Water and Tectonic Activity
TNRTB Archive – Retain for reference information
A greater understanding of geophysics provides further evidence that a habitable planet must have water to facilitate the necessary geological activity life requires. As water dissolves in the rocks composing Earth’s mantle, it dramatically alters the characteristics of the mantle. The rocks melt at lower temperatures and become more malleable. Recent work indicates that water also increases the electrical (and therefore thermal) conductivity of olivine—a major constituent of Earth’s mantle. Thus water appears to regulate the tectonic activity of Earth. Without the remarkable properties of water, which no other known compound exhibits, the geological (and chemical) processes life requires would not occur. Such apparent design in water’s properties comports well with the idea of a supernatural Creator preparing a universe capable of supporting life.
- Greg Hirth, “Protons Lead the Charge,” Nature 443 (2006): 927-28.
- https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7114/full/443927a.html
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- Origins of Life, by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross