Wolfgang Korsus
Dipl.Ing. NT , Astrophysiker
Klingenberg 40
25451 Quickborn
TEL.: +49 4106 69295
Handy: +49 162 5680456
Website : wolfgang.korsus.net
I am addressing our „life planet“
I often ask myself: Why go far away? The really good things are so close!
I’m sure many of „you eager readers“ have heard this well-known statement before ……….. I have to amend this statement a little, because as an astrophysicist and cosmologist I like to replace „the good“ with „the worth knowing“ ……..
Yes, I stick to our planet „Earth“, it is very close to me! So I’m going to take a very light-hearted turn into another of people have difficulty understanding the basic principles and concepts of this science that I adore. I always try to explain the subject „super simply“, because simple is too little…… I always aim to convey the complex relationships of geology in an understandable and easily accessible way. That’s what it says in this, my article „What is geology simply explained“ ? So I try to distinguish myself from otherresources and I will certainly help to deepen our understanding of the Earth……..deepen……deepen!
That’s why I’m going to ask you :
What is geology?
Geology is thescience that deals with the study of the earth and its processes. Geology is the study of the abundant materials, structures, processes and the long history of our planet.
Geology also combines or turns to various disciplines such as chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics to understand the very complex interplay of the Earth’s crust, mantle and core. That’s why this sketch is intended to contribute to further understanding.
It is certainly very interesting to look at a planetary body that you yourself inhabit in this way. Of course, you will look in vain for its otherwise familiar destinations such as ice cream parlors, chip shops or other……..
In contrast to other scientific fields that focus on individual aspects of the Earth, geology looks at the Earth as a whole. It studies the formation of rocks, the movement of continents, the formation of mountains and the formation of volcanoes and earthquakes, in this way geology helps us to better understand the past, present and future of our planet…….but only with understanding
A central concept in geology is the geological time scale, which divides the history of the Earth into different time periods. This time scale ranges from the formation of the Earthabout 4.6 billion years ago to the present day.
By analyzing rock strata, fossils and other geological clues, geologists can reconstruct the events that shaped the earth; look at that!
Geology also has important applications beyond pure research. It plays a crucial role in the search for raw materials such as oil, coal and metals……which has certainly not always been of benefit to posterity.
Geologists also help to solve environmental problemsby studying the impact of human activities on the Earth. By geologically exploring the Earth, we can not only better understand „our“ nature, but also make more sustainable decisions to protect our planet a little bit ? As always, money plays a big part in the decision. „Yes, that’s certainly very true, but too often it hasn’t happened“.
Let’s go in search of geological movements with our experience, I find a cause in the past, so 65 million years back is highly interesting!
There In what is now Mexico, on the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, quite a chunk hit around 65 million years ago. Meteorite ??? Asteroid ??? Minor planets???
You can still see the crater rim today.
Pressure waves were created, which raced over land, through air and water around our planet, or rather the globe, which has not yet been inhabited by a human being.
Earth ball.
The sky darkened enormously because large quantities of soil, mainly pulverized, were hurled into the atmosphere during this impact. The land dwellers among the plants and animals had very serious problems. The bigger the animals, the bigger their problems. What was a veritable „Armageddon“ for life was of little concern to the planet itself. For the continents, whose heartbeat is measured in millions of years, the impact certainly only caused a little tickling and crawling
I will take a brief look at the forms of energy that occurred at that time:
If we look at the land-dwelling creatures at that time, they had a certain amount of energy and their own kinetic energy. But the real form of energy on planet Earth is, of course, in the Earth itself; Firstly in its mass and secondly in the energy inside it. This is because it is left over from the hot beginning of the earth and can only be transported outwards by heat conduction.
So if this temperature difference between inside and outside is too great, then heat conduction becomes pure convection and that means the material liquefies and begins to flow. It is the temperature gradients that describe the difference between the temperatures of different places. As long as it remains small, normal heat conduction takes place, i.e. heat transfer through contact. Only when the gradient reaches a certain size does the material begin to move and transport its temperature fluidly.
Heat conduction is therefore the transportation of energy over short distances – the short transport. Convection ( is it known ? ) is the transport of heat over large distances and strong movement. The surface of the sun is characterized by rising and falling gases, driven by the convection movements in its interior. And such convection currents also take place inside the earth. They rise, cool down and sink back into the darkness of the earth’s body.
Why am I telling you this in such detail? This makes it clear how the Indian subcontinent was traveling towards Eurasia during the meteorite impact off the coast of Mexico. And really fast. Between you and me: if India had not been drawn so quickly towards Eurasia, we would not exist. But why was this continental plate of all things in such a hurry? According to the latest speculations, there could have been another lithospheric plate that rose, nudged the Indian subcontinent and then sank again. Sounds like deus ex machina, the god who comes out of the machine, because the plate was not seen before or after. Only at this moment did it have an effect and nudge India. We don’t know exactly why this plate made its way to Eurasia. The fact is that it was and still is exerting enormous pressure on the Asian mainland. However, the land cannot really be described as solid. The Himalayas and the earthquakes in Nepal show how strongly the Indian subcontinent is still pushing. This already poor country is losing area year after year as a result of the compression. To be clear: the movement of these lithospheric plates has something to do with the fact that the oceanic crust, which is heavier than the continental plates, emerges at the seams of the Earth’s body and the oceanic crust disappears under the continental crust. This is called subduction. It not only pushes the oceanic crust, but also the lighter continental plates.
What are the consequences? Just think about it.
The ocean currents are changing. Where the sea was just rolling, there is now a continent. So the sea has to see where it stays. We are now back in time to 25 or 30 million years ago. At the same time, two continents are colliding on the other side of the globe, namely North and South America. This collision makes it even easier to see what this means for an ocean. Imagine you had sailed around the globe back then. The best place is along the equator, where it’s nice and warm. Your ship is pushed a little further north by a drifting continent, but can still sail on. Then two continents collide in front of your sailor, blocking the way. The Central American bridge has formed. All you can do is turn right. And that’s what the warm water does, it changes its direction of flow. In my mind’s eye, I now have North America, South America, then the Central American bridge. What is the warm water doing in the Gulf of Mexico? The seawater from the Gulf Stream – up, I’ve made a mistake – flows northwards and becomes the hot water heating for Europe later on. Let’s look to the other side of the planet again, to Asia. When a subcontinent like the Indian one collides with the Euro-Asian one, what changes? The ocean current, that’s clear. But something else is happening: We suddenly have a mountain range almost 9,000 meters high. This barrier naturally also affects the air currents. A particularly remarkable phenomenon are the currents that bring large amounts of rain from one place to another over the course of the seasons, such as the monsoon. The warming of the land and the warming of the water balance each other out. I won’t go into any more details. Just follow me in thinking that the emergence of a mountain range almost 9.The formation of the Tibetan plateau behind a mountain range with an altitude of over 1,000 meters is not only a geological change, but also brings about changes in atmospheric circulation. Even Africa and Europe have become drier. Also in parts of Asia.
Today’s position of the Earth’s lithospheric plates. In order for you to understand why a scientist can tell you such incredible things today, even in amazement, I have to go back in time to the beginning of the Earth’s history. The source of the Earth’s internal heat energy causes continental plates to move on its surface. The fact that the Earth is still geologically active on its surface today has to do with an event that took place at the very beginning of its life: the formation of the moon. The Earth’s satellite was formed by the impact of a massive body on the Earth that was at least twice as heavy as Mars. We call it a planetoid, a body that could have become a planet itself if it had not collided with the Earth. The impactor also had an iron core. During the impact, this iron core plunged into the glowing interior of the Earth, providing our home planet with additional heating. How do we know this? You can look at another planet that is almost as heavy as the Earth, but has no such additional heating: Venus. There is also volcanism on its neighbor, but no plate tectonics. Things look bad for the development of life on Venus in other respects too. Let us now pause for a moment and summarize the important points. The emergence of Homo sapiens from the various hominid and primate families only came about because the climate in Africa, Europe and Asia changed fundamentally. This is due to the fact that the Indian subcontinent collided with the Euro-Asian continent at very high speed, thus changing the ocean currents.
Without these global changes, we would not exist. Our existence is literally tied to the birth pangs of Earth. Basically, when we look at natural history, which also led to the emergence of humans, we are like someone who sees a painting for the first time and is now supposed to evaluate it as an art critic. We may discover symbols where the artist did not paint any. Or we see signs that were only created by chance, for example because the painter’s brush slipped. So on the one hand, we have to be careful not to overestimate such earth-historical reconstructions, but on the other hand, with the empirical sciences we have the opportunity to follow the cause-and-effect chain for as long as empiricism allows. Even for me as a natural scientist, it is always simply amazing that we can document the prehistory of mankind so comprehensively today. The primeval geological, climatic and evolutionary processes are directly linked to our own evolutionary history. Hey, this whole cosmic and strange history of the earth actually has something to do with me. My and your existence is causally linked to even the smallest and seemingly coincidental coincidences in the history of the earth. With this knowledge and awareness, we must re-evaluate our own actions in this world. This is exactly what I will try to do in the following chapters, which deal explicitly with the Anthropocene and in particular the presence of Homo sapiens in recent centuries. It always occurs to me as follows :
It’s actually like a long story in a short time!