Earth elements dictate whether plate tectonics can happen
EarthSky
Earth elements dictate whether plate tectonics can happen
And plate tectonics may be essential for life. A new theory suggests another factor to consider in the search for habitable exoplanets.
In recent years, scientists have begun to discuss whether plate tectonics – the continual movement of great land and ocean plates across Earth’s surface – is essential for life on a planet. On Venus, for example, the lack of plate tectonics might have helped bring about a runaway greenhouse effect, making temperatures on that world hot enough to melt lead. In a paper published on July 20, 2015 in the journal Nature Geoscience, Matthew Jackson of UC Santa Barbara and Mark Jellinek of the University of British Columbia discuss a new theory on what causes plate tectonics. They say that a planet’s bulk composition – what elements it contains – determines whether plate tectonics can happen, and therefore whether that planet can have a climate and other features suitable for life.
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In 2013, Jackson and Jellinek had published a new compositional model of the Earth that assumed a 30 percent reduction in the uranium, thorium and potassium content in the planet. The decay of these naturally occurring elements generates almost all of Earth’s radioactive heat.
Their new paper takes the 2013 model further by suggesting that – if the planet had as much uranium, thorium and potassium as older models of Earth implied – plate tectonics might not be possible. ...
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Do they mean the other 3 elements? Fire, water and air?
