Book contents
- From Crust to Core
- From Crust to Core
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Why Carbon in Earth Matters
- 2 The Origin of Deep Carbon in Deep Space
- 3 Deliveries of Cosmic Carbon Continue
- 4 On the Nature of Earth’s Interior
- 5 Earth’s Physical Interior Revealed
- 6 Thousands, Millions or Billions
- 7 Physics and Chemistry of Deep Earth
- 8 Confronting the Continental Drift Conundrum
- 9 The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Rift Valley
- 10 Earth’s Deep Dynamics Discovered
- 11 Reversals of Fortune
- 12 Deep Carbon
- 13 Carbon-Bearing Phases in the Mantle
- 14 Diamond in the Mantle
- 15 Deep Life
- Glossary
- Biographical Notes
- Index
- References
7 - Physics and Chemistry of Deep Earth
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2020
Book contents
- From Crust to Core
- From Crust to Core
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Why Carbon in Earth Matters
- 2 The Origin of Deep Carbon in Deep Space
- 3 Deliveries of Cosmic Carbon Continue
- 4 On the Nature of Earth’s Interior
- 5 Earth’s Physical Interior Revealed
- 6 Thousands, Millions or Billions
- 7 Physics and Chemistry of Deep Earth
- 8 Confronting the Continental Drift Conundrum
- 9 The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Rift Valley
- 10 Earth’s Deep Dynamics Discovered
- 11 Reversals of Fortune
- 12 Deep Carbon
- 13 Carbon-Bearing Phases in the Mantle
- 14 Diamond in the Mantle
- 15 Deep Life
- Glossary
- Biographical Notes
- Index
- References
Summary
The currently accepted age of Earth is 4.55 billion years, a figure that has not changed significantly for 70 years. From the 1850s to the 1950s, the question of the age of Earth advanced from simply being an airy speculation driven by those geologists willing to allow an indefinitely large amount of past time and those biologists who favored evolution. Unexpected discoveries in physics and chemistry transformed Earth history from intelligent guesswork to a precision science defined by physical laws. This chapter summarizes a century-long pathway of discoveries in physics that would dramatically improve our understanding of the age and properties of the deep Earth, and in particular the deep secrets hidden locked in the carbon atoms in the interior of Earth.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- From Crust to CoreA Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science, pp. 119 - 146Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Thomson, W. On geological time. Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow 3, 321–329 (1871).Google Scholar
Kelvin, W. T. On the rigidity of the Earth; shiftings of the Earth’s instantaneous axis of rotation; and irregularities of the Earth as a timekeeper. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 153, 573–582 (1863).Google Scholar
Kelvin, W. T. The age of the Earth as an abode fitted for life science. Annual Address (1897) to the Victoria Institute 9, 665–674 (1897).Google Scholar
Murray, J. Geikie, Archibald. Presidential Address given in Dover to the Geology Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Saturday, September 16, 1899. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1900).Google Scholar
England, P., Molnar, P. and Righter, F. John Perry’s neglected critique of Kelvin’s age for the Earth: a missed opportunity in geodynamics. GSA Today 17, 4–9 (2007).Google Scholar
Rutherford, E. Radioactive Substances and Their Radiations (Cambridge University Press, 1913).Google Scholar
Malley, M. The discovery of atomic transmutation: scientific styles and philosophies in France and Britain. Isis 70, 213–223 (1979).Google Scholar
Fleck, A. Frederick Soddy, 1877–1956. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 3, 203–216 (1957).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kovarik, A. F. Biographical memoir of Bertram Borden Boltwood 1870–1927. National Academy of Sciences 14, 69–96 (1929).Google Scholar
Lewis, C. The Dating Game: One Man’s Search for the Age of the Earth (Cambridge University Press, 2002).Google Scholar
Dunham, K. C. Arthur Holmes, 1890–1965. 12 (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1966).Google Scholar
Holmes, A. The association of lead with uranium in rock-minerals, and its application to the measurement of geological time. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 85, 248–256 (1911).Google Scholar
Dalrymple, B. G. The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly) solved. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 190, 205–221 (2001).Google Scholar
Holmes, A. A revised estimate of the age of the Earth. Nature 159, 127–128 (1947).CrossRefGoogle Scholar