How Does A Terran Planet Work?

First, this was written up as a RPG supplement. Although written for role playing games, it does utilize science and some of mine own hypotheses (both falsifiable and testable).

Looking at how Earth, our planet, works can answer boatloads of questions for anyone who may wish to know more about how terran planets work. As the scientist I have been me entire life, I shall be the first to tell you to not trust my horse hoowhee in this treatise, and go do some True Research. Do not accept what I write in this treatise unless you ARE knowledgeable enough with your own Knowledge Base that what I write is entirely plausible, and I mean ENTIRELY, within YOUR Knowledge Base. Every person has one. Admit it. Just like opinions, philosophies, and anuses.

Additionally, I have had my RPGing days when I was younger. Seems such games attracts us Geeks. I began RPGing over 50 years ago with the first Dungeons & Dragons BBB (Basic Blue Box). I bought it as me christmas present to myself. I also collected virtually every role playing system (RPS) I came across. I may have sold away over 1000 RPSs. As a scientist, I even wrote my own spreadsheet and database to perform some analyses. More on those later. Additionally, with Arakish’s library, I am finding very interesting stuff he wrote in notebooks that I may cover in a later treatise(s).

One mistake I have seen almost every RPS make, when they decided to create a pseudo-random system for “world building”, is that virtually all RPSs always had the same MYTH:

“The crust of the world floats upon a molten ocean of magma.”

RPS writers of old never did ANY research. We have known that the Earth is entirely solid, since c. 1930s, excepting the liquid outer core. That is 40 years before RPS writers came to be. Thus RPS writers did not research. They guessed. Even by this time (RPG era), we knew the Earth was entirely solid, excepting the LOC (Liquid Outer Core).

Seismology, the science of studying seimographs and seismic phenomena, began around 1905-1910 (IMS). [Fact Checking: 1857CE utlizing explosions to create seismic phenomenon. Seismograph was first invented in 132CE!] By the 19teens, we knew the Earth was solid, no liquid magma. Definitively before the 1950s, we knew the Earth had two cores: Outer and Inner. The outer core is in a molten liquid state while the inner core is solid due to gravity freezing. We know the outer core is liquid because S-waves do NOT propagate through liquids. And there was ALWAYS a whopping 160±° arc of shadow where no S-waves are ever recorded from quakes on the other side of the Earth. Only the P-waves can propagate through liquids. They are refracted, but will still propagate through the liquid back into the solid. The refraction of the LOC creates small shadow zones in the P-waves. But essentially, there is no safe place ON/IN the Earth from P-waves.

This makes me wonder at the technology humans are using in The Matrix universe to keep those S-waves from destroying their machinery. S-waves are the most violent and destructive... Remember what Tank said about Zion (paraphrased), “Deep within the Earth. Where it’s still warm.”? That indicates they could even be as deep as the upperside of the Upper Mantle. But, I hypothesis they are still in the Asthenosphere. The Matrix universe exists about in the 22nd Century (2100s) according to the Animatrix, with the best guesstimation I used. Even then, the Earth would still be QUITE geomorphologically active. If the humans could keep their machinery safe from the P-waves and S-waves of all those quakes, then the Machines would be able to tap directly into the Earth’s HEAT. They would not need humans for power/energy. Even if the sky is still burnt with no insolation reaching the surface. Ain’t it fun to disprove a fictional sci-fi universe? >:-P

When I was in grade school, NO teacher ever said the crust floats on magma. NEVER. And geology and geography were Required Subjects of learning back then in the APES. Shame it still ain’t. So where did this myth come from? The common laypeople. They see volcanoes erupt and assume there is an ocean of magma below. I can easily see how that myth came to be. You see lava spewing out of Kilauea upwards of 400+ meters into the air; thus, there must be an ocean of magma. See, I can even deduce how myths come to be myths. Regardless of what is done with those myths in today’s civilized society.

BTW: When me wife and I visited Kilauea in 1984, it was shooting lava about 400m into the air (1312ft), estimated using trig, into the air. And the noise from 1½km away was almost deafening. I had to wear hearing protection. Like standing next to a jet engine. Currently, Kilauea is shooting lava about 100-200m into the air. Saw one headline with 700+ feet (213m).

Excepting the LOC, the only other “liquids” inside the Earth are very small pockets of molten magma, mostly located at the mid-oceanic ridges (MORs). Sometimes, what we refer to as a rather “HUGE magma chamber”, like under Yellowstone, is still very, very small to the scale of the Earth.

Essentially put, even a terran planet with only 80% the surface water as Earth (about where the continental shelves drop as cliffs), Plate Tectonics are inevitable.

“It is... Inevitable.”

Yes, thank you Agent Smith.

Plate Tectonics will happen. Somewhere around perhaps ≤70% of Earth’s surface water, plate tectonics will become largely localized around water basins (land-locked oceans). Once you hit about 40% of Earth’s surface water is where plate tectonics may not happen, except in extreme localized locales. Not in the sense we know from Earth. Not enough water for lubrication.

If any plate tectonic activity occured on an “arid” terran planet, say Arrakis, Dune, Desert Planet, when it releases, it will be more cataclysmically explosive than on a pelagic terran planet. Think of it as even more explosive than on Earth. Imagine that 2011 Japan earthquake happening due to convergence underland. KA-BOOM! Boulders the size of Manhatten could be flung hundreds of kilometers to essentially become a meteor as it lands. Pressure along the fault will build to much, much greater force/power when the release occurs. I am referring to off the Richter Scale. Or, the equivalent of a 15R megathrust? So much more, it would be required to be measured in Moment Magnitude scale. Gigatons. Perhaps, Teratons? Equivalent of a very large meteoric impactor?

As said. Water helps lubricate these faults, BECAUSE WATER IS ALSO A LUBRICATING SOLVENT, making their release much gentler since they most often occur underwater, than underland. Of course, the resultant tsunamis will be havoc to deal with. Sometimes.

Experiment: Squeeze two fingers together and try to slide them against each other. Now wet those fingers and do the same. Which way was easier to slide your fingers against each other: Dry? Or, Wet? Although not as great as an oil, water does lubricate.

There are four different forms of “global” geomorphology:

  1. Passive geology is basically just that, passive. Planets with passive geology have either cooled enough to have lost internal heat capable of producing geomorphological activity, such as Mars. Landform assemblages are dominated by the remnants of past ages of activity, impact history, and weathering, if applicable. And weathering does include the stellar winds. The terrain in passive geology is marked by impact craters and low, rolling mountains and hills, as well as fault cracks and cliff-like scarps. The terrain will generally be very ancient, measurably in Ga. Mercury is a very good example of this type of geology.
  2. Sporadic geology is very similar to passive, but in this case there is just enough of a feeble ember still glowing at the planet’s core, enough to power occasional tectonic shifts and highly sporadic volcanism. This will tend to add trace gases such as methane or sulfur dioxide to an otherwise inert atmosphere, but will have little effect on the overall terrain, which will tend to look like passive geology. Only a geologist, or an unfortunate explorer, who could have sworn the volcano was extinct, would be able to tell the difference. Venus may be a good example of this form of geology.
  3. Cyclic geology is generated by an active core that is blocked by an overly thick crust. This is often the case of low to middle-mass terrestrial planets. The geological cycle often undergoes quiescent periods for tens or even hundreds of millions of years (perhaps Ga?) until the trapped heat overwhelms fracture points in the crust. The situation then changes drastically, and vulcanism could take place. Sometimes capable of resurfacing huge areas of the planet within a few Ka to a few Ma, if not the entire global surface. However, even complete global resurfacing with Cyclic geology would be “exceptionally” rare. The atmosphere often thickens and becomes highly toxic, making life very difficult for ANY complex forms, instead squaloring microbial, if any. Eventually the pressure wanes, and the surface settles into quiescence, for a very long period of time. Geological Time.
  4. Active geology takes place all-but constantly, with major earthquakes and Major eruptions every year or so. It comes in two distinct flavors: hotspot and plate-tectonic:
    • Hotspot geology occurs on terran planets, as well as occasional low-mass pelagic worlds. Mantle plumes of hotter material from deep in the mantle near to the core create zones of high pressure and excessive heating under the crust. Eventually this material breaks out in a region of high volcanism. Because the crust is immobile, unlike plate-tectonic worlds, these hotspot regions give rise to massive shield volcanoes hundreds of kilometers across, sitting on extensive highland regions. On some worlds, they can grow over a thousand kilometers across, and rise high enough to poke out of the planet’s stratosphere. Olympus Mons and the Tharsis Sisters on Mars, are very good examples of the results of hotspot geology, as Mars died. But those were due to other reasons as well... Also, the Hawai'i islands were formed due to both plate-tectonic and hotspot geology. Mars may now be of sporadic or passive geology. Since even sporadic geology may only be active every tens or hundreds of millions of years, we may never know. Io is a good example of hotspot geology gone wild. The Pepperoni Moon, Io, is the most volcanically active object in the Solar System.
    • Plate-Tectonic geology is common on pelagic planets, where there is enough water to both fuel and lubricate the process. Unlike normal planetary crusts, plate-tectonic crusts are broken into a number of plates. Water from global oceans permeates the rock, lubricating it and allowing the plates to slide under/over past each other in subduction zones. This causes tension stress on the far side of the plate, and new material is dragged/pulled up from below to fill in the gap, forming MORs. This often forms a jagged suture line, most commonly under the oceans themselves, and thus named mid-oceanic ridges. These ridges form a line of volcanic mountains often thousands of kilometers long. The subducted edges of the plates are easily melted since they carry water as an impurity, triggering volcanoes on the surface above and away from the subduction zone on the overriding plate. This complex and active process creates very young crust, excepting cratons, often only a few tens to hundreds of millions of years old, and is dependent on large quantities of water. Continental crust lies on regions of lighter silicaceous granites that are carried along like rafts, sometimes merging, sometimes being broken apart, by the activity below them. Earth is a very good example of plate-tectonic geology.

In the inceptual phase of stellar system formation, planets accumulate matter during what is called the Heavy Bombardment Period (HBP). As the chunks of matter accumulate, especially rock, some may well be large enough to input TeraJoules (Peta?) of energy into the “accumulating” mass. This is the Hadean Period. When Earth was basically a molten ball of rock with little crust, perhaps even thinner than one kilometer in some places. Otherwise, a molten, boiling, ball of magma.

Remember: Magma is inside the Earth. Lava flows on the surface. If in a crater, it is a Magma Lake. It ain’t flowing on the surface. Instead it is magma bubbling to the surface. The official definition of “lava” is “magma that flows on the surface”. Lava.

During the Hadean Period, it is literally impossible for life to form, unless it is mineral, metallic, or cerami-alloy combination. Capable of withstanding incredible heat. Additionally, Insolation would be too great for biological life to form on any kind of crustal material. Carbonic Life anyway. If the Large Impact Hypothesis is true, this would plausibly explain how the Earth ended up entirely liquid, and got its rather large moon, and its rather large iron core as compared to the other terran planets in our stellar system. A somewhat Mars sized object collided with Earth early in the formation period. Probably within a few million years, Earth began heavily differentiating. Remember, the downflow and upflow of material in accordance to density, even in a molten state, still takes long geologic time periods. However, since molten, it was still much quicker than today since only the LOC is molten and Earth has largely solidified.

We know Humanity may have begun in what is now Africa, but LIFE itself began in Australia. Stromatolithic formations discovered in Australia date back to 3.8±0.1Ga. The oldest fossilized evidence of the existence of life early in Earth's history. The Earth is only about 4.6Ga old. Life began within the first billion years of Earth’s existence. 4.6 − 3.8 = 0.8Ga. Or, 800Ma old.

Thus, Imagine this if you will. The Earth, while Sol was a proto-star, began accumulating, became a molten ball of magma, and LIFE formed. All within 800 million years. WOW!

Earth’s official age is listed as 4.56±0.1Ga.

LIFE From Lifelessness

Now let us investigate this phenomena and how it could possibly have happened. This short essay also represents the data from a debate I had against a catholic priest of some sort, who debated against the question: “Was Life Created, Or Did It Evolve?” He lost. Big time. I sung the audience ON hostile territory from 78% Created, to final vote of 57% Evolved.

How can LIFE come from that which is literally “lifeless”?

What are the most common elements?

Ten most common elements in the Milky Way Galaxy
Z Element Mass fraction (ppm)
1 Hydrogen 739,000
2 Helium 240,000
8 Oxygen 10,400
6 Carbon 4600
10 Neon 1340
26 Iron 1090
7 Nitrogen 960
14 Silicon 650
12 Magnesium 580
16 Sulfur 440

Z = shorthand for “Atomic Number”. Also number of protons.

Most abundant elements in Earth’s (continental) crust
Z Element Symbol Abundance (ppm)
8 oxygen O 461,000 (46.1%)
14 silicon Si 282,000 (28.2%)
13 aluminium Al 82,300 (8.23%)
26 iron Fe 56,300 (5.63%)
20 calcium Ca 41,500 (4.15%)
11 sodium Na 23,600 (2.36%)
12 magnesium Mg 23,300 (2.33%)
19 potassium K 20,900 (2.09%)
22 titanium Ti 5,650 (0.565%)
1 hydrogen H 1,400 (0.14%)
15 phosphorus P 1,050 (0.105%)
25 manganese Mn 950 (0.095%)
9 fluorine F 585 (0.0585%)
56 barium Ba 425 (0.0425%)
38 strontium Sr 370 (0.037%)
16 sulfur S 350 (0.035%)
6 carbon C 200 (0.02%)

Z = shorthand for “Atomic Number”. Also number of protons. Funny how oxygen is the most common lithographic element. Silicon dioxide is quartz. That is where most of the oxygen comes from. A gas, but dissolved in solids.

The two most common elements in the Earth’s crust, oxygen and silicon, are the sand you walk on in the form of silicon dioxide (SiO2).

Top Elements in the Human Body
Element % mass % atoms
Oxygen 65.0 24.0
Carbon 18.5 12.0
Hydrogen 9.5 62.0
Nitrogen 2.6 1.1
Calcium 1.3 0.22
Phosphorus 0.6 0.22
Sulfur 0.3 0.038
Potassium 0.2 0.03
Sodium 0.2 0.037
Chlorine 0.2 0.024
Magnesium 0.1 0.015

From this Great Wiki page.

What is the most common “COMPOUND” in the Universe?

Remember, a compound is made from two or more elements.

The most common compound is: Water. Dihydrogen monoxide. H2O. Hmm... T…H…I…N…K…

The most common compund in the universe is water. Something required by all KNOWN Life. T…H…I…N…K… This suggests that if conditions are correct, life may be inevitable.

NOTE: We have known that water is the most common compound found out there for the last 60 to 70 years.

OK. Now that those lists are over, who would agree that ALL the above listed are “lifeless”. However, LIFE on Earth processes almost every last element listed above.

What are the most common gaseous compounds emitted by volcanos, magma lakes? Lava flows? Not including the rock material.

Most Common gases emitted by Volcanos

THINK Critically about this. It is the volcanism of Earth in the Hadean Period that created Earth’s primordial atmosphere. It is also the source of almost all water on the planet. Water is dissolved in magma in the form of hydroxyls within the magma. As the magma rises, pressure lessens, then allows all those gases dissolved within to escape. Earth Fart. Earth Belch. Loads of gases.

  1. water vapor (H2O; ≅ 60-70%)
  2. carbon dioxide (CO2; ≅ 20-30%)
    • Water vapor and carbon dioxide combine to be 80-95% of gases emitted by volcano, magma, lava.
  3. sulfur either as
    • sulfur dioxide (SO2), or
    • hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
  4. diatomic nitrogen (N2)
  5. argon (Ar)
  6. helium (He)
  7. neon (Ne)
  8. methane (CH4)
  9. carbon monoxide (CO)
  10. hydrogen as
    • hydrogen chloride (HCl),
    • hydrogen fluoride (HF),
    • hydrogen bromide (HBr), and
    • hydrogen cyanide (HCN)
  11. sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
  12. carbonyl sulfides (OCSs; precusor to hydrocarbons)
  13. ⇒ organic compounds ⇐

Of all the lists I found, I did (avg), (mn), and (r2mn) on all the lists to get the above list. Water vapor and carbon dioxide account for 80-95% of the gases emitted by volcanos. And the 13th compound is “organic! compounds!!”. As gaseous compounds. And all that electrical potential, those same gasous organic compounds also bonded with the water vapor. However, not life, just organic compounds that rained out later with all those acids too. Ain’t DNA just an acidic protein? Is it any wonder that life formed from the lifeless?

BTW: Organic Compounds was 12, 13, 13, etc. on the lists I found. IT was 12 or 13, but mostly 13 on all lists.

Basically, the Earth farted like 7734 in the Hadean Period into the Archaean Period, and over 4½ billion years came us humans. :-P

If you remove water vapor from the above list, you are left with compounds that readily and easily combine with water vapor. As all those gases mix in the tumultuous atmosphere, perhaps also with GVAmps of static electrical energy, guess what happens? You end up with a plethora of acids dissolved into the water vapor: carbonic acid, nitric acid, cyanic acid, sulfuric acid, bromic acid, fluoric acid, chloric acid. And all those acid molecules gave something for the water to accumulate onto in a feedback loop into a drop of rain. However, carbonic acid would account for nearly 98% of all the acids. That is the way it goes with acids: weakest will be common while the stronger acids are more rare.

Basically, the “acid rain” of today is NOTHING compared to the acid rain 3.9Ga ago. Give or take. And when that acid rain hit the surface, guess what happens? It SHALL dissolve other minerals and metals into the already highly acidic water. Carbonated water. Sound familiar? Read the label of your next Pepsi.

Eventually, what happens if enough water falls on a molten ball? Lots of water returned to the atmosphere as steam (water vapor), making the water that basins on the surface even more acidic. T…H…I…N…K…

Again, eventually, all those acids, minerals, metals in that “primordial soup” can begin freely mixing in a basin. As the Original Arakish put it, they can begin complexification. Molecules becoming more complex. But what do they need most to complexify? ENERGY. Heat. What all is in that soup? Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Sodium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Sulfur, Chlorine, Potassium, Calcium, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Zinc. Elements necessary for life today. Perhaps not all were used for the actual Inception of Life.

Now imagine the compounds that are also in that water, primordial soup. As the water steams off and heat cooks all that, molecules will complexify.

The first streams on Earth would have been too violent for anything more than dissolving more minerals and metals. Once water began accumulating in basins, then begins the complexification of simpler molecules into more complex molecules. What thinkest thou?

Let us look into the Miller-Urey experiment. This experiment used a primordial atmosphere of methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), and hydrogen, in ratio of 2:2:1, respectively. They did use water heated in the experiment and did get some small organic molecules. Their experiment used electricity as the primary constituent of “input energy” that may have led to the formation of Life. But it does not.

From a notebook dated 1955, “I think Miller-Urey were wrong in their experiment about a primordial Earth. Their major source of “input energy” was electricity. The only problem I have with electricity is that it literally burns molecules apart. Even in low VAmp current, electricity burns. Although they did produce some organic compounds, they were not compounds that create Life. Instead, if they looked at those organic compounds more intensely, I guarantee they would have found those organic compounds were the result of burning, not formation. Thus, I feel it was the HEAT radiating more slowly from Earth’s interior that literally cooked the lifeless into Life, using the most common compound in the universe: Water.”

In another notebook dated 1956,

“I still think electricity is the wrong form of “input energy”. Electricity flows through molecules (electron shells) instead of flowing into molecules (nucleus). As the nucleus increases in energy potential, it will be shed into the electron shells. HEAT, being much less intense and sudden, being a much slower AND steadier form of input energy, would result in the complexification of molecules. Electricity tending to flow through molecules will only tend to tear them apart. THAT is why we use metal for electrical transmission. Nonmetallic elements are usually very low in electrical transmission capabilities. Really think about this. Yes, there was probably TeraJoules of static energy in that toxic, miasmic atmosphere. Lightning bolts today can generate upwards of 1 GigaJoule of energy. That is FAR! too much energy input in FAR! too short of time. The lightning bolt (Miller’s electricity) would have literally burned every last molecule in those very small basins of Primordial Soup. The Earth was much too warm to allow water to accumulate into very large basins (seas, oceans) at that time, some 3.9Ga ago. When Earth was only about 600-700Ma old.

“Thus, it is MY hypothesis that it was actually HEAT from the Earth that literally “cooked” life into existence from the lifeless. The slower, steadier, THUS more reliable, form of input energy was Heat. Infrared Radiation. Electricity, even in very low VAmp current would only produce burnt organic compounds, but never Life. Thus, they were wrong about Frankenstein.”

— Arakish

And he wrote that when he was only 15y old. Probably longer ago than many whom may read THIS treatise I am writing and editing.

As those molecules mix in those small basins of Primordial Soup, they form into more complex molecules. In accordance with our current Knowledge Base, we think the first self-replicating molecule was similar to RNA. It may not have been actual RNA as of today, but similar enough. How many failures were there before it got the correct combination?

There is one FACT one must always remember about self-replication. This is nothing more than making a copy of IT, the Original. That copy makes a copy. Ad infinitum. You can see the same phenomenon using photocopies. As you keep photocopying each successent photocopy, eventually, the photocopies look crappy. Look so bad you want to burn them. Self-replication (cellular mitosis), produces the same phenomenon. Copies are never EXACTLY the same. Yes, the 0.0000000001% probability chance an exact copy is made exists. That is why all life ages and dies. Cellular Mitosis is NEVER perfect. Nothing we have observed in this multicosmos, or multiverse, or whateververse, suggests anything IS perfect. Perfection DOES NOT exist. You may as well say perfection CANNOT exist. Shall NEVER exist. Because there is still too much chaos amongst the order. Remember, amongst chaos, there is order. Amongst order, there is chaos. Another Absolute. What is that? Two?

  1. Change Over Time.
  2. Amongst chaos, there is order. Amongst order, there is chaos.

Okay. Three absolutes. I cannot list the third in this treatise. Does not belong. So... Go with two Absolutes.

If you include abiogenesis, the Formation of Life, that also seems an inevitibility, given the correct conditions. After all, WATER is the most common compound throughout the universe. T…H…I…N…K…

Wild Tangent: Did you know that according to most physiologists, the human body goes through complete replication around every eight years? In other words, by the time you were 8y old, you are no longer what you were born AS. Thus, are you still truly you? Everything in your body has finally been replaced with a duplicate, or, split into replicants. It happens at about 16y, 24y, 32y, etc. How many complete replications have you been through? Me? Cannot give exact, but I will say at least 8.

OK, much eventually later, RNA becomes DNA through molecular attraction through another copy, copied a million times over, join together. Boom. DNA. DNA conglomerates/accumulates into a Nucleus. Then even some more eventually produces a cell. Prokaryotic Life. Simplest form of Life ever.

BTW: I am using eventually in the meaning of “change over time”. Also meaning, Loonngg... periods of time.

More eventually, a larger prokaryote enveloped a smaller prokaryote with the intention to eat it. Once, something went differently. Instead, the larger enslaved the smaller into being an Energy Factory for the larger. Boom. Mitochondrial Eukaryotic Life. MEL. And ain’t she so sweet?

Still more eventually, the eukaryotes invent the greatest invention ANY life could create. Bisexual Reproduction. Think about this analogy. The first bisexual eukaryote could have created an imperfect enough copy of IT self to have sex with Itself without being IT self. :-P

Without refute, the single most greatest invention of Life is “Bisexual Reproduction”. The mixing of TWO genetic sources, instead of copying one. Once that happened, Life diversified with a vengeance. Evolution, finally had a tool to explain the “Diversification of Life”. Bisexual Reproduction. THAT is what drives the Theory of Evolution Through the Process of Natural Selection. T…H…I…N…K… With us humans, it is simply two different genetic sources attracting each other to replicate. As scientifically simple as True Truth. T…H…I…N…K…

Wild Tangent: Did you know that almost all Life on Earth is eukaryotic? Including, plants? As unbelievable as it may sound, ALL eukaryotic life on Earth IS female by its own “DNA code”. You should know from High School Biology 101 that ALL Life has nuclear DNA (nDNA). Even prokaryotes. However, the addition that ALL eukaryotic life has is mitochondrial DNA (mDNA). From High School Biology 101, you know that nDNA is a 50% male, 50% female contribution. What about the mDNA? 100% FEMALE. That makes ALL eukaryotic life, which includes you human males, FEMALE encoded into our very DNA. Sorry, guys. But it IS true.

Some persons even ask, “If life goes from being simple to becoming complex, then why are simpler forms still around?”

Simple. Remember that quote attributed to Darwin, “Survival of the fittest.”? As much as us primitive barbaric monkies would hate to admit, it is usually the simpler life forms that ARE the FITTEST to survive.

SCENARIO: If us primitive barbaric monkies were to Nuke ourselves into utter extinction, guess what would, in the least, survive to begin anew? The prokaryotes. Even with that as the scenario, even bacteria would survive to re“Genesis”ize the Earth. 7734, IF any interstellar visitors came afterwards, they would find our self-extermination event. “Good. Another barbaric species we won’t need to worry about.” Earth may even be back to what it was WITHOUT humans. A peaceful (hopefully) garden of eden. Make a nice outpost to colonize.

We now have our Other Earth. We now have Life. But when does the complexification of Life begin? The best answer I hypothesize is when the Earth became differentiated enough to produce a powerful enough GMF (Geo-Magnetic Field). It took Earth about 4.4Ga to differentiate enough to produce its current SIC and LOC. Life did not begin diversifying until about 800Ma ago, after Earth was about 3.8Ga old. However, Life could possibly have begun Diversification as far as 1.5±0.1Ga ago. Just no fossils to find since they are gone into the geomorphological anals of Earth’s history.

What is called the Cambrian Explosion is no “explosion” at all. The “diversification of life” followed a curve similar to an exponential curve. Much like the curve of population growth. As more and more Speciation occurred, more and more speciation shall occur. Very similar to an exponential curve. Then, us primitive barbaric monkies have been doing our best to destroy that “diversification of life”. Us humans, with our biospheric modifications, is destroying Life’s Diversity. Why cannot ALL see that?

What we call the Cambrian Explosion is simply when life was complexifying enough to produce remains that could be fossilized. I guarantee there are many, many, ...many other species before this supposed explosion that probably did not have enough complexity to leave fossils. Such as Jellyfish-type life forms. T…H…I…N…K…

And truly THINK Critically about this. There are fossils we shall NEVER discover. There could be a fossil in the ocean floor sediment about to be swallowed by the subduction at Challenger Deep. There are other fossils that have been destroyed by the Earth’s continuing geologic activity. Those great basaltic provinces destroyed perhaps millions, if not billions, of fossils. There are already billions of fossils that have been utterly destroyed. Thus, we no find.

Global Basalt Provinces
MapMajorFloodBasaltProvinces-Crpd

Wild Tangent: Something funny. Did you know that it was the anus that developed first? Ever since, we are all arseholes. ;-P

The GMF will deflect/absorb much, but not all, incoming radiations. The GMF allows life to diversify due to a lessened Insolated environment. Life started in water because the atmosphere did NOT block enough Insolation, thus life squalored in the microbial state, shielded by the water for 3Ga give or take. Even the water could not filter enough Insolation for Life to complexify. Any land would have been literally scorched.

“I basically hypothesize that it was The Great Earth Mother that cooked and nurtured life from the lifelessness.”
What thinkest thou?

— The Unknown Atheist

Everything I thunked above about “life from lifelessness” is as true as best as my memory serves and brain can simulate. However, do not count on it. I have TOO much data in there. Some may be outdated. As a scientist, I SHALL tell you to NOT believe my horse hoowhee. Do some True Research. And, remember this, in me ancient years, I am a combination of too damned lazy to get off me arse anymore to hunt down specific information, and too damned lazy to search the WWW, which has almost become entirely pure garbage. Weren’t like that even as I remember. My Library is too huge. As mentioned, after buying the Original Arakish’s Library, I have to add on a room. Too much not shelved to hunt through. 7734, I may never get it entirely sorted. Sell it off at me Estate Sale...

 

“Science is the only religion for Humanity.”

—Sir Arthur C Clarke, Scientist and Engineer

 

“O! god. We’re in the hands of engineers.”

— Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

Now, another possible point is when in an Earth-like history do you base your RPG world?

I have created a world named Etherlond that is basically in the depths of the equivalent of Earth’s Carboniferous Period. With one helluva mystery.

And in finality, an especial note for RPG Players:

If your GM says the tree in question is a “live oak”, can you use your imaginations to realize it is NOT a “live oak” as from Earth, but an exoplanetary alien tree similar enough to be called a live oak?

Fifty years RPG experience and I still come across those that would bring this up, “But I thought you said it was an alien Other Earth?” Ugghhh...

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— The Unknown Atheist

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