Origin and Evolution of Earth: Research Questions for a Changing Planet

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	SUMMARY	1
1	ORIGINS	7
	Question 1: How did Earth and other planets form?	7
	Question 2: What happened during Earth’s “dark age” (the first 500 million years)?	18
	Question 3: How did life begin?	27
2	EARTH’S INTERIOR	35
	Question 4: How does Earth’s interior work, and how does it affect the surface?	35
	Question 5: Why does Earth have plate tectonics and continents?	50
	Question 6: How are Earth processes controlled by material properties?	60
3	A HABITABLE PLANET	71
	Question 7: What causes climate to change—and how much can it change?	71
	Question 8: How has life shaped Earth—and how has Earth shaped life?	84
4	HAZARDS AND RESOURCES	95
	Question 9: Can earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and their consequences be predicted?	95
	Question 10: How do fluid flow and transport affect the human environment?	111
	REFERENCES	123
	APPENDIXES
A	Biographical Sketches of Committee Members	133
B	Acronyms and Abbreviations	137

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Origin and Evolution of Earth: Research Questions for a Changing Planet (2008)
Board on Earth Sciences and Resources (BESR)

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