Geophysical Processes, Solar Energy, and Biosphere as System Factors of the Evolution of the Earth

Abstract

The concept of the role of the biosphere in the evolution of the Earth is proposed and confirmed by calculations. According to this concept, in the prebiosphere period, a shell structure was formed, the global convection occurred in the form of tectonics of small plates, and the absence of continents excluded the involvement of water in the oxidation of igneous rocks. In the biosphere period, photosynthetic organisms began to supply free oxygen and organic matter (OM) to the environment. Oxygen began to take part in the geochemical processes of ore conversion, the formation of the nitrogen–oxygen composition of the atmosphere, and the generation of granitoids from volcanic rock. Global systems for the generation of granitoids of the continental crust and hydrocarbons (HCs), which are formed during subduction–collision absorption of the oceanic crust, have been identified for the first time. On the transit route to the Benioff zone, granites are melted out from oxygen-enriched halmyrolysis products and the thermal metamorphism of OM yields solid allotropic carbon compounds, oil, and combustible and other gases and is accompanied by the release of OM decomposition energy. This is one of the ways to convert biosphere solar energy into the endodynamic processes of the evolution of the Earth. The average annual precipitation of the primary OM in the ocean is 785.5 Mt, and 1.7 km³ of the continental crust are generated. Over the biosphere period, the World Ocean became shallower by 904.5 million km². Geodynamic and geophysical processes, primarily global convection, in conjunction with biosphere factors, have resulted in the current state of the Earth’s shells and the existence of HCs and continental-crust generation systems in them.