Our Seismic Earth - Putting Air Travel Interruptions into Perspective
Since the Icelandic volcano known as Eyjafjoell began a series of eruptions back on April 14th of this year, Europe's air travel industry has been in chaos. In the United Kingdom, for example, the first series of eruptions and the subsequent ash cloud and other ejected material resulted in the unprecedented closure of the entire United Kingdom airspace for the best part of a week.
Normally, when we look out of our office windows, we can see the vapour trails or the planes themselves, at times we have counted ten aircraft in the sky. This is not too surprising as we live in an area free from high buildings so we can see plenty of sky and our offices are based approximately 20 miles from Manchester airport, which is one of the busiest airports in the country. Although our business was affected by the closure of UK air space, for a few blissful days last month, we were able to look up and see just blue sky and clouds. It was quite eerie to be able to see just birds and insects flying by as we stared up into the atmosphere. Our business, like many similar companies; was affected by the ash cloud.
For instance, as a mail order company, parcels and packages sent abroad by air freight services were directly affected, with some delays occurring. We had a number of new products and goods on the water being shipped over to us in the UK and some of these shipping services were also affected indirectly. The increased number of passenger ferries that had been organised to bring back stuck travellers and holiday makers, led to delays at several ports. However, in the great scheme of things we got off quite lightly and whilst we have great sympathy with those travellers, companies and business personnel who have been severely affected, it is worth remembering that overall seismic and volcanic activity on Earth is very important for our planet and the life upon it.
Although, the ash cloud with its fragments of silica is causing interruptions to air travel, a state of affairs that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, one has only to consider the fate of another rocky planet in our solar system to appreciate the importance of volcanic and seismic activity. The Eyjafjoell volcano may represent the biggest volcanic eruption to occur in Iceland for one hundred years, it may also have spewed out into the atmosphere something in excess of 250 million cubic metres of ash and other fragmentary materials but the truth is, if it were not for such activity planet Earth would be a very different place.
Why Volcanoes and Seismic Activity are Important
We live on a violent world, volcanic activity has shaped our planet since its origins some 4.6 billion years ago. As one of the four rocky planets to be found in the inner realms of our solar system we only have to compare our green and blue world teeming with life to that of one of our rocky neighbours to see the benefits of seismic and volcanic activity. Approximately, 141 million miles away from the Sun, the desolate planet Mars can be found. Mars is slightly smaller than Earth, it has less mass but observations and evidence from the various Mars rovers that have visited the planet indicate that this planet was once seismically active.
As a result of this activity the atmosphere on Mars was much thicker than we observe today. The molten core of this planet cooled and the mantle induced convection forces stopped and one of the consequences of this was that Mars began to loose its atmosphere. The chemical and physical processes that could have led to the evolution of life forms were halted. If there is life, or if there was life on this desolate planet in the past it would have been primitive, perhaps similar to the extremophile life forms that are found on Earth today. The absence of seismic and volcanic activity led to the desolate, dusty red planet that we know today. Had seismic and volcanic activity continued then the images sent back to Earth by probes such as Viking and the later terrestrial Rovers would be very different.
Our "Goldilocks" Planet
Our planet's size, the shape of its orbit around the Sun, its distance from the Sun and our overall position in the solar system have all helped promote the evolution of life on Earth. Planet Earth's position, its mass, gravitational and magnetic fields (produced by the action of the outer core and mantle) and its internal heat have allowed the development and retention of an oxygen-rich atmosphere and abundant surface water. A number of factors, including the presence of seismic and volcanic activity have enabled life on Earth to flourish. It is because of these reasons, Earth being not too hot, not too cold and just right for carbon based lifeforms, that some scientists refer to Earth as the "Goldilocks" planet.
Seismic and Volcanic Activity Promoting Evolution
Seismic and volcanic activity has also provided the stimulus for evolution. Palaeontologists and geologists are aware of the influence on such planetary effects on the evolution of life. Throughout Earth's history, volcanic eruptions and the movement of the tectonic plates have influenced life. Charles Darwin, although unaware of plate tectonics, as he wrote his seminal book "The Origin of Species" before Alfred Wegener developed his theory of continental drift, remarked on the geographical distribution of species. This distribution has been influenced by the movement and break up of land masses. Mass extinctions and other smaller extinction events have also been influenced by volcanic and seismic activity.
At the end of the Cretaceous, a contributory factor in the extinction of the dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals such as the Pterosaurs and the marine reptiles may have been the eruption of the Deccan Traps flood basalts in India. More recently, a less severe extinction event approximately 16 million years ago coincided with increased volcanic activity in North America. Such events permit new forms of life to emerge and to diversify to exploit those niches left vacant by the extinction of other organisms. These events have contributed to our evolution and volcanic activity on our seismically active Earth will continue to influence our evolution for as long as we H. sapiens are around.
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