)
Vitousek, P.M., D’Antonio, C., Loope, L., Westbrooks, R.: Biological invasions as global environmental change. Am. Sci. 84, 468–478 (1996)
Volk, T.: Feedbacks between weathering and atmospheric CO2 over the last 100 million years. Am. J. Sci. 287, 763–779 (1987)
Volk, T.: Gaia’s body: Towards a physiology of Earth. MIT, MA (2003)
Walker, J.C.G., Hays, P.B., Kasting, J.F.: A negative feedback mechanism for the long-term stabilization of the earth’s surface temperature. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 9776–9782 (1981)
Wang, K., Orth, C.J., Attrep, M., Chatterton, B.D., Hou, H., Geldsetzer, H.H.: Geochemical evidence for a catastrophic biotic event at the Frasnian/Famennian boundary in South China. Geology 19, 776–779 (1991)
Ward, P.D.: Life as we do not know it. Viking Penguin, NY (2005)
Ward, P.D., et al.: Sudden productivity collapse associated with the Triassic-Jurassic boundary mass extinction. Science 292, 1148–1151 (2001)
Watson, A.: Implications of an anthropic model of evolution for the emergence of complex life and intelligence. Astrobiology 8, 175–185 (2008)
Wilde, S., Valley, J., Peck, W., Graham, C.: Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth at 4.4 Gyr ago. Nature 409, 175–178 (2001)
Wilhelms, D.E., McCauley, J.F., Trask, N.J.: The geologic history of the moon. USGS Professional Paper 1348 : For sale by the Books and Open-file Reports Section, US Geological Survey (1987)
Williams, D.M., Kasting, J.F., Frakes, L.A.: Low-latitude glaciation and rapid changes in the Earth’s obliquity explained by obliquity-oblateness feedback. Nature 396, 453–455 (1998)
Williams, G.D.: Tidal rhyhmites: Key to the history of the Earth’s rotation and the lunar orbit. J. Phys. Earth 38, 475–491 (1990)
Williams, G.E.: Precambrian length of day and the validity of tidal rhythmite paleotidal values. Geophys. Res. Lett. 24, 421–424 (1997)
Williams, G.E.: Geological constraints on the Precambrian history of Earth’s rotation and the Moon’s orbit. Rev. Geophys. 38, 37–60 (2000)
Wilson, J.T.: Did the Atlantic close and then re-open? Nature 211, 676–681 (1966)
Wilson, T.J.: A possible origin of the Hawaiian islands. Can. J. Phys. 41, 863–868 (1963)
Wise, R.R., Hoober, J.K. (eds.): The structure and function of plastids, advances in photosynthesis and respiration, vol. 23. Springer, Heidelberg (1994)
Woese, C.R., Kandler, O., Wheeler, M.L.: Towards a natural system of organisms: Proposal for the domains archaea, bacteria and eucarya. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 87, 4576 (1990)
Wolszczan, A., Frail, D.A.: A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR1257 + 12. Nature 355, 145–147 (1992)
Wood, B.E., Müller, H.R., Zank, G.P., Linsky, J.L., Redfield, S.: New mass-loss measurements from astrospheric Lyα absorption. Astrophys. J. 628, L143–L146 (2005)
Wood, B.J., Walter, M.J., Wade, J.: Accretion of the Earth and segregation of its core. Nature 441, 825–833 (2006)
Zachos, J., Pagani, M., Sloan, L., Thomas, E., Billups, K.: Trends, rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science 292, 686–693 (2001)
Zahnle, K., Claire, M., Catling, D.: The loss of mass-independent fractionation in sulfur due to a Palaeoproterozoic collapse of atmospheric methane. Geobiology 4, 271–283 (2006)
Zahnle, K., Arndt, N., Cockell, C., Halliday, A., Nisbet, E., Selsis, F., Sleep, N.H.: Emergence of a Habitable Planet. Space Sci. Rev. 129, 35–78 (2007)
Zalasiewicz, J., et al.: Are now living in the Anthropocene? GSA Today 18, 4–8 (2008)
Zeebe, R.E., Caldeira, K.: Close mass balance of long-term carbon fluxes from ice-core CO2 and ocean chemistry records. Nat. Geosci. 1, 312–315 (2008)
Zhang, Y.: The age and accretion of the Earth. Earth Sci. Rev. 59, 235–263 (2002)
Zharkov, V.: Interior structure of the Earth & planets. Harwood Academic Publishers, Switzerland (1986)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vázquez, M., Pallé, E., Rodríguez, P.M. (2010). The Earth in Time. In: The Earth as a Distant Planet. Astronomy and Astrophysics Library. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1684-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1684-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1683-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1684-6
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)