Co-Evolution of Life and Plate Tectonics (AGU) #utdgss

Earth’s convective style, manifested on the surface as tectonics, has evolved as the planet cooled over its 4.65 billion year (Ga) history. Life began at least 3.8 Ga and has also evolved. This presentation explores how the evolution of Earth’s tectonic style controlled the evolution of life during the past 1.6 Ga. The co-evolution of life and tectonics on Earth is the subject of Biogeodynamics – an emerging field at the interface between geodynamics, geomorphology, climate, ocean and atmosphere sciences, geobiology, ecology and evolution with special focus on how changes in planetary interiors, surface, atmosphere, ocean, climate, and life are interrelated. Special focus in this presentation is given to effects of the prolonged transition to modern plate tectonics in Neoproterozoic time (1-0.54 Ga) on the evolution of increasingly complex life at the same time. We identify five changes that resulted from the Neoproterozoic tectonic revolution that accelerated biological evolution: 1) increased nutrient supply; 2) increased free oxygen in the atmosphere and ocean; 3) climate amelioration; 4) accelerated formation of diverse marine habitats; and 5) moderate sustained environmental pressure. Presenting author(s): Robert Stern, University of Texas at Dallas Author(s): Taras Gerya, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Loïc Pellissier, ETH Zürich Attila Balazs, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Dominic Stemmler, ETH Zurich Timothy Gray, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Julian Rogger, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Luuk van Agtmaal, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich