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LIVING MATTER IS
THE MOST POWERFUL
GEOLOGICAL FORCE
THE BIOSPHERE
E
arth has four interacting
subsystems: the lithosphere,
Earth’s rigid, rocky outer
shell; the hydrosphere, which
comprises all water on the planet’s
surface; the atmosphere, formed by
layers of surrounding gases; and
the biosphere—anywhere that
supports life, from the ocean depths
to the highest mountaintops.
The biosphere’s origins are
ancient: fossils of tiny single-celled
microorganisms that date back
4.28 billion years suggest that it
is almost as old as Earth itself. The
biosphere extends into every land-and water-based environment, and
reaches into extreme habitats, such
as the intensely hot mineral-rich
waters around hydrothermal vents.
It is often divided into “biomes”—
common major habitats, such as
deserts, grasslands, oceans, tundra,
and tropical rain forests.Earth the superorganism
Ideas about the biosphere began
to emerge in the 18th century,
when the Scottish geologist James
Hutton described Earth as a
superorganism—a single living
entity. A century later, Eduard
Suess introduced the concept of the
biosphere in Das Antlitz der Erde
(The Face of the Earth). Suess
explained that life is limited to a
zone at Earth’s surface and that
plants are a good example of the
interactions between the biosphere
and other zones—they grow in the
soil of the lithosphere, but their
leaves breathe in the atmosphere.
In The Biosphere (1926), Russian
geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky,
who had met Suess in 1911, defined
the concept in much more detail,
outlining his view of life as a major
geological force. Vernadsky was
one of the first to recognize that
atmospheric oxygen, nitrogen,IN CONTEXT
KEY FIGURE
Vladimir Vernadsky
(1863–1945)BEFORE
1785 Scottish geologist James
Hutton proposes that in order
to understand Earth, all of its
interactions should be studied.1875 Austrian geologist
Eduard Suess first uses the
term “biosphere” to describe
“the place on Earth’s surface
where life dwells.”AFTER
1928 In Methodology of
Systematics, Russian zoologist
Vladimir Beklemishe warns
that humanity’s future is
irrevocably linked to the
preservation of the biosphere.1974 British scientist James
Lovelock and American
biologist Lynn Margulis
first publish their Gaia
hypothesis—the idea of
Earth as a living entity.Man is becoming a
more and more powerful
geological force, and the
change of his position on
the planet coincided
with this process.
Vladimir VernadskyUS_204-205_The_Biosphere.indd 204 12/11/18 6:25 PM