SCIENCE

forEVERYone
G.VOITKEVICH
ORIGIN AND CHEMICAL

MIR
 Science
for Everyone
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G.V. Voitkevich

Origin and Chemical Evolution

of the Earth

Translated from the Russian

by V.F. AGRANAT and V.F. POMINOV

Mir
Publishers
Moscow
 First published 1988
Revised from the 1986 Russian edition

Ha amjiuucKOM staurte
Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

© H3AaTejibCTBo «Hayica», 1986

© English translation, Mir Publishers, 1988
ISBN 5-03-000190-5
 “Our planet—two billion* years
younger or older—represents
chemically different bodies.”
V.I. Vernadsky

Preface
At present the problem of our planet’ s origin
is still rather obscure. However, the rapid ad­
vances in modern science, and the discovery
and accumulation of new data in geochemistry,
cosmochemistry, geophysics and astrophysics
provide new insight into the mysterious prob­
lem that has excited many generations—
that of the origin of the Earth and other
bodies of the Solar System.
The chemical composition of different na­
tural bodies, including the Sun and stars, plan­
ets and meteorites, minerals and rocks, natu­
ral waters and plants, and soils and atmospher­
ic air, has been studied by many investigators.
It has opened up for us a complicated histo­
ry of the atoms of chemical elements.
Chemical elements of Solar System, their
isotopic ratios, radioactivity are viewed as
historical documents that enable one to re­
construct the preplanetary stage in the devel­
opment of the matter of the whole System.
Much knowledge on the behaviour of chemi­
cal elements and their compounds under
different thermodynamic conditions and on
the composition of celestial bodies—meteori­
tes, the Moon and the Sun—has been ac­
quired. The development of cosmogenic theory
and reconstruction of the early history of the
Solar System can now be accompanied mainly
by the inductive method based on the com-
* Billion—million millions or 1012 in Great
Pjitain; thousand millions or 109 in USA,
G Preface

parison and generalization of only recently

obtained empirical cosmochemical data on the
composition of meteorites and planets. More­
over, physicochemical approach to the prob­
lems of cosmogeny of the Solar System is
quite inevitable. Therefore the mechanical
features of the Solar System, which received
primary consideration in classical cosmogenic
hypotheses, should be interpreted in the con­
text of physicochemical processes that occurred
in the early history of the Solar System.
We can already assume that the Earth’ s
matter in the past, not long before the forma­
tion of planets, was in the form of plasma, and
the generation of our planet was connected
with the evolution of the substance from the
plasma state to the state of formation of chem­
ical compounds, metal phases, and other
forms of existence of solid, liquid and gaseous
bodies as the temperatures of ancient accumu­
lations of matter were lowered.
In this book the author attempts to describe
in popular form some problems of the Earth’ s
origin and its chemical changes over its long
geological history on the basis of cosmochem­
ical, geochemical and geophysical data ob­
tained in recent years. The chemical evolu­
tion of the Earth is part of the chemical evolu­
tion of Space. Modern cosmochemical and geo­
chemical data reveal that the chemical histo­
ry of the Earth as well as of other bodies of the
Solar System is associated not only with pre­
served stable and nonstable isotopes but also
with extinct radioactive isotopes, including
the isotopes of transuranium elements.
Contents

Preface 5
The Distribution of Elements in the
Solar System and Their Geochemical
Properties 9
Evidence of the Early History of the
Solar System 31
The Nature and Chemical Composi­
tion of Planets 45
Composition and Constitution of the
Earth 71
The Present and Past Radioactivity
of the Earth 87
The Birth of Atoms in Space 97
Chemical Evolution of the Protopla-
netary Material 112
Formation of the Earth’ s Principal
Shells 136
8 Contents

Origin and Evolution of the Ocean

and Atmosphere 152
Principal Trends in the Chemical
Changes in the Earth’ s Crust and
Biosphere 181
The Chemical Evolution of the Earth’
s
Crust 202
Conclusion 223
Bibliography 232
 The Distribution of
Elements in the Solar
System and Their
Geochemical Properties
The origin and development of the Earth are
parts of the cosmic history of atoms of chemi­
cal elements. Its beginning has not yet been
understood to the full and presents the most
important problem of astrophysics and cosmo-
chemistry. The chemical composition of our
planet resulted from the cosmic evolution of
the matter making up the Solar System. In
its course certain quantitative proportions of
atoms were brought about. In this connection,
we should be primarily interested in modern
quantitative relationships pertaining to the
atoms of chemical elements within the Solar
System. These relationships are one of the
principal causes having defined the nature
and development of a particular body.
The abundance of chemical elements is
mainly determined on the basis of the data of
the Sun’ s composition obtained by means of
spectral analysis and also from chemical in­
vestigations conducted in laboratories on the
material from the Earth’ s crust, meteorites
and rocks of the Moon’ s surface.
At present it is conventional to express cos­
mic abundance of elements in a particular
natural system in terms of atomic relation*
10 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

Fig. 1. The relative abundance of atoms of chemical

elements in the Solar System versus their ordinal
number (Z):
even-numbered elements are denoted by black circles, odd-
numbered by light ones

ships. Thus, the quantity of atoms of a chemi­

cal element is expressed in relation to silicon.
This choice is not accidental because of the
difficulty of making silicon volatile. At the
same time it is a widespread element.
The relative atom abundance of elements
in the Solar System is shown in Fig. 1. The
data presented have the attitude to a unity of
106 silicon atoms and are placed in order of
increasing atomic number Z. The relative abun­
dance shown on the vertical coordinate is
expressed in logarithmic values of the atom
numbers. Thus, plotted on the graph is the
dependence of element abundance on their
ordinal number. Distinct regularities in the
cosmic abundance of elements are not difficult
 Distribution of Elements in Solar System 11

to notice. So, it is quite evident that the abun­

dance is characterized by striking differences.
For example, beryllium atoms are one million
times less than those of oxygen. At the same
time, a general pattern of the abundance has
a deep-rooted connection with a leading atom­
ic parameter, i.e. the ordinal number or
charge (Z). So, the following regularities can
be distinguished:
the abundance of elements nonuniformly
decreases with increase in ordinal number Z;
even-numbered elements (having the even-
numbered Z) are more abundant than the neigh­
bouring odd-numbered ones. In geochemis­
try and cosmochemistry this regularity is
called the Oddo-Harkins rule;
more abundant are the elements mostly
containing isotopes with mass number (A)
which is divisible by four, i.e. a multiple of four.
As the ordinal number of an element is
equal to that of protons in its nucleus, and the
most stable nuclear structures have the even-
numbered combination of nucleons (protons
and neutrons), it is easy to arrive at the con­
clusion that the total abundance of elements
in the nature is governed by nuclear proper­
ties of their atoms. As can be seen in Fig. 1,
the abundance curve of elements has its maxi­
mum in the area of iron, then turns down­
wards and after that of molybdenum (Z =
= 42) it becomes almost horizontal. Most max­
ima belong to elements where A of their lead­
ing isotopes are multiples of four, namely:
A = 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40
He— C 0 Ne Mg Si S Ar Ca
 12 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

Other maxima on the abundance curve are

related to the nuclei with neutrons or protons
equal to

2, 8, 20, 50, 82 and 126

Named by physicists magic numbers they

characterize filled nuclear shells that are typi­
cal of the most stable atomic nuclei.
The above facts clearly demonstrate the
dependence of the abundance of atoms in the
Solar System on their compositions and prop­
erties. This is clearly demonstrated by H.
Suess and H. Urey: “ One can assume that the
abundance of elements and their isotopes is
determined by nuclear properties and that
the substance around us is similar to ash
produced by cosmic nuclear fire.”
Hydrogen and helium are the most wide­
spread and are the lightest elements of the So­
lar System. They are readily lost by planets
with small masses under all modes of their for­
mation.
If the composition of the Solar System sub­
stance is evaluated on the basis of the most
common properties of elements, the substance
can be divided into two parts: volatile
(consisting of gases at normal conditions) and
nonvolatile. The first of them includes H,
He, CO, C02, CII4, 0, N and all inert gases, and
the second, a great number of chemical ele­
ments including main rock- and meteorite­
forming ones Si, Fe, Mg, Ca, Al, Na, Ni.
The nonvolatile part of the solar substance
ja best represented by the inost widespread
Distribution of Elements in Solar System 13

stony meteorites—chondrites. Figure 2 com­

pares modern data on the abundance of non­
volatile elements in the substance of the Sun
and ordinary chondrites. These data magnify a
basic uniformity in the substances making up

Fig. 2. Metal abundance in common chondritic me­

teorites and in the Sun (according to J. Wood)

the Sun and meteorites, this being due to the

history of the Solar System appearance.
However, the most convincing evidence
supporting the genetic uniformity in the whole
Solar System substance is found in the isotope
composition of chemical elements. Most of
stable elements have more than one isotope,
their number depends on the even or odd value
of Z. A presence of isotopes is due to the fact
14 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

that given the same amount of protons, an atom­

ic nucleus may contain a different number of
neutrons. Chemical elements from the middle
part of Mendeleev Periodic Table are character­
ized by the greatest number of isotopes.
Thus, tin consists of 10 and xenon of 9
isotopes. Even-numbered elements contain
more isotopes than odd-numbered ones. Ele­
ments with the odd-numbered Z have only one
or two stable isotopes. Light (Z = 28) and
very heavy (Z =81) elements have less iso­
topes than those from the middle part of the
periodic system in the area, where Z varies
from 28 to 81.
In quite a number of elements having been
studied in the material of meteorites, the Moon
and the Earth, isotope composition is the
same. For example, it proved to be practically
alike in C, 0, Si, Cl, Fe, Ni, Co, K, Cu, Ga,
Ba from the Earth’ s substance and meteorite
material. As for the Sun itself, some of molec­
ular spectra were helpful in determining with
moderate accuracy the isotope composition of
carbon as a value of 12C/13C. These investiga­
tions have shown that isotope composition of
solar carbon is practically the same as on the
Earth. At the same time isotope composition
of carbon from other star worlds differs from
that of our Solar System.
Thus, modern data on the abundance of
elements and their isotopes in the studied cos­
mic objects and the Earth’ s material indicate
a very close genetic unity of the whole mate­
rial of the Solar System.
Considering the abundance of elements
distribution of Elements in Solar System 15

and the main forms of their occurrence in the

Solar System over a wide temperature range,
one can divide the most widespread elements
into rock-forming (forming solid bodies), chem­
ically active volatile elements, and inert
gases. Table 1 presents data on the abundance
TABLE 1. Relative Abundance of Elements
in the Solar System (Si = 10 000)

The Earth’ s con­ The Earth

Element tinental crust Sun Meteorites as a whole

Rock-forming elements
Si 10 000 10 000 10 000 10 000
A1 3 050 690 850 940
Fe 1010 2 500 9000 13 500
Mg 950 7400 10000 8 900
Ca 1030 600 720 330
Na 1050 910 600 460
K 540 22 32 40
Mn 20 30 93 30
Ti 120 18 23 20
Ni 1 230 490 1000
P 35 190 127 100
Volatile elements
H 1400 4.8-103 55 000 84
0 20 500 440 000 77 000 35 000
N 2 46 000 490 0.2
C 17 170 000 8 200 70
s 3 8 000 5 000 1000
F 33 25 — 3
Cl 4 21 — 32
Inert gases
He — 3.9-107 — 3.7-10-7
Ne — 44 000 — 12-10~7
Ar — 3 400 — 5 000-10” 7
Kr — 0.25 — 0.6.10"7
Xe 0.03 — 0.05-10"7
 16 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

of chemical elements in the Solar System ac­

cording to their classification into rock-form­
ing, volatile and inert gases. The bulk of stony
bodies of the Solar System: meteorites, the
Earth’ s crust, the Moon rocks and the majori­
ty of the planets of the Earth type are made up
of rock-forming elements. Volatile elements
are typical of the solar material. At a low tem­
perature their atoms form molecular com­
pounds that are also basically volatile and occur
in the form of gases at temperature above
0°C, but at temperature between —10 and
—200 °C some of them get frozen passing into
a solid state. Inert gases do not form chemical
compounds with other elements and remain
in a gaseous state even at the lowest cosmic
temperatures observed with in a Solar System.
The Sun is a gas ball with a temperature
equalling 6 000 K on its surface and increas­
ing towards the centre. It is more than a boil­
ing temperature of any material. Therefore,
the Sun’ s material is ionized hot gas. Most of
the Sun’ s mass consists of hydrogen and heli-
um. In this connection the Sun itself can be
regarded as a heated hydrogen-helium gas
sphere with a small amount of chemical ele­
ments.
The differences in composition between the
Earth’ s crust, the Earth, the Sun and meteor­
ites shown in Table 1 demonstrate their for­
mation history, including their fractionation
and differentiation of chemical elements. The
Earth and meteorites retained a minimum of
volatile elements keeping them to a degree
commensurate with their chemical activity.
Distribution of Elements in Solar System 17

Inert gases are in essence alien to our planet

and have the deficiency in meteorites.
So, all the bodies of the Solar System may
be thought of as consisting of few elements,
their abundance being limited by No. 28
of the periodic system. The whole substance
has the same origin. Differences in the compo­
sition of individual bodies are due to quite cer­
tain properties of elements, their ability to be
chemically active, inert or form a gas phase
that is easily lost by small planets.
Cosmochemical and geochemical properties
of elements influence their behaviour in the
planet’ s shells, meteoritic phases or their dis­
tribution among minerals. Elements with
similar geochemical properties produce com­
mon concentration in certain natural systems.
In forming chemical compounds the outer
layer in most of the atoms is constituted by
electrons, whose number is a multiple of two.
A shell consisting of eight electrons is the
most stable one. The formation of natural chem­
ical compounds (minerals) is governed by
the type of composition of atoms or ions. Dep­
ending on the composition of an outer
electron shell one can distinguish four basic
types of atoms:
inert gases with eight electrons in the outer
layer. To this type belong atoms of inert gases:
Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, as well as He, the latter be­
ing distinguished by a rather stable two-
electron shell;
atoms easily forming ions similar to the
type of inert gases. This second type includes
alkali and alkali-earth metals, etc. (Na, K,
2-01498
18 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

Rb, Cs, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Al, Sc). After losing
valence electrons these metals acquire the out­
er eight-electron shell or through acquiring
electrons form negatively charged ions O2-,
F1-, Cl1", Br1", I-;
atoms forming ions with 18 electrons in the
outer shell. These include Cu, Ag, Zn, Ga,
In, Hg, Pb, etc. and are characteristic of the
so-called second parts of long periods of Men­
deleev Periodic Table;
atoms forming ions of the intermediate
type between the second and the third types.
Losing the electrons of the outer layers they
acquire outer 9-17-electrons shells. This type
of composition is typical of metals of the iron
group, for instance, Fe, Co, Ni.
Atomic volumes, radii of atoms and ions,
ionization potentials belong to the most im­
portant values governing geochemical proper­
ties of elements. We shall only discuss atomic
volumes.
These are determined as a ratio of the ele­
ment’ s atomic weight to its specific gravity.
This value can also be thought of as the vol­
ume of one gram-atom of the element in a solid
state. Atomic volumes vary as a periodic func­
tion of the ordinal number of elements. Atom­
ic volumes are presented in Fig. 3, showing
that alkali metals and inert gases have maxi­
mum atomic volumes. Minimum values are
typical of metals of the iron and platinum
group.
Different geochemical classifications of
elements were suggested according to their be­
haviour and occurrence in nature. All of them
The beginning of a geological period Distribution of Elements in Soiar System

3. The curve of atomic volumes of elements:

atmophile; 2—siderophile; 3—lithophile; 4—chalcophile
20 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

are based on the Mendeleev Periodic Table.

Taking the elements from this table, V. M. Gold­
schmidt divided them into four geochemical
groups: atmophile, lithophile, chalcophile and
siderophile (Table 2). This classification,
which had borne the test of time, enjoyed the
greatest popularity.

TABLE 2. Geochemical Classification of Elements

According to V.M. Goldschmidt

Atmophile Lithophile Chalcophile Siderophile

(H), N, (0) Li, Na, K, (Cu), Ag Fe, Co, Ni

Rb, Cs
He, Ne, Ar Be, Mg, Ca, Zn, Cd, Hg Ru, Rh, Pd
Sr, Ba
Kr, Xe B, Al, Sc, Ga, In, TI Os, Ir, Pt
Y, La-Lu
Si, Ti, Zr, (Ge), (Sn), Au, Re, Mo
Hf, Th Pb
P, V, Nb, (As), (Sb), Bi Ge, Sn, W
Ta
0, Cr, V S, Se, Te CC, Cu, Ga
H, F, Cl, (Fe), Mo,
Br, I (Os)
(Fe), Mn, (Ru), (Rh),
(Zn), (Ga) (Pd)

Atmophile elements tend to accumulate in

the atmosphere, whence their name. They in­
clude all inert gases, as well as hydrogen and
nitrogen. These elements have high atomic val­
ues and their chemical inertia stems from the
stability of the 8-electron outermost shell.
Distribution of Elements in Solar System 21

That enables them to be in a free, chemically

bound state, in the form of dissipated atoms.
Lithophile, or oxyphile elements are con­
centrated in the Earth’ s crust (lithosphere)
and in the silicate minerals of meteorites.
They produce stable compounds with oxygen
in the form of oxides, hydroxides, salts of oxy­
gen-containing acids. Their atoms easily form
ions with 8 electrons and correspond to the
descending paths of the curve of atomic vol­
umes (see Fig. 3). Lithophile elements include
the most abundant elements of the Earth’ s
crust and stony meteorites: 0, Si, Al, Ca,
Mg, Na, K. Iron with its changing geochemi­
cal properties behaves as a lithophile (oxy­
phile) element in an iron-rich medium.
Chalcophile elements tend to form compounds
with sulphur, i.e. behave like copper
ions. Their atoms forming ions with 18 elec­
trons occur in the Earth’ s crust mostly as
sulphur. minerals, i.e. sulphides occupying
mainly the ascending portions of the curve of
atomic volumes.
Siderophile elements are characterized by a
clearly expressed tendency to concentrate to­
gether with iron in its natural melts. The atoms
of siderophile elements form ions with
9-17-electron patterns. Owing to stable ties
between electrons and atoms the latter (for
example, gold, platinum, etc.) often occur in
native, forming placers. Siderophile elements
are represented by atoms of the iron and pla­
tinum group. They occupy the minima on the
curve of atomic volumes.
ffoweyer, it should be noted that there
22 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

no sharp boundaries between the geochemical

groups described above. We can indicate a
number of elements (bracketed in Table 2)
with different geochemical properties. They
are chalcophile in the presence of sulphur and
lithophile in the presence of oxygen. The lat­
ter, a typical lithophile element, is present
in the molecular form in the Earth’ s atmosphe­
re, i.e. behaves like an atmophile one, though
not without the involvement of other factors,
losing close ties in other compounds (H20,
C02).
The properties of elements shown in the
Goldschmidt’ s geochemical classification are
related to the definite electron pattern of their
atoms as follows from the above discussion.
These properties are also expressed in the mix­
ture of a substance whose molten state is fol­
lowed by cooling, an example usually being
blast furnace melting. The blast furnace is
known to be charged with a mixture of differ­
ent materials: ore, flux, coke. During melting,
chemical reactions take place as does the chem­
ical lamination of the materials in a gravi­
ty field. The molten metal concentrating side-
rophile elements flows downwards, lighter
sulphides float up with chalcophile elements,
and oxides and silicates also float up in the
form of slag. Gases, as atmophile elements,
volatilize from this system.
The process of differentiation of material
in the gravity field due to geochemical proper­
ties of elements could basically occur through­
out rather a large planet that had passed the
Stage of a molten state. It has long been sug-
Distribution of Elements in Solar System 23

gested that the ancestral planet from which

meteorites had originated underwent chemical
differentation that brought about its chemi­
cally different parts, i.e. shells.
Three main phases are clearly distinguished
in the composition of meteorites: silicate,
sulphide (troilite), and metallic (iron-nickel).
Their different proportions make up the known
meteorites, with the sulphide (troilite) phase
being a minor one owing to the relatively re­
stricted cosmic distribution of sulphur (for
example, as compared with oxygen, Table 1).
From studying meteorites the scientists
have long discovered that the constitution of
the deep-seated parts of the Earth closely re­
sembles that of the known meteorites. Thus,
the mantle, a huge shell, could be easily iden­
tified with stony meteorites, and the inner core,
with iron ones. This idea was best expressed
in the concept elaborated by V.M. Gold­
schmidt in 1920-1924.
According to V. M. Goldschmidt, the Earth
during the initial stages of its formation was
a liquid molten body beginning to cool down
gradually. In this process the chemically ho­
mogeneous primary Earth underwent the stage
of chemical differentiation, thus distribut­
ing chemical elements through the zones ac­
cording to their geochemical properties. So,
siderophile elements, in combination with
iron, mainly concentrated in the Earth’ s core,
chalcophile elements formed the shell en­
riched with sulphides, with lithophile ones form­
ing the mantle. Atmophile elements con­
centrated in the primary atmosphere of the
24 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

planet. In other words, the distribution of ele­

ments throughout the Earth’ s shells agrees
with their position in Mendeleev Periodic Ta­
ble.
It is quite evident that the main idea of
chemical differentiation of the Earth put for­
ward by V.M. Goldschmidt and supported
by many adherents is noted for its logic and
simplicity. However, during the last decades
there appeared serious doubts as to its truth.
It becomes more clear that the process of
chemical differentiation of the Earth was not
so simple and it was associated with the Earth
formation in the remote past. It may be point­
ed out that geochemical properties of ele­
ments basically vary with temperature and
pressure predominating in the interior of the
Earth. At present there appeared serious argu­
ments in favour of the substantial amount of
sulphur in FeS-Fe form that occurs in the
Earth’ s core. Thus, the most remarkable pec­
uliarity of the geochemical distribution of
sulphur is its low relative content in the Earth’
s
crust and mantle. It is several orders of mag­
nitude lower than that in the intermediate ma­
terial of stony meteorites whose composition
represents the averaged material of the Solar
System free of volatiles. This leads to the
conclusion that substantial amounts of sul­
phur are concentrated in the very core of our
planet.
The recent experiments have shown that
under conditions of an ordinary atmospheric
pressure the lowest temperature at which the
FeS-Fe system melts is 988 °C? substantially
 Distribution of Elements in Solar System 25

below the melting point of pure iron or sili­

cate material. A rise of the melting point of
this system with building up pressure is in­
significant. Therefore, all other factors being
equal, increasing temperature in the interior
of the Earth first forms iron melt enriched with
sulphur which tends to drain off into the core
zone due to its low viscosity and high density.
The basic idea of V. M. Goldschmidt is now
transformed in view of the fact that a general
geochemical classification of elements is rel­
ative and a particular chemical element may
change its behaviour according to the differ­
ences in chemical and physical conditions.
The volatility of elements and their com­
pounds belongs to their main geochemical
properties. As temperature increases, different
elements and their most abundant natural
compounds pass into a gaseous phase (vapour)
in completely different ways. At low tempera­
tures few chemical elements are in a gaseous
state, but with a temperature rise their amount
progressively grows. A volatility criterion can
be put at 1 500 °C. At this temperature ba­
salt, a widespread volcanic rock on Earth,
passes into a molten state. The elements and
their natural compounds, becoming vapour at
this temperature can be called relatively vol­
atile, and those remaining in the melt, non­
volatile. According to A. Ringwood, volatile
and nonvolatile elements can be subdivided
as shown in Table 3.
Taking into account that volatility is a
highly important property of elements in na­
ture, directly associated with the formation of
26 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

TABLE 3. Classification of Elements From the Basic

Silicate Melt According to Their Relative Volatility
Under Reduction Conditions

Nonvolatile group Volatile group

Oxyphylic: Probable
volatile
com pounds:
Be, B, Mg, Al, Si, P H, C, N H20, CO,
co2, n 2
Ca, Sc, Ti, Sr, Y, Zr F, Cl, Br, I halides
Nb, Ba, TR, Hf, Ta S, Se hydrides
Th, U
Siderophile: Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs elements
Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ag Zn, Cd, Hg, Tl elements
Au
Mo, Sn (?), W Pb, As, Sb, Bi, Te oxides
Ru (?), Rh, Pd, Re
Cs (?), Ir, Pt Ga, Ge, Sn, In sulphides

planets of the Solar System, V.M. Goldsch­

m idt’s geochemical classification can be cor­
rected and, after slight modifications, it can be
given in the expanded Mendeleev Periodic
Table (Table 4).
According to this classification, which can
be called cosmochemical, all elements in the
table are subdivided into highly volatile at-
mophile, volatile lithophile, volatile chalco-
phile, high-melting lithophile and high-melt­
ing siderophile. As compared with the Men­
deleev Periodic Table, Table 4 is expanded to
show transuranium elements that at present
are lacking in the material of the Solar System
but might well be present in certain amounts
during the early epoch of its formationr Cop-
Distribution of Elements in Solar System 27

TABLE 4. Cosmochemical Classification of Elements

1 II III IV V VI VII VIII 1 II mi IV V VI VII 0

H He
Li <Be>(V) c N 0 In Ne
Mg Al Si K? "s Cl Ar
Sc Ti X Cr' /MnA fFefCofN? cu! Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr
Rb
x
A / Zr
— >
Nb M o ;Tc Ri|Rh|pd Cd In Sn Sb iTc \ Xe
Cs Ba Tr Hf Ta
k /k )
:Re
7777V
W ff
Au Hg TI Pb Bi Po At Rn
Fr^ Ra Ac Ku /105> 106 107 i'oW69li6iii|'ii"2 113114 115116 117 118
119120 121
i
____ ____ i C E □ 2 1 1 1 3 [ S ]4 1 5
Lanthanides and Actinides
S-- 5
Ce Pr (Nd^
' )
IS EujGd Tb'i Dy Ho Er \Tm/ Y b Lu>
(»
■
rr- >

f
Np w
k
Th Pa U Es Fm Md No
:__i L__ £1£c__ti '__ i __i
c __ i

1-highly volatile; 2-rather lithophile; 3-volatile chalco-

pbile; 4-high-melting lithophile; 5-high-melting siderophile

vincing proofs indicating their former exist­

ence were recently obtained from the data on
some of isotope anomalies.
Contradictory cosmochemical properties of
certain elements in Table 4 should be pointed
out. Thus, carbon, a high-melting element,
behaves like siderophile when it goes into a
metallic phase where it forms carbides (Fe3C).
But as gaseous cosmic systems are cooled
down, it connects with oxygen to form vola­
tile CO and C02. Therefore, carbon is classed
with volatile elements. Sulphur undoubtedly
belonging to volatile elements forms volatile
S0 2 and H 2S. However, entering into a chem­
ical connection with iron, it ceases to be
28 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

volatile and occurs in the form of troilite FeS

that is a typical mineral of meteorites. Cu,
Ag, Au are chalcophile elements but they can be
partially dissolved in a metallic phase and thus
display their siderophile properties. They are
considerably less volatile as compared with
other chalcophile elements.
As a whole, the cosmochemical classifica­
tion of elements presented in Table 4 gives a
deeper insight into fractionation and differen­
tiation of chemical elements during the for­
mation of the Solar System. Planets and their
compositions are closely connected with these
processes.
The capability to form minerals as solid
atomic structures according to the laws of crys­
tal chemistry is one of the important proper­
ties of elements. The mineral is a crystalline
constituent of rocks, ores and other aggre­
gates of the inorganic world. The mineral is
produced by physicochemical processes that
have occurred and are taking place in the shells
of the Earth and planets. All the rocks of
our planet and the Moon, meteorites and
solid shells of planets consist of minerals. Most
of the chemical elements constitute the known
minerals and an element may be the main con­
stituent of a mineral and appear in its chemi­
cal formula, for example, Si, 0, Ca, F, Zn,
S in S i0 2, CaF2, ZnS. It may also be present
in the form of an admixture. Chemical analy­
sis of natural minerals in many cases reveals
that their composition does not correspond to
the ideal formula, this being explained by a
specific amount of a4nuxtures. ElpniWt'S 6P5
 Distribution of Elements in Solar System 29

often present in the form of the so-called iso-

morphous admixtures replacing atoms and
ions in the mineral’ s structure as far as their
sizes are similar to each other. The number of
minerals known in nature is limited: there are
about 5 000 minerals known in the Earth’ s
crust, and only 140 in meteorites. This limited
number of minerals as compared with an in­
finite number of chemical compounds ob­
tained in laboratory is caused by different rea­
sons, the main one being the abundance of ele­
ments capable of making up minerals, physico­
chemical conditions of the formation of min­
erals themselves and proper chemical (crystal*
lochemical) properties of the elements. Gener­
ally, in the Eajth’ s and Moon’ s crusts and in
meteorites the following rule is derived: the
more abundant is an element, more minerals
are formed.
Any mineral as a type of atomic structure
can be stable at a given temperature (T) and
pressure (P). The melting points of minerals
increase as pressure builds up. A mineral
with the given composition under pressure
can change its physical properties through re­
arranging the atoms (ions) inside the structure
and attaining another crystalline structure.
This change in the inner structure of one and
the same substance is called polymorphism.
Certain kinds of polymorphic states are usual­
ly known as polymorphic modifications. For
instance, a hard carbon may occur in two poly­
morphic modifications—cubic diamond and
hexagonal graphite.
Data on polymorphic transformations of
36 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

the compounds that were formed from the

most widespread elements (0, Si, Fe, Mg, S)
are particularly important for the understand­
ing of the nature of the interior of the Earth.
The compounds of these elements form min­
erals with different properties and various poly­
morphic modifications, the most important
of them being Si0 2, FeO, MgO, Mg2Si0 4,
MgSiOg, FeSiOg. These minerals at normal
atmospheric pressure will have the following
density (g/cm3):

Si02 Quartz 2.533

FeO Wiistite 5.745
MgO Periclase 3.58
Mg2Si04 Forsterite 3.21
MgSi03 Enstatite 3.1
FeSiOg Hypersthene 3.40

However, as pressure increases, so does the

density of minerals because they pass into
denser polymorphic modifications. So, quartz
can pass into its denser modification, i.e. sti-
shovite with the density of 4.25 g/cm3. Simi­
lar changes also occur in other minerals.
Thus, data on the occurrence and distribu­
tion of elements within the bodies of the So­
lar System unambiguously indicate that their
destiny depends on a number of specific prop­
erties of atoms. Total occurrence of atoms is
caused by the properties of their nuclei and
the way of their formation. The elements dis­
tribution in planetary shells and generally in
different cosmic systems is found to be related
to the structure of electron shell of their atoms,
i.e. the position in Mendeleev Periodic Table.
 Evidence of Early History of Soiar Sysiem 31

Evidence of the Early

History of the Solar
System
Until recently, before the first stony material
had been retrieved from the Moon’ s surface,
meteorites constituted the unique cosmic ex­
traterrestrial material accessible to quantita­
tive laboratory investigations. The composi­
tion, constitution, inner texture, radioactivi­
ty, age and physical properties of meteorites
are undergoing the most detailed investiga­
tion. The majority of them proved to be very
old, the fact being of basic importance for the
knowledge of the history of the Solar System.
The age of meteorites according to radio­
logical data is the time that has passed since
their crystallization into solid bodies. Interest­
ing results were obtained as regards the age
of meteorites. The modern methods of nuclear
chronology based on radioactive decay of ura­
nium, thorium, rubidium (87Rb) and potassi­
um (40K) have shown that most of the meteo­
rites belonging to different classes are of a
similar age (4.5-4.6 billion years), which is
similar to the modern age dating for the Earth
and the Moon. Some of the classes of meteo­
rites, despite'their antiquity, changed but slight­
ly and so their chemical and mineralogical
compositions bear the signs of events that had
occurred during the formation of the Solar
System or soon after it.
A surprising age similarity of meteorites
and our planet suggests that the formation of
32 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

the Earth as a differentiated planet and that

of meteorites (or larger bodies like asteroids
originally enclosing these meteorites) date
back to an ancient epoch in the history of the
Solar System. Hence one can also suppose that
the birth of planets of the Solar System was a
coeval (synchronous) event; to put it more pre­
cisely, the planets were formed within a rela­
tively narrow time interval.
The meteorites falling on the Earth’ s sur­
face out of cosmic space are divided into stony,
stony-iron, and iron meteorites. They can
be classified as follows:

{ SSSS£f“
{
H e x a h e d r ite s
O c t a h e d r it e s
A t a x ite s

Stony meteorites falling on the Earth’ s sur­

face (Fig. 4) are more abundant. The most
widespread among them are chondrites, meteo­
rites, named so because of their specific chon-
dritic structure. Silicate minerals are leading
components of all stony meteorites. Iron me­
teorites, falling more rarely, represent a nat­
ural native alloy of iron and nickel. Stony-
iron meteorites are made up of commensurable
parts of nickelous iron and silicate material.
Table 5 presents an average chemical com­
position of meteorites of different classes.
Only 0, Si, Fe, Mg, Ca, Ni, S account for over
90 per cent of the mass of any meteorite. There-
 E v id e n c e o f E a r ly H isto r y o f S o la r S y s te m 33

fore, the combinations of these elements in

the form of certain solid chemical compounds

S to n y
chondrites 85,7%^

Stony-iron 1.5%

Iron 5.7%

F ig. 4. T h e r e la t iv e fr e q u e n c y o f th e fa ll o f m e t e o r it e s
o f d iffe r e n t c la s s e s ( a c c o r d in g t o J. W o o d )

(minerals) are mainly responsible for the

chemical nature of meteorites.
T A B L E 5. A v era ge C h e m ica l C o m p o s it io n o f D ifferen t
C la s s e s o f M eteorites, w t. %

Class of meteorites Class of meteorites

Ele­ Stony- Ele­ Stony-

ment iron ment iron
Iron (palla- Stony Iron (palla- Stony
site) site)

_
Fe 90.85 55.33 15.5 Ca 0.02 1.80
Ni 8.5 5.43 1.10 Si 0.01 8.06 21.00
Co 0.60 0.30 0.08 Na — — 0.80
Cu 0.02 — 0.01 K — — 0.07
P 0.17 — 0.10 A1 — — 1.56
S 0.04- — 1.82 Mn 0.05 — 0.16
0.5
c 0.03 — 0.16 Cr 0.01 — 0.40
0 18.55 41.0 Ti 0.12
Mg 0.03 12.33 14.3

3-01498
34 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

Meteorites are found to contain 140 miner­

als, most of them similar to the crustal miner­
als on Earth. The most widespread minerals
are olivine, pyroxene and native iron. Olivine
is a solid solution of fayalite (Fe2Si04) and
forsterite (Mg2Si0 4) in different proportions,
pyroxene is a solution of ferrosilite (FeSi08)
and enstatite (MgSi03). Iron occurs in two
polymorphic modifications Fe-a (kamacite) and
Fe-y (taenite), constituting the majority of
iron meteorites. Troilite (FeS) belongs to typi­
cal meteoritic minerals. Other minerals com*
mon for the Earth’ s crust and meteorites occur
in small quantities. Besides, meteorites con­
tain minerals that are unknown in terrestrial
conditions:

M o is s a n ite S iC D a u b r e e lite F eC r2S 4

C o h e n ite F esC N in in g e r it e (Fe, Mg, Mn, Co)S
O s b o r n ite T iN W h itlo c k it e N a2C a 3( P 0 4)20
S in o it e S i 2N 20 U r e y ite N a C r S i20 6
O ld h a m ite CaS

We shall briefly describe the main classes

of meteorites and the changes in their chemi­
cal composition.
Chondritic meteorites belong to the most
primitive class of meteorites. Other meteorites
are the products of much more complicat­
ed processes of chemical separation of the ma­
terial. The mineral composition of chondritic
meteorites is generally rather simple and uni­
form. Chondrites are mostly composed of oli­
vine and pyroxene with a small admixture of
nickelous iron, plagioclase and troilite. The
mineral composition of a typical chondrite
 E v id e n c e o f E a r ly H is to r y o f S o la r S y s te m 35

is presented in Fig. 5. An exception are car­

bonaceous chondrites that mostly consist of
hydrated silicates.
Structurally, chondritic meteorites are char­
acterized by a combination of fine-grained
spherical formations—chondrules. The term
“chondrites”was proposed by the German min­
eralogist G. Rose in 1864. Chondrules are
spherical formations of different sizes, from
fractions of a millimetre to several millime­
tres in diameter. They consist of olivine, rhom­
bic pyroxene and other silicates with different
degrees of crystallization. The rest of the fine­
grained mass of the chondrites is a mixture of
olivine and pyroxene with nickelous iron, tro-
ilite and plagioclase. Sometimes glass can be
found here. The structure of a chondritic me-
teorite is given in Fig. 6.
It is conventional to divide chondritic
meteorites into:

E n s ta tite c h o n d r ite s grou p E

f grou p H
C o m m o n c h o n d r ite s < grou p L
grou p LL
| typ e C l
C a r b o n a ce o u s c h o n d r it e s j t y p e C2
t y p e C3

Enstatite chondrites are mainly composed

of enstatite and native metallic iron. Common
chondrites are distinguished by their mineral
compositions and iron content. Depending on
the latter, II. Urey and H. Craig single out
two main groups of common chondrites:
group H with high iron content, and group L»
3 *
36 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

F ig. 5. M in er a l c o m p o s it i o n o f a t y p ic a l ch o n d r ite .
The areas on the diagram are proportional to weight percent
of minerals content

F ig. 6. M ic r o str u ctu r e o f a c h o n d r it ic m e t e o r it e

E v id e n c e o f E a r ly H is to r y o f S o la r S y s t e m 37

with relatively low iron content. Group H on

the average has a gross content of iron about
28 per cent, and group L, 22 per cent. All the
studied chondrites tend to be in one or other
group. In recent years group LL with the low­
est iron content has also been distinguished.
All its iron in an oxidized form is part of
silicates.
Carbonaceous chondrites are rare but they
represent a particularly interesting case be­
cause of their hydrated minerals, the products of
interaction between silicates and water, and
also organic compounds. Carbonaceous chon­
drites are divided into three types: Cl, C2,
and C3. Type Cl occupies a special place, hav­
ing the lowest density (2.2 g/cm3), and being
composed of amorphous hydrated silicates,
having much sulphur in form of water-soluble
sulphates most enriched with gas. According
to the atomic ratios and amount of volatiles
the chemical composition of the Cl carbona­
ceous chondrites in most close to that of the
Sun. There are serious grounds to believe that
these chondrites are the least differentiated
and fractionated material of the Solar System,
most similar to the protoplanetary material
from which planets and asteroids have been
formed. This conclusion is supported by the
unusual similarity of atomic ratios in carbo­
naceous chondrites and the Sun’ s material.
This can be seen in Fig. 7 illustrating the atom­
ic abundance of a number of chemical ele­
ments on the Sun and in carbonaceous chon­
drites.
The most characteristic feature of the change
38 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E a rth

in chemical composition of chondrites is

a transfer from the maximum oxidation in
carbonaceous chondrites to the complete re­
duction of iron in enstatite chondrites. This
regularity was noted by G. Prior who formulat­
ed the following rule: as metallic nickelous
iron content in chondritic meteorites de­
creases, their magnesium silicates become
richer in nickel and iron.
Chondritic meteorites display the wide va­
riety of an oxidizing state (Fig. 8). This
points out the fact that reduction-oxidation con­
ditions during the formation of chondritic
parental bodies (asteroids) varied widely
through the Solar System. Common L-chon-
drites contain much of the oxidized iron, and
all silicon, calcium, chromium and most of
phosphorus are combined with oxygen. When
reduction becomes more intense (as in H-
chondrites), most of phosphorus occurs in the
form of the mineral schreibersite (Fe, Ni,
Co)3P. And calcium occurs in the form of old-
hamite (CaS), phosphorus, in the form of
schreibersite, and chromium, daubreelite
(FeCr2S4) at higher stages of reduction, as in
the enstatite chondrites. Even their silicates
are partially reduced to elementary silicon
being part of the nickel-iron phase. A regular
change of the chondritic meteorites in the oxi­
dized state undoubtedly indicates that their
formation was associated with reduction-oxida­
tion reactions of the primary protoplanetary
cloud.
As the reactions of this type in the material
having a solar composition depend on temper-
F ig. 7. T h e c o m p a r is o n b e tw e e n a t o m ic a b u n d a n ce
o f e le m e n ts in th e S u n a n d in c a r b o n a c e o u s ch o n d r ite s.
The limits of deviations in contents are indicated with hori­
zontal lines

Common Carbonaceous
chondrites “ *”chondrites- *
30
Groupl Group
H. I i
I
20 r u
r *vl

I? •\
g 10" ! • N
I

I
_LL
10 20 30
Percentage of oxidized iron

F ig. 8. T h e r a t io b e tw ee n th e o x id iz e d an d m e t a llic
ir o n in th e c h o n d r it ic m e t e o r it e s ( a c c o r d in g to
A. R in gw o o d )
 40 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

ature, it can be concluded that the tempera­

ture conditions differ in different parts of the
protoplanetary cloud (nebula), from which
parental bodies of chondritic meteorites had
appeared. Thus, at higher temperatures iron
is reduced and at lower temperatures, it is
oxidized and converted into oxides and sili­
cates.
The mean density of chondrites varies de­
pending on the oxidation state. The Cl type
carbonaceous chondrites are the lightest, most
oxidized and have a density of about 2 g/cm3.
The most reduced are the enstatite chondrites,
their density being about 3.5 g/cm3. An in­
crease of metallic iron is the deciding factor
in increasing the density.
The origin of the chondritic meteorites is
associated with that of their characteristic
chondritic structure. Most investigators of
meteorites believe that chondrules were for­
merly the solidified and crystallized drops of
melt.
Achondrites belong to a group of stony me­
teorites with a crystalline structure (that is
lacking in chondrules). Many of these are sim­
ilar to terrestrial and lunar rocks. Eucrites
and howardites, most similar to terrestrial
rocks, are composed of pyroxene and anorthite
(CaAl2Si20 8). Mineralogically and texturally,
eucrites are close to the basic gabbroid rocks of
the Earth’ s crust but differ from them by an
increased proportion of a dark-coloured min­
eral (pyroxene). On the whole textural peculiar­
ities and mineralogical composition of most
of the achondrites indicate that they original-
 E v id e n c e o f E a r ly H isto r y o f S o la r S y s t e m 41

ly crystallized from magma in the same way

as did terrestrial igneous rocks. All the achon-
drites are divided into rich and poor in calci­
um. The achondrites rich in calcium are com­
posed of plagioclase and have another name—
basaltic achondrites.
As it was already noted, stony-iron meteo­
rites are made up of nickel-iron and silicate
material, and approximately equal quantities
of nickelous iron and silicates compose meso-
siderites. The silicates are mostly composed of
pyroxene and plagioclase, pyroxene being
sharply dominant. The nickelous iron in grains
of different sizes is nonuniformly distribut­
ed through the whole meteorite. Pallasites be­
long to a nickel-iron mass in which silicate
minerals occur as inclusions. There are sporad­
ic small inclusions of troilite and schreibersite
in the nickelous iron. A silicate part mainly
consists of olivine in the form of angular and
rounded grains. Generally the pallasites are
more close to the iron meteorites. Their metal­
lic part contains structures similar to that of
the iron meteorites.
Iron meteorites are enriched with siderophile
elements and are almost entirely devoid of
lithophile elements. Depending on the structure
and nickel content they are subdivided into
separate groups: hexahedrites (4-6%), octa-
hedrites (6-14%), ataxites (exceeding 12%).
Besides iron, nickel and cobalt, the iron
meteorites include small amounts of phospho­
rus, copper, sulphur, carbon in the form of in­
clusions of schreibersite, troilite, cohenite and
graphite. Sometimes iron meteorites contain
42 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

silicate inclusions of enstatite and olivine, very

poor in iron. The nickel content in some parts
of the iron meteorites ranges from 5 to 62
per cent. As shown by G. Lowering, this is
caused by differentiation during crystalliza­
tion of a homogeneous nickel-iron melt that
has formed the core of the original meteoritic
body of asteroid sizes. About 80 per cent of all
known iron meteorites belong to the class of
octahedrites. Upon pickling their polished sur­
face with a dilute acid special patterns devel­
op the so-called Widmanstatten structures
made up of stripes intersecting each other at
certain angles. The stripes are formed by a
system of plates of the alloy with a low nickel
content (kamacite). The system lies parallel
to four planes of the faces of octahedron and
consequently iron meteorites of a similar tex­
ture are called octahedrites. It has been pos­
sible to produce these small structures artifici­
ally through a very slow cooling of nickel-
iron melts. A study of physicochemical equi­
libria of nickel-iron melts has shown that
these structures and the composition of iron me­
teorites could appear upon slow cooling to
300 °C and at a pressure of 105 atm. This un­
doubtedly indicates that iron meteorites were
formed in integral parts of the cosmic body of
a planetary size.
Precise evaluation of nickel, gallium, and
germanium contents in iron meteorites made by
H. Brown and J. Wasson helped distinctly di­
vide meteorites into certain groups. It has
been possible to distinguish 16 groups of iron
meteorites in which the distribution of nickel,
E v id e n c e o f E a r ly H isto r y o f S o la r S y s t e m 43

gallium, germanium and other microelements,

and principally that of their ratios have cer­
tain regularities. These data indicate that the
material of iron meteorites has been formed in
different conditions: at different temperatures,
pressures and even under different condi­
tions of heating and cooling. This could by no
means occur in the interior of a single planet.
The above data on the composition and
texture of the known meteorites shed some
light on their origin. As long ago as the be­
ginning of the 19th century A. Stoikovich and
W. Olbers independently of one another ad­
vanced a hypothesis that all the meteorites
were the fragments of the planet that had dis­
integrated in the old days. Ho\yever, at pre­
sent we can conclude that the problem is not
so simple. According to the present-day data
meteorites are the fragments of bodies of as­
teroid size but belong to different types. Thus,
achondrites, stony-iron, and iron meteorites
make it possible to reconstruct a common ap­
pearance of their parental bodies subjected to
melting and differentiation and to study the
processes of fractionation in detail. In other
words, the above chemically distinct meteo­
rites can be in fact regarded as the products of
decay of an asteroid that has undergone chem­
ical differentiation resulting in the outer sil­
icate shell (howardites, eucrites), the inner
shell (mostly achondrites at the top and par­
tially mesosiderites at the bottom) and metal­
lic nucleus (iron meteorites and partially pal-
lacites).
On the other hand, chondritic meteorites
44 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

apparently originated from many small aster­

oids that had not been subjected to chemical
differentiation. At the same time these asteroids
had small masses and therefore the pressure
in their central parts could not break the
chondritic texture. In this case chondritic
meteorites of H and L groups resulted from
the bodies of different initial compositions
in respect to iron content.
All briefly described data on meteorites
allow one to reach certain conclusions that
are important for an understanding of the ori­
gin of the Earth and small bodies of the Solar
System. Rather similar age of the Earth and
meteorites of different types indicates that
the formation of solid bodies in the Solar Sys­
tem was mainly a synchronous process. If
we assume that achondrites, stony-iron and
iron meteorites are fragments of chemically
differentiated planets, the coincidence of the
age of these meteorites and chondrites will
suggest a relatively rapid process of chemical
differentiation of parental planets (asteroids).
Carbonaceous chondrites of the Cl type
are the most primitive meteorites and the
similarity between their atomic ratios and
those of the solar material allows one to make a
suggestion that they belong to the least differ­
entiated material of the Solar System that is
most similar to the protoplanetary material
from which planets and asteroids had been
formed.
The chemical composition of chondrites
provides a wide range of their oxidation states
from maximally completely oxidized iron in
 N a tu re an d C h e m ic a l C o m p o s itio n o f P la n ets 45

carbonaceous chondrites to completely reduced

iron in enstatite chondrites which indicates
chemical processes of a redox character in
different parts of the Solar System during its
formation.

The Nature and Chemical

Composition of Planets
Our knowledge of the composition of planets
is rather limited. For the time being it was
based on the indirect data, predominantly on
the mass, average density, size, reflectance,
and distances from the Sun. Space flights
provided us with more detailed information
on the nature of the upper layers of Venus,
Mars and Mercury. Lunar material, whose
composition proved to be similar to that of
some igneous rocks on Earth, was brought to
the Earth’ s laboratories. Despite outstanding
achievements in the field of introducing mod­
ern technique in the near-Sun space, the data
resulting from space flights have been obtained
only on the nature of the planet’ s surface.
However, their inner structure and composi­
tion are very little known to us. Nevertheless,
the main data on mechanical properties of
planets on the whole reveal their composition.
All the planets of the Solar System are di­
vided into inner, or the planets of a terrestrial
type, and outer, or the planets of a Jupiter
type. The inner planets include those that are
located at a short distance from the Sun: the
46 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e Eiarth

Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, and

the distant planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, and Pluto, belong to the outer plan­
ets. The inner planets are mainly solid stony
bodies. Asteroids and satellites of planets are
similar to them in their nature.
Table 6 presents the most important char­
acteristics of planets as compared with those
of the Earth.

T A B L E 6. P la n eta r y C h a r a c te r is tic s in C o m p a r iso n

w it h E a rth

Mean
Mean density Escape
den­ on the velo­
Planet Mass Radius sity, zero city, Albedo
g/cm* pres­ km/s
sure

In n er p la n e ts
M oon 0.0123 0.273 3.34 3.31 2.38 0.067
M ercu ry 0.0558 0.382 5.42 5.3 4.3 0.056
V en u s 0.8150 0.949 5.25 4.4 10.3 0.76
E a rth 1.0000 1.000 5.52 4.4 11.2 0.36
M ars 0.1074 0.532 3.94 3.9 5.0 0.16
M in or p la n e ts
A s te r o id s — 0.00066 -0.113.5-2.0 3.5-2.0
O u ter p la n e ts
J u p ite r 317.9 11.27 1.314 — 59.5 0.67
S a tu rn 95.15 9.44 0.69 — 35.6 0.69
U ra n u s 14.54 4.10 1.19 — 21.2 0.93
N ep tu n e 17.23 3.88 1.66 — 23.6 0.84
P lu t o 0.0023 (0.24) 1 — (1.1) 0.49

The density is an essential value that de­

li ues the composition of planets. The average
 Nature and Chemical Composition of Planets 4?

density of planets results from dividing their

mass by volume d = M/V. It is obvious that
it varies widely. On the one hand, we can indi­
cate the planets of a terrestrial type with a
high density within 3.35-5.52 g/cm3 that
are mostly composed of the solid material,
on the other, outer planets are distinguished
by their low density (1.35-0.71 g/cm3), which
mainly suggests their gaseous composition,
indeed, Jupiter and the planets that are
close to it, according to theoretical data, are
mostly made up of gases, among which hydrogen,
as the most widespread cosmic element, oc­
cupies the first place.
A comparison of the planets of a terrestri­
al group between each other and with our
planet on the whole is very important in un­
derstanding the chemical nature of the globe.
Therefore we shall briefly discuss the character­
istic features of the inner planets and the
Moon.
Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun,
has the highest density. According to its size
Mercury occupies the thirteenth place in the
Solar System, giving way to Jupiter’ s satel­
lites—Callisto and Ganymede, Saturn’ s sat­
ellite—Titan, and Neptune’ s satellite—Tri­
ton. Until very recently the orbital period of
Mercury around the Sun was considered to be
equal to the period of its rotation around the
axis. However, the newly obtained data reveal
that the latter is 1.5 times smaller than its
orbital period. The temperature on the illumi­
nated side of Mercury reaches 625 K, and on
the dark, non-illuminated part it is probably
48 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

only 10-20 K. Most gases must freeze on the

non-illuminated side, and on the illuminated,
hot side the molecules of common gases must
acquire heat velocities exceeding volatiliza­
tion velocities from the surface. Therefore
Mercury is practically devoid of atmosphere.
It is possible that it has some argon atmo­
sphere as a product of decay of radioactive 40K
concentrated in the solid body of the planet.
Venus is most similar to the Earth in sizes
and density. It possesses the most thick, dense
and warm atmosphere of all the planets of a
terrestrial group. According to the data of So­
viet Venera interplanetary stations, 97 per
cent of the planet’ s atmosphere consist of
carbon dioxide. Hydrogen and water are also
present. The atmosphere’ s temperature near
a solid surface reaches 747 dt 20 K and
the pressure is 90 atm. Abundance of carbon
dioxide may be explained by decomposition of
carbonates at high temperatures according to the
C a C 0 3+ S i 0 2 C a S i0 3+ C 0 2
equation which in the condition of Venus is
shifted to the right (in modern conditions of the
Earth it is shifted to the left). The decomposition
of other carbonates occurs in a similar way to
form carbon dioxide. Free oxygen on the plan­
et Venus results from water decomposition
due to solar radiation. Hydrogen, another
decomposition product, is easily lost by the
upper layers of the atmosphere. This caused a
slow secular loss of water on Venus and the
planet was slowly drying up. Practically all
the water in the atmosphere is in a vaporous
N a tu re an d C h e m ica l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 49

state at high temperatures of the surface. The

presence of a light water vapour determines a
high reflectance of the planet that reflects
76 per cent of the sunlight falling on it.
A solid surface of Venus is covered with
the rocks being similar to terrestrial ones of a
basalt type and granodiorites according to ra­
diometric evidence.
The Earth is the largest of all inner plan­
ets. At the same time it has a large satellite,
the Moon, whose mass accounts for 1/81 part
of the Earth’ s mass. The nitrogen-oxygen at­
mosphere of the Earth differs in its composi­
tion from those of other planets and is a re­
sult of the evolution of life. Most of the at­
mospheric argon of the Earth has a radioac­
tive origin owing to decay of 40K both in the
crust and the interior of the planet.
The Moon proved to be the first planet,
whose material was brought to the Earth la­
boratories and studied by all modern physico­
chemical methods. The surface of the Earth’ s
satellite is composed of relatively light
patches, formed by mountain systems and up­
lands, and of dark areas, the so-called maria.
The names of lunar objects were proposed by
the Polish astronomer (Johannes Hevelius)
and the Italian astronomer (J. Riccioli).
The largest maria were named the Mare Im-
brium, the Mare Serentitatis, the Mare Fe-
cunditatis, the Mare Nectarus, the Mare Tran-
quillitatis, the Oceanus Procellarum. The
whole of the Moon’ s surface is covered with a
great number of funnels of different sizes, the
largest being called lunar cirques. Lunar cir-
4-01498
50 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

ques are called after outstanding scientists

and cultural workers. The entire surface of
the Moon is composed of igneous rocks and
the products of their disintegration, the up­
lands, of mostly anorthosites that are char­
acterized by the following mineral composi­
tion (in per cent):
O r t h o c la s e K A l S i30 8 0.35-0.47
P la g io c la s e Ca(N a)A l2S i 20 8 71.6-74.8
D io p s id e C a M g( S i0 3)2 2.44-4.8
H y p e r s th e n e F e S i0 3 8.7-16.3
O liv in e (Mg, Fe)2S i 0 4 5.3-10.0
I lm e n it e CaT1 0 3 0.4-0.8
A p a tite C a 3(P 0 4)3C l 0.07-0.11

Lunar maria are wide depressions filled

with dark basalts, fine-grained volcanic rocks.
Lunar basalts differ from terrestrial ones by
an enhanced iron and titanium content and a
decreased sodium and potassium content. The
chemical composition of typical rocks of the
Moon is shown in Table 7.
In respect to other chemical elements all
lunar rocks are distinguished by a high con­
centration of high-melting lithophile elements
and a decreased concentration of volatile chal-
cophile elements. Heavy chalcophile metals
(Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi) are sharply contrasting, their
concentration in lunar rocks being two orders
of magnitude lower than that in the similar
rocks of the Earth.
On the whole the chemical composition
of rocks of the lunar crust is most similar to
that of eucrites, feldspathic achondrites en­
riched with calcium. All lunar rocks are excep­
tionally dry.
N a tu re an d C h e m ica l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets SI

The age of lunar rocks proved to be very

old: old anorthosites are dated at 4.5-4.0
billion years and younger lunar basalts at
3.6-3.3 billion years. This indicates that

T A B L E 7. C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f L u nar R o c k s

Terra rocks Basalts of lunar maria

Mare Basalts
Anortho­ Anortho­ Tra n- Mare of the
Oxide site site quilli- Fecun- Pacific
Appllo-1 5 Moon-20 tatis ditatis Ocean

S i 20 2 44.1 44.2 40.5 42.95 48.44

T i0 2 — 0.52 11.4 5.5 1.26
a i 2o 3 35.5 19.1 9.7 13.88 15.85
FeO 0.2 6.91 19.0 20.17 8.78
M nO — 0.12 0.21 0.20 0.21
M gO 0.1 13.37 8.0 6.05 6.39
C aO 19.7 13.3 9.6 10.8 12.15
N a20 0.35 0.48 0.53 0.23 2.57
K 20 — 0.47 0.16 0.16 0.46
p 2o 5 — 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.13
C r 20 3 — — 0.29 — —

deep-seated processes of igneous activity of the

Moon had been completed very long ago.
According to the present-day data the
Moon is a spherical body composed of silicate
material. It comprises the crust 20 to 30 km
thick, the mantle reaching 1 000 km and a
compressed silicate core deeper than 1 000 km.
The radius of the lunar core is 700 km.
The study of the Moon revealed many mys­
teries, and at present the problem of its evo­
lution has become much more complicated.
52 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

Now we can only say that the material of the

Moon was formed under different thermody­
namic conditions as compared with that of the
Earth and chondritic meteorites. These condi­
tions corresponded to higher temperatures
that favoured the formation of solid phases of
high-melting lithophile elements and preven­
ted volatile elements from entering into their
composition.
Of all inner planets, Mars is the most dis­
tant from the Sun and has the lowest densi­
ty. The studies made by Mariner, Viking,
Mars-1, 2, 3 space vehicles have revealed that
the planet’ s surface is covered with numerous
craters and in this respect is similar to the
Moon’ s surface. There is a vast area Hellas
on Mars that is almost devoid of craters. Three
types of the Mars’surface are observed: light
“terra”areas, yellow “ marine”and snow-white
polar caps. Most of the planet’ s surface has
an orange colour, which according to optical
and radio astronomy data indicates a fine­
grained character of crushed silicate rocks,
covered with a film of iron oxides.
The atmospheric pressure at the surface of
Mars does not exceed 6 mm Hg, i.e. two orders
of magnitude less than that on Earth. Carbon
dioxide (probably exceeding 50%) is the main
component of the atmosphere of Mars. The ad­
mixtures of nitric oxides are found. The oxy­
gen and ozone contents are negligibly small.
The planet’ s atmosphere contains vapours as
well as aerosols associated with “dust storms”.
The temperature on the surface of Mars varies
with latitude and at the boundary of polar
N a tu re an d C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 53

caps it lowers down to 140-150 K. Carbon di­

oxide must freeze at such temperatures. It can
be assumed that polar caps of Mars consist of
frozen carbon dioxide. The thickness of its
layer may attain several metres. In polar areas
a considerable amount of water vapour must
freeze which can cause the formation of glaciers.
In 1969 on the basis of properties of the
material of the Earth’ s mantle and a very
precise evaluation of the radius and mass of
Mars according to the data of Mariner-4 space
vehicle, A. Binder studied theoretically the
inner structure of Mars. Theoretical modelling
has revealed that probably Mars has an inner
iron core, the radium being of the order of
790-950 km. The composition of the shell, i.e.
the mantle of Mars, should not essentially differ
from that of the Earth’ s mantle. The tern
perature inside Mars should be from 800 to
1 500 °C, i.e. considerably lower than in the
interior of the Earth.
Mars has two small satellites: Phobos and
Deimos. They move along the orbits almost
coinciding with the plane of the planet’ s equa­
tor (Phobos at a distance of 9 400 km and
Deimos, 23 500 km). Both satellites are of ir­
regular shape and have a low albedo that is
similar to that of carbonaceous chondrites and
basalts. The satellites are covered with funnels
of an impact origin. The biggest funnel on
Phobos is 5 km in diameter. Generally the en­
tire surface of satellites of Mars is character­
ized by a high density of funnels. This may in­
dicate that the satellites are very old and have
a great history.
54 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E a rth

In 1948 the English astronomer W. Ram­

say hypothesized that all the inner planets
have a similar composition and the difference
in their average densities is governed by differ­
ent compression ratios of the material affect­
ed by high pressures, proportional to the
planet masses. In particular, the existence
of the Earth’ s core was due to the phase tran­
sition of the silicate material to the metallic
state caused by a high pressure. However, if
the inner planets had had a similar chemical
composition, and the compaction in central
parts had been determined by the mass of the
planet itself, we would have observed a suc-
cussive increase of density in the successive se­
quence of the planet mass increase (Mercury,
Mars, Venus, Earth). In reality as can be seen
in Table 6, the small Mercury has a higher den­
sity as compared with the more massive Mars
or Venus. Therefore it can be concluded that
inner planets have different chemical composi­
tions.
While evaluating their compositions the
value of average densities calculated for the
zero pressure in the centre of planets is of great
interest. The difference in the compositions
is determined by different ratios between sil­
icate (the density is 3.3 g/cm3) and metallic
nickel-iron material (the density is 7.23 g/cm3).
The development of these concepts in recent
years has been favoured. At the same time the
distribution of metallic and silicate parts in­
side the planets remains the subject under dis­
cussion: do they exist together and are uniform­
ly distributed within the entire volume of
N a tu re an d C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 55

each of the planets or do they coexist separate­

ly —metallic phase in the form of inner core,
and a silicate one, in the form of shell, i.e.
the mantle of different thicknesses?
Considering all the data available in the
field of geophysics, geochemistry, and cosmo-
chemistry it seems quite probable that there
are central metallic cores inside the planets
of a terrestrial type. Such a conclusion better
Moon
□
O

Mercury Venus Earth Mars

F ig. 9. T h e c o m p o s it i o n o f in n er p la n e ts w it h d iffe r ­
en t r a t io s o f s ilic a t e (/) an d m e t a llic (2) m a te r ia l

corresponds to all that is known and is support­

ed by such meteorites as iron, stony-iron,
and achondrites.
If we advance the working hypothesis, the
most probable one, that a metallic phase formed
the inner cores of all the planets, it is easy
to imagine the main values of these cores.
According to calculations made by R. Rey­
nolds and A. Summers, the radii of inner
cores amount to 0.8 of the outer radius of Mer­
cury, 0.53 of that of Venus, 0.55 of that of the
Earth, 0.4 of that of Mars. Figure 9 presents a
 56 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

comparison between the inner constitution and

composition of the planets of a terrestrial
group.
It follows that the different densities of
the inner planets are mostly determined by
the difference in their chemical composition.
More denser planets contain more iron, less
denser ones contain less iron. But in all proba­
bility the difference in composition not only
comprises the main chemical elements (0, Si,
Fe, Mg, Ni, Ca) but refers to all the elements
of the Mendeleev Periodic Table. In any case
the data on the distribution of rare elements
in meteorites of different classes, obtained in
the last few years, support such an assumption.
Noteworthy is a spatial trend in the com­
position of inner planets: the proportion of
metallic iron in the planets that are most close
to the Sun is higher than in those that are
more distant. This is very well seen in Fig.
9, when we compare Mercury that is near the
Sun and Mars that is away from it. Apparent­
ly in this case there is an important cosmochem-
ical trend, which should be explained by
any theory of the Solar System evolution.
Asteroids are small solid bodies of the So­
lar System, most of which move in the so-
called asteroidal belt between the orbits of Mars
and Jupiter. The masses of asteroids are within
wide ranges and are inferred from indirect da­
ta. Most of asteroids with masses from 1015
to 1023 g are of irregular shapes. Actually they
are blocks of cosmic rocks with the periods of
proper rotation of 8 to 9 hours, which are sim­
ilar to the periods of rotation of large plan-
 N a tu re a n d C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 57

ets. Only the largest asteroids exhibit the

form close to a spherical one. Large asteroids
include Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, their diameters
being 1003, 608, and 538 km, respectively. The
comparison between the sizes of these astero­
ids and those of the Moon is given in Fig. 10.
At present there are 112 asteroids with the

F ig. 10. T h e c o m p a r is o n b e tw e e n th e s iz e s o f la r g e
a s t e r o id s a n d th e M o o n

diameter exceeding 100 km in the Solar

System. The total number of well-known aster­
oids exceeds 2 000.
The reflectance of asteroids indicates their
lithology. E.L. Krinov has established that
the albedo of asteroids and the known meteo­
rites mainly coincide. In recent years the al­
bedo of asteroids in the different parts of the
spectrum was studied in detail by T. MacCord,
S. Chapman and D. Morrison. We shall discuss
here only the main results of these studies.
Depending on the albedo the studied aste­
roids are divided into two large groups: dark,
or C-asteroids, and relatively light, or S-aster-
oids. The former are characterized by a rather
58 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

low albedo of less than 0.05, and the latter, of

more than 0.1. According to the spectral re­
flectance group C is close to carbonaceous chon­
drites, and group S, to stony-iron meteorites
and common chondrites. Therefore all min­
eral, chemical and structural peculiarities of
meteorites can be basically applied to aster­
oids. In general the latest photometric mea­
surements have shown the unity of the mate­
rial of meteorites and that of asteroids. The
main groups of asteroids, according to photo­
metric measurements, are distinguished rather
clearly.
The most essential result of studying aste­
roids is that the composition of asteroids dif­
fers in different parts of the asteroidal belt
(Fig. 11). The bodies that are similar to
common chondrites occur in the inner part
of the asteroidal belt, but as the distance from
the Sun increases within 2.5-3.2 AU*, their
number decreases and the number of asteroids
of the type of carbonaceous chondrites increases.
The latter dominate in the centre and mar­
ginal parts of the asteroidal belt. Thus, a defi­
nite cosmochemical trend is observed: the
composition of asteroids depends on the helio­
centric distance.
Asteroid Vesta has a special place in elu­
cidating the genetic ties between other meteo­
rites and asteroids. According to photometric
measurements, Vesta is the only asteroid out
of 100 studied ones, whose surface is similar

* A s tr o n o m ic a l u n it (AU) is a m o d e r n d is ta n c e
fr o m th e E a r th t o th e S u n (149.5 m in km).
N a tu re an d C h e m ica l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 59

to that of basaltic (enriched with calcium)

achondrites. It can be assumed that actually
Vesta is a chemically differentiated asteroid
with achondritic crust and the interior com­
posed of stony-iron masses. The modern study of
asteroids reveals that they are the most actu­
al sources of meteorites. Chondritic meteo­
rites can be the fragments of non-differentiated

The distance frcnn the Sun, AU

Fig. 11. T h e c o n c e n t r a t io n o f a s t c r o id a l b o d ie s w ith

d ia m e te r e x c e e d in g 50 km.
The outer ring of asteroids has mostly dark C-asteroids, and
the inner margin has mostly light S-asteroids

asteroids, and the asteroids of the Vesta type,

the source of achondrites, stony-iron and iron
meteorites.
The belt of asteroids is an area of continu­
ous mechanical decay and disintegration of
solid bodies as a result of encounters. Garbo-
60 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the Earth

naceous-chondritic bodies predominate in the

asteroidal belt. A relative rarity of carbona­
ceous chondrites on the Earth’ s surface is attrib­
uted to the fact that the corresponding mate­
rial rarely occurs on our planet.
The total mass of the material concentrat­
ed in the asteroidal belt is approximately
estimated at 4.5 x 1024 g, that makes up
1/20 of the Moon’ s mass or 1/1 500 of the
Earth’ s mass. The asteroids taken together would
form a body 1 400 km in diameter. At present
the main mass is concentrated in the largest
asteroids, so Geres alone accounts for 1/3 of
the total mass.
The outer planets of the Solar System differ
markedly from the inner planets of the terres­
trial group in composition, constitution and
sizes (see Table 6). They have a low density
(0.7-1.7 g/cm3) that is determined by the main
gaseous composition. Hydrogen and helium
are the leading elements in gaseous covers. All
the planets without exception have satellites
of rather peculiar properties.
Jupiter is the largest planet of the Solar
System. Its mass exceeds 318 times that of
the Earth and 2.3 times that of other planets,
taken together. On the basis of recent astro-
physical measurements different models of a
general constitution of Jupiter were proposed.
All of them have common features and admit
stratified (shell-type) constitution of the plan­
et that is generally of a solar composition.
It is not difficult to imagine that the entire
mass of Jupiter is a cooled solar substance.
In this case heavy elements are concentrated
N atu re an d C h e m ica l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 61

in the central areas and the light ones form

vast outer shells. According to one of the prob­
able models, Jupiter is made up of the cen­
tral core with the mass of 40 terrestrial masses
composed of a solid material in the compacted
state. A vast zone is located above the core
mainly consisting of hydrogen. The inner part
of this zone, from the centre of the planet up
to 40 000 km, is under pressure of 3 million atm
and at a temperature of 10 000 K. In this
part hydrogen forms the liquid of high elec­
tric conduction. Electric currents that appear
in this medium cause an extensive magnetic
field of Jupiter as inferred from the measure­
ment made by the Pioneer-10 space station.
The outer shell 70 thousand kilometers
thick consists mostly of liquid hydrogen in
the molecular form H 2. The gaseous shell,
Jupiter’ s atmosphere proper, comprising main­
ly molecular hydrogen, helium, methane
(CH4), ammonia (NH3) stretches above it for
1 000 kilometres. The temperature of outer
layers varies between 140 and 150 K. Accord­
ing to G. Lewis, the planet’ s atmosphere is
characterized by the following indications:
in the hydrogen-helium medium at a certain
level there appear the droplets of aqua ammo­
nia above which there is a layer of small par­
ticles of ice. Above the latter there is hydrogen
combined with ammonia. In this case small
particles of ammonium hydrosulphide
(NH4SH) are formed. The highest cloudy lay­
er forming a visible surface of Jupiter con­
sists of small particles of solid ammonia. The
coloured orange-yellow surface of the planet
 62 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

can be related to the photochemistry of the

layers of ammonium hydrosulphide and the
particles associated with it. The atmosphere
of Jupiter is in convective motion.
Jupiter, together with its 14 satellites,
forms an original planetary system that resem­
bles the Solar System in miniature. The larg­
est four satellites were discovered by G. Ga­
lilei as far back as the 17th century and were
named G alilei’ s satellites ever since. They
include Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
The studies of the Jupiter system were most
thoroughly made by Voyager-1, 2 space vehi­
cles in 1979. According to the recent data
G alilei’
s satellites of Jupiter are characterized
by the following values (Table 8).
T A B L E 8. C h a r a c te r is tic o f G a l i l e i’
s S a t e llit e s
o f J u p ite r

Distance from Average

Satellite Jupiter, Radius, km density,
102 km g/cm3

Io 422 1 840±30 3.41±0.19

E u ropa 671 1 552±20 3.06±0.15
G a n y m ed e 1070 2 650±25 1.90±0.06
C a llis t o 1880 2 420±20 1.81±0.06

It is quite evident that the average density

of satellites depends on the distance from Ju­
piter. The nearest satellites have a higher av­
erage density as compared with the remote
satellites. This peculiarity in miniature re­
peats the same trend that is observed for inner
planets depending on the heliocentric distance.
 N a tu re an d C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 63

However, the composition of G alilei’

s
satellites is mainly determined by a different
proportion of stony-silicate material and water
ice. The satellites of a decreased density can
also contain condensed ammonia and water
that form an eutectic mixture at a tempera­
ture of 173 K. Models of inner constitution of
G alilei’s satellites are presented in Fig. 12.
Io is the most outstanding satellite of Ju­
piter and is mostly composed of solid stony
material. Its surface is characterized by a
combination of red, orange, yellow, and white

Ganymede Callisto

F ig. 12. T h e c o m p o s it i o n o f G a l i l e i ’ s s a t e llit e s o f

J u p ite r w ith a d iffe r e n t r e la t io n b e tw e e n g la c ia l (/)
a n d s t o n y (2) m a te r ia l

colours. This colouring is mainly due to sul­

phur at different temperatures. Io is marked
by a rather intense volcanic activity. Sulphur
dioxide (S02) is an agent of volcanism, the
lava being presented by a brimstone. There is
a number of acting volcanoes on the surface,
the largest of which is called Prometheus.
It is assumed that intense volcanism on Io is
caused by a tidal influence of Jupiter.
64 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E a rth

Europa is a spherical body, mostly com­

posed of stony material. The surface is covered
with a glacial cover 100 km thick. A white
surface is covered with a net of dark and, more
rarely, light bands. Their origin remains un­
known. Impact craters are very scarce, which
indicates a relatively young age of the surface.
Europa, in all probability, is a dynamically
active body. Its surface is covered with a
thick glacial crust that apparently floats on the
ocean of liquid water. Internal heat is suffi­
cient to cause crushing and displacement of
glacial crust. Dark and light bands probably
indicate the outlets of heat, i.e. inner activity
of the planet as a whole.
Ganymede is the largest Jupiter’ s satel­
lite. Its density (1.9 g/cm3) suggests that it is
half composed of stony material, half of ice.
The surface is covered with ice with numerous
funnels of impact origin. There are uplands
and trench-like valleys. The bending chains
of hills are about 10 km wide and extend up
to 50 km. Generally all the indications of dy­
namic activity of the glacial crust are ob­
served on Ganymede.
Callisto is the last of Galilei’ s satellites.
The portion of the glacial material is the high­
est. It is covered with numerous traces of
meteorite impacts, whose density is exception­
ally high. Unlike the Moon and Mercury, on
Callisto there are no craters whose diameter
exceeds 150 km. The depth of the craters them­
selves is much smaller. Ice possesses plastic
properties and does not provide the develop­
ment of contrasting forms of the relief thus
N a tu re an d C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 65

causing the absence of mountains on Cal-

listo. On the whole, Callisto is a dead frozen
planet.
The main satellites of Jupiter described
are closely related to the central planet that
is probably of genetic significance. The rest
of Jupiter’s satellites have been so far studied
very poorly because of their small sizes and a
long distance. In all likelihood, they are com­
posed of stony-silicate material and are simi­
lar to the asteroids or satellites of Mars.
Saturn is the second planet in size after
Jupiter. Because of its remoteness it is stud­
ied worse than Jupiter. A relatively low aver­
age density (0.7 g/cm3) decidedly indicates its
mainly gaseous composition. A rapid rotation
of the planet with a 10-hour period results in
strong compression. Thus a polar semi-axis
is 1/10 shorter than an equatorial one. Gravi­
ty field and visible compression of Saturn sug­
gest that its upper shells are lighter and the
central ones are heavier than those of Jupiter.
The constitution of the planet may be similar
to that of Jupiter. However, due to a small
mass the pressure in the interior of Saturn
grows slower and the layer of metallic hydro­
gen begins at the depth approximately equal
to one-half the radius of the planet. One of the
models of Saturn’ s inner constitution is given
in Fig. 13. There is a somewhat greater
amount of methane in the upper layers of Saturn
or its atmosphere and a somewhat smaller
amount of ammonia as compared with Jupi­
ter’s atmosphere.
Saturn on the equatorial plane is surround-
5-0 1498
 66 O r ig in an d C h e m ica l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

ed by a thin ring creating its colourful and

unique appearance. The ring is divided into
several separate rings, whose origin has not
yet been exactly established.
Together with its satellites Saturn forms
an individual planetary system. At present

Fig. 13. T h e in n er c o n s t it u t io n o f Sa tu rn , U ra n u s
an d N e p tu n e

17 satellites were discovered, the two being

discovered by means of telephotographs Vo­
yager-1, 2. In the direction from Saturn the
satellites bear the following names: Ianus,
Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea,
Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, Phoebe. The
largest Titan has the radius of 2 900 km.
Because of great remoteness the satellites
of Saturn are studied worse than those of Ju­
piter. The average density of the largest Titan
is estimated atl.34g/cm3, which shows a great
role of ice in its composition. According to
the most probable model in the central part
of Titan there is a stony core surrounded by
the mantle made up of the mixture of ice and
N ature and C h e m ica l C o m p o s itio n o f P la n ets 67

particles of silicate rocks. The mantle is cov­

ered with a peculiar mixture of water with dis­
solved ammonia. Titan’ s “crust”is a mixture
of ice and methane. Unlike commensurable
satellites of Jupiter, Titan has a noticeable
atmosphere composed of nitrogen with the ad­
mixture of methane and hydrogen.
The data on other satellites of Saturn are
very scarce. Dione and Rhea are characterized
by a high albedo (0.6). The density of Dione is
1.4 + 0.6 g/cm3. The density of Mimas, Ence-
ladus and Tethys is close to unity. All this
suggests the probability of Saturn’ s satellites
being mainly constructed of ice.
Uranus and Neptune. Relatively high den­
sities of these planets, 1.6 and 1.7 g/cm3, re­
spectively, in comparison with other outer plan­
ets allow one to consider that they contain
an increased proportion of heavier substances
than hydrogen and helium. A number of mo­
dels of these planets with different combina­
tions of chemical elements have been proposed
(see Fig. 13). According to the models construct­
ed by D. Hunten, the planets have cores ap­
proximately 16 000 km in diameter, surround­
ed by the mantles composed of ice. Above
them there are vast gaseous covers consisting
mostly of molecular hydrogen. The upper lay­
ers of Uranus contain methane that may form
a cloudy cover. There is also methane in the
atmosphere of Neptune. However, ammonia
has not been discovered in the planets as it
freezes out at low temperatures (about minus
180 °C). In a solid state it could settle out in
the lower horizons having formed a correspond-
 (58 O r ig in an d C h e m ica l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

ing layer. A relative deficit of hydrogen and

helium on Uranus and Neptune was probably
associated with the leakage of helium and
molecules of hydrogen beyond the Solar System
as the Sun’ s attraction at such far distances
was essentially reduced, thus causing the loss
of light atoms.
Uranus and Neptune have a number of sat­
ellites and form individual space planetary
systems. Uranus is known to have five satel­
lites (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Obe-
ron), Neptune has two satellites (Triton, Ne­
reid). The data on the satellites of these plan­
ets are exceptionally scarce. According to
photometric measurements made by D. Cruik-
shank (1980), all the satellites of Uranus have
a reflecting surface, differing from those
covered with water ice. Their albedo is within
0.2-0.5. Titania is the largest satellite, its
radius being 800-500 km.
Of the two Neptune’ s satellites a huge Tri­
ton (the radius is 3 000 km) has a retrograde
motion, and a small satellite Nereid (the radi­
us is approximately 250 km), has a direct mo­
tion. Their origin is not yet known with as­
surance.
Pluto is the most distant planet. The data
on its origin and constitution were only recent­
ly obtained. Due to the measurement of its
albedo by means of a powerful telescope of the
observatory located on the Hawaiian Islands
it was possible to establish that the planet’ s
surface is solid, composed of frozen methane
(methane ice). The radius is within 1 200-
1 800 km, and a geometrical albedo is 0.49.
 N a tu re an d C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f P la n ets 69

M. Lupo and N. Lewis (1980) have built a

number of Pluto’ s models, the most acceptable
being the following one. 21 per cent of the plan­
et, the radius being 1 300 km and the average
density 1.12 g/cm3, is made up of a solid
rock in the centre, 74 per cent of water ice
and 5 per cent of a frozen methane.
In 1978 J. Christy and R. Harrington dis­
covered Pluto’ s satellite that was named Cha­
ron. Pluto-Charon represent a double planeta­
ry system, in which the ratio between the sat­
ellite’ s mass and a central body is the highest
equalling 1/10 (it is 1/81.3 for the Moon—
the Earth). The radius of Charon is approxi­
mately estimated at 600-700 km, the density
is approximately 1.0 g/cm3, the orbital period
6.39 days, an average radius of the orbit being
approximately 20 000 kilometres.
The above data on the origin and consti­
tution of the planets allow one to draw con­
clusions having a direct relationship to the
evolution of the Solar System.
1. The planets differ in their chemical com­
position that is most clearly expressed in the
difference between the inner and outer planets.
The inner planets are mainly solid bodies
mostly composed of gases.
2. The inner planets also differ between them­
selves depending on the heliocentric dis­
tance. The closest to the Sun planets are denser
than the distant ones.
3. The difference between average densities
of inner planets is governed by a different pro­
portion of metallic and silicate material.
Hence, the closest to the Sun planets contain
70 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

more metallic material than those that are

more distant.
4. The composition of asteroids within
their belt also depends on the heliocentric dis­
tance. Less oxidized bodies of the type of
common chondrites are located closer to the
Sun, then follow more oxidized ones that are
similar in composition to carbonaceous chon­
drites.
5. Gigantic outer planets originated from
matter that is similar in composition to the
Sun and fractionation processes during their
formation were manifested less intensively.
At the same time the chemical differences are
observed within the satellites of outer plan­
ets depending on the distance to the central
planet.
6. All bodies of the Solar System change
their composition as influenced by heliocen­
tric distance: the bodies, closest to the Sun,
are enriched with high-melting elements and
their compounds, the distant ones, mostly
with volatile elements and their compounds.
If we compare a number of planetary bodies of
similar sizes (inner planets, large satellites of
big planets, Pluto), their main constituents
(metal + silicate + H 20 + CH4) will increase
their proportion from left to right as they
move away from the Sun, from the complete
absence of water and methane on Mercury to
the complete absence of metul (?) on Pluto.
7. The difference in the composition of
planets indicates the fractionation of elements
during the formation of the Solar System. The
fractionation was substantially determined by
 C o m p o s itio n a n d C o n s titu tio n o f E arth 71

a different degree of the material oxidation

and the properties of volatile elements and
their compounds depending upon the distance
to the Sun.

Composition and Constitution

of the Earth

The globe is made up of concentric shells of

varied density and composition. The Earth’ s
upper shells are the atmosphere and hydrosphere.
The atmosphere borders space. The solid
body of the planet consists of three principal
shells: the crust, the thick mantle, and the
core at the centre.
The surface of the solid Earth is quite irreg­
ular. Mountains and mountain ranges alter­
nate with vast plains on continents, all of
which are crustal segments raised above sea
level. The disposition of continents is extreme­
ly asymmetrical. Thus, if we divide the
globe along the Pacific coast of continents
(along the margins of Ea§t Asia*, and the west­
ern margins of North and South America),
it will be composed of two hemispheres: the
continental, where nearly all continents, as
well as the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, will
be located, and the oceanic, embracing the
entire Pacific Ocean. This character of the
planetary topography is far from being casu­
al; it is primarily related to crustal composi­
tion and constitution within the continental
axid oceanic hemispheres.
 72 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f llie E a rlh

The Earth’ s crust is taken to mean the up­

per layer of the solid Earth between its sur­
face and the so-called Mohorovicic discontinui­
ty. At a certain depth, this discontinuity is
marked by an abrupt jump in the increasing
seismic wave velocities produced by strong
earthquakes. On passing through the Mohoro­
vicic boundary, the longitudinal (primary)
seismic waves speed up from 6.5 to 8 km/s,
and transverse (secondary) waves, from 3.7
to 4.5 km/s. The lower boundary of the Earth’ s
crust, drawn along the M-discontinuity, lies at
depths ranging from 70 km beneath the con­
tinents to 10 km under the oceans. On the
average, the continental crust is 35 km thick
and the oceanic crust, 5-10 km thick. This
is due to the different composition of the rocks
that constitute these two crustal types. The
oceanic crust is largely composed of basaltic
material and the continental crust of the ma­
terial similar to granite in composition. The
modern constitution of the Earth’ s crust is
shown in Fig. 14. Granitic rocks contain more
silica and less magnesium and iron than ba­
salts. It can bft concluded, therefore, that one
of the two hemispheres of our planet is richer
in silica in its upper horizons than the other.
The asymmetric constitution is character­
istic not only of the crust of the Earth but
also of its upper mantle, but possibly runs to
a depth of 700 kilometres. It should be empha­
sized, therefore, that the irregular constitu­
tion and probably composition to a depth of
400-500 kilometres could have not originated
in the inferred past epoch of the wholly mol-
C o m p o s it io n a n d C o n s titu tio n o f E arth 73

Continent

F ig. 14. T h e c o n s t it u t io n o f th e E a r t h ’
s cru st.
Figures stand for the density of materials, in g/cm3

F ig. 15. T h e in te r n a l c o n s t it u t io n o f th e E arth :

A—crust; B—upper mantle; C—transition layer; D —lower
mantle; E —outer core; F—boundary between the outer and
inner core; G—inner core

ten Earth. The shells would then have been

uniform in both composition and thickness
whatever the differentiation process,
74 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

Figure 15 shows a detailed subdivision of

the entire Earth.
A question arises because the shells are
quite real parts of the planet: what is the zon­
al character of the Earth’ s interior? Two
standpoints on the subject have been put for­
ward during the last decades. In other words,
two basic models of the composition and con­
stitution of the Earth were designed. One
of them assumes that each deep zone of the
globe has its own chemical composition differ­
ing from the composition of other zones. This
model is called the Goldschmidt-Fersman
one. It represents the Earth as a chemically
layered spherical body. According to the oth­
er model, the Earth as a whole is a chemical­
ly uniform body and the deep zones, identified
by geophysicists, differ solely in the composi­
tion of matter, becoming progressively denser
towards the Earth’ s centre. Thus, the core of
the Earth is a highly compressed silicate ma­
terial converted to a “ metallized”state. This
model can be called the Lodochnikov-Ramsey
one. It was highly popular for some time be­
cause of the ideas of a cool origin of the Earth
and a uniform accumulation of dust particles.
Of course, the chemical differentiation could
not have taken place over the whole Earth at
low temperatures of its origin. At present,
however, new geophysical evidence suggests
that the Earth’ s interior is involved in both
chemical partition of matter and its transfor­
mation into different polymorphic states, of
deep matter, the distinction being most prom­
inent between the core and mantle. Changes
C o m p o s itio n a n d C o n s titu tio n o f E arth 75

in polymorphic modifications refers to separate

parts of the mantle and probably core.
The model of the Earth’ s constitution that
embodies the most recent data is presented in
Table 9, in which the shells of our planet are
characterized.
TABLE 9. B a s ic C h a r a c t e r is t ic s of th e E a rth ’
s
S h e lls

Percen­
Depth Density tage of Mass, Mass
Shell interval, interval, Earth’ s 1025 g %
km g/cm2 volume

C ru st A 0-33 2.7-3.0 1.55 5 0.8

[ B 33-400 3.32-3.65 16.67 62 10.4
M a n tle { C 400-1 000 3.65-4.68 21.31 98 16.4
I D 1 000-2 900 4.68-5.69 44.28 245 41.0
[ E 2 900-5 000 9.40-11.5 15.16 \
C o re { F 5 000-5 100 11.5-12.0 0.28 } 188 31.5
1 G 5 100-6 371 12.0-12.3 0.76 J

The crust is the most nonhomogeneous shel 1of

the Earth, consisting of different mineral asso­
ciations in the form of sedimentary, igneous,
and metamorphic rocks. It is the result of the
geological evolution of our planet and is the
dynamically most active layer in the upper
part of the solid Earth. This is where geologi­
cal processes operate with both direct and in­
direct participation of the living matter of
the planet.
The crust is, in general, of a layered struc­
ture, being composed of three rock complexes:
sedimentary, constituting a sedimentary layer
76 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E a rth

or stratisphere; metamorphic, making up a

metamorphic geosphere; igneous or magmatic,
composing a granitic geosphere; and an under­
lying basaltic layer (see Fig. 14). All layers
are discontinuous and lacking in places. Thus,
no granitic layer is present beneath the Pa­
cific Ocean. Within continents, sedimentary
rocks are occasionally absent within the so-
called Precambrian shields.
Sedimentary rocks are materials deposited
on the bottoms of water reservoirs and in lows
on land. They are extremely common, cover­
ing more than 80 per cent of the modern con­
tinents. These are sand, clay, limestone, and
sandstone. Some sedimentary rocks are derived
from breaking up and redeposition of older
rocks, others (chalk, limestone, coal, peat) are
direct products of activity of living organisms
in the biosphere. A certain part of sediments
was chemically formed by precipitation of
salts in drying closed water reservoirs, lne
deposits of gypsum and rock salt were ap-
peared. _-
Igneous rocks have crystallized from
ma, which is an aluminosilicate melt enriched
with gases. Magma solidification at depth at
500-800 °C gives rise to crystalline plutonic,
or intrusive, rocks. Most rocks of this kin
in the Earth’ s crust are granites and their
varieties. The granites are composed of pink
and grey feldspars, quartz, and mica, blow­
ing out onto the surface, the magma loses
gases and becomes lava which forms such vol­
canic rocks as porphyrites, rhyolites, and ba­
salts. Basalts are nmst common of these rocks.
C o m p o s it io n a n d C o n s titu tio n o f E arth

The effusive rocks are made up mostly of

small minerals and are, as a whole, a fine­
grained mass. In violent volcanic eruptions,
much volcanic ash is thrown out (air-cooled
varying-size lava spatters), which settles down
to produce the so-called volcanic tuffs.
Metamorphic rocks are initially sedimen­
tary or igneous rocks that then underwent re-
crystallization under the action of pressure
and temperature on their sinking to certain
depths. Thus, unconsolidated clay is trans­
formed into a rock with a compact crystalline
structure, and sedimentary limestone into
marble. Metamorphic rocks are often thinly
stratified, or foliated, which is related to a
one-sided crystal growth due to vertical pres­
sure onto the rock. Examples of common
metamorphic rocks are gneisses and schists.
Gneisses are similar in mineral composition to
granites but the minerals in them are stratified.
It should be noted that the distinction between
metamorphic and igneous rocks disappears
in the case of intense metamorphism with
partial melting. There is a good reason to be­
lieve that continental granites are largely of
metamorphic origin.
The chemical compositions of continental
and oceanic crust, as well as those of the whole
crust, are given in Table 10 (A.B. Ronov and
A.A. Yaroshevsky, 1976). Obviously, the
chemical composition of the crust is in general
defined by only eight chemical elements:
0, Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, and K. The lead­
ing one is oxygen, which constitutes nearly
half of its mass. By volume, however, its ions
?8 O r ig in an d C h e m ica l E v o lu tio n o f the E a rth

T A B L E 10. C h e m ica l C o m p o s it io n of th e E a rth ’

s
C rust, w t. %

Compo­ Conti­ Oceanic Entire Compo­ Conti­ Oceanic Entire

nent nental crust crust nent nental crust crust
crust crust

S i0 2 56.23 48.17 55.24 K 20 1.98 0.33 1.61

T i0 2 0.71 1.40 0.86 P 20 5 0.16 0.22 0.17
A120 3 14.46 14.90 14.55 C o rg 0.08 0.05 0.07
F 2O 3 2.36 2.64 2.42 co 2 1.48 1.37 1.44
FeO 5.41 7.37 5.86 so 3 0.12 — 0.09
M nO 0.13 0.24 0.15 Sorg 0.08 0.05 0.08
M gO 4.77 7.42 5.37 Cl 0.03 0.02 0.03
C aO 6.98 12.19 8.12 F 0.03 0.02 0.03
N a 20 2.40 2.58 2.44 H 20 1.57 1.05 1.46

being large, it composes 92 per cent of crustal

volume. The Earth’ s crust is thus a realm of
oxygen. The typical lithophile elements have
here the maximum concentrations.
All modern geological, geophysical, and
geochemical data indicate that the continen­
tal crust of our planet is the product of a more
drastic chemical differentiation of the mantle
as compared with the oceanic crust. This is
evidenced by the chemical compositions of
the different crustal types given in Table 10.
The Earth's mantle differs in composition
from the overlying crust. Information about
its chemical composition was derived from the
analyses of the deepest igneous rocks intruded
into the upper layers of the Earth as a result
of intense tectonic uplifts with a removal of
the mantle material. These are dunites and
peridotites, ultrabasic rocks occurring in moun-
C o m p o s it io n an d C o n s titu tio n o f E a rth 79

T A & L E 11. C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f th e U p p e r
M antle, w t. %

Mantle co mposition
Mantle-derived Rock from calculiated by
Compo­ pyrolite of St. Paul L. Dmitr iev (1969)
nent A. Ringwood Islands
1 2

S i0 2 45.16 43.16 45.5 45.8

A I 2O 3 3.84 3.69 3.8 5.1
F e 20 , 0.46 1.45 5.3 4.8
FeO ' 8.04 6.64 3.0 3.3
T i0 2 0.71 0.28 0.3 0.3
C r 20 3 0.43 0.51 — —
C aO 3.08 2.61 2.1 3.0
M gO 37.45 38.45 42.2 39.3
N a 20 0.57 0.33 0.4 0.5
K 20 0.13 0.10 0 .1 0.1
M nO 0.14 0.14 0.2 0.2
C oO 0.01 — — —
N iO 0.20 0.27 — —
P 2O 5 0.06 0.13 — —
N ote:1, 2-data calculated for two alternatives of rela­
tive proportions of ultrabasic and basic rocks.

tain systems. On geological evidence, the

rocks from the St. Paul Islands in the middle
part of the Atlantic Ocean are mantle mate­
rials. The same is true of rock fragments col­
lected by the Soviet oceanographic expeditions
from the floor of the Indian Ocean in the area
of the Mid-Indian Ridge. (The investigation
results have been summarized by L. Dmit­
riev.) Some scientists derived the composition
of the mantle from that of chondrites. How­
ever, this method of investigation is now open
to question. Based on rock compositions at
depth, the chemical composition of the mantle
is presented in Table 11. As to the mineral com-
80 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

position of the mantle, we can expect drastic

changes due to a pressure growth. The upper
mantle is mostly composed of the silicates
(olivines, pyroxenes, garnets) stable under
relatively low pressures, and the lower mantle,
of highly dense minerals (see Table 8).
The most common mantle component is
the silica of silicates. Under a high pressure,
however, the silica may be transformed into
stishovite, a denser polymorphic modifica­
tion. This mineral has been produced by the
Soviet investigator Stishov and is named after
him. While common quartz has a density of
2.53 g/cm3, stishovite, derived from quartz
under a pressure of 150 000 bars, has a densi­
ty of 4.25 g/cm3. Both minerals differ in the
internal structure. Thus, common quartz con­
sists of combinations of Si0 4 tetrahedra, in
which each silicon ion is surrounded by four
oxygen anions, whereas stishovite is a com bi­
nation of structural units in which each sili­
con ion is surrounded by six oxygen anions,
i.e. is in the so-called sixfold coordination.
Therefore, pressure changes cause transfor­
mation of polymorphic silicon modifications:
Q u a rtz S t is h o v it e
S i0 2 S i0 2
L o w p r e ssu r e H ig h p re ssu r e

Moreover, the lower mantle may also con­

tain more compact mineral modifications of
other compounds. It definitely follows from
the above that common ferromagnesian sili­
cates decompose, with growing pressure, into
the oxides, each of which is denser than the
 C o m p o s it io n an d C o n s titu tio n o f E a rth 81

silicates. Thus we can assume conversion of

magnesian olivine, Mg2Si04, to magnesian
oxide (periclase) and stishovite. While the den­
sity of olivine is 3.1 g/cm3, that of periclase is
3.9 g/cm3, and that of stishovite, 4.25 g/cm3.
With the possibility of such transformations
in mind, we can attempt to explain the na­
ture and mineral composition of the mantle of
our planet.
The upper mantle (B) is made up mostly
of ferromagnesian silicates (olivines, pyro­
xenes). Some aluminosilicates may pass here in­
to denser minerals, such as the garnet, gros-
sular, Ga3Al2(Si04)3. The mantle has differ­
ent properties and probably composition be­
neath continents and oceans. We can only
assume that beneath the former the mantle
is more differentiated and contains less silica
owing to its concentration in the alumino­
silicate crust. Below the oceans, the mantle
is less differentiated. Denser olivine modifica­
tions with spinel structure, etc. may arise in
the upper mantle.
The transition layer (C) of the mantle is
characterized by a steady seismic velocity
growth with depth, which suggests denser
polymorphic modifications of matter. Here,
probably, appear FeO, MgO, CaO, and Si0 2
as wiistite, periclase, lime, and stishovite.
Their amounts increase with depth while the
amounts of common silicates decrease so they
are in minute amounts below 1 000 km of
depth.
The lower mantle (D) in the 1 000-
2 900-km depth interval consists practically
6-01498
§2 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

exclusively of dense mineral varieties, ox­

ides, as suggested by its high density—
4.68-5.7 g/cm3. Under elevated pressure, the
dense oxides are compressed, their density
becoming even higher. In all probability,
the lower mantle contains more iron.
The Core of the Earth. The knowledge of
the composition and physical nature of the
core of our planet is among the most exciting
and puzzling geophysical and geochemical
problems. A slight progress in solution of
this problem has been achieved only recently.
The big central core of the Earth, lying
deeper than 2 900 km, is composed of the large
outer core and small inner core. The outer
core, according to seismic data, has the liquid
properties. It does not transmit tensional (sec­
ondary) seismic waves, as established long
ago. The absence of cohesion between the core
and lower mantle, the character of tides in
the mantle and crust, the peculiarities in the
motion of the Earth’ s axis of rotation, and
the character of seismic wave transmission deep­
er than 2 900 km points out that the outer
core is liquid.
Some authors assume that the core in the
chemically homogeneous model for the Earth
is silicate in composition and that under a
high pressure the silicates have been transformed
into a “ metallized”state, in which the out­
er electrons are common, as in metals. The
above geophysical data are, however, incon­
sistent with this assumption. In particular,
the lack of cohesion between the core and the
mantle is incompatible with the metallized
 C o m p o s itio n an d C o n s titu tio n o f E arth 83

solid core, as implied in the Lodochnikov-Ram-

sey hypothesis. Highly important indi­
rect evidence on the core were obtained from
experiments on silicates under high pressures.
There have been achieved pressures of 5 min
atmospheres, whereas the pressure is 3 min
atmospheres at the centre of the Earth and
approximately 1 min atmospheres at the core
boundary. Therefore, the pressures in the ex­
periments exceeded those present in the deep­
est interior of the Earth. Under these condi­
tions, the silicates underwent only linear com­
pression without any jump and transition into
a“ metallized”state. Moreover, at high temper­
atures and pressures in the 2 900-6 370-km
depth interval the silicates, along with oxides,
cannot be in a liquid state. Their melting point
rises with pressure.
Very interesting results have been obtained
in recent years from experiments under the
influence of high pressures on the temperature
of metal melting. It has been found that some
metals pass into the liquid state under very
high (300 000 atmospheres and higher) pres­
sures at relatively low temperatures. Accord­
ing to some calculations, under a high pres­
sure an alloy of iron with nickel and silicon
(76% iron, 10% nickel and 14% silicon) must
be in a liquid state at a depth of 2 900 km even
only at temperature 1 000 °C. All the more so
that, according to the least estimates of geo­
physicists, the temperature at this depth must
be much higher.
Therefore, in the light of modern high-
pressure geophysical and physical evidence, as
6*
 84 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

well as cosmochemical data, indicating the

leading role of iron as the most prolific metal
abundance in space, one can assume that the
Earth’ s core is largely made up of liquid
iron with nickel admixture. The estimates
of the American geophysicist F. Birch have
shown, however, that the density of the core
is 10 per cent lower than that of an iron-nickel
alloy at temperatures and pressures prevail­
ing in the core. Then it follows that the metal­
lic core of the Earth must contain a consid­
erable amount (10-20%) of some light ele­
ment. Silicon and sulphur are most probable
out of the lightest and widespread elements.
The presence of one or the other element ex­
plains the observed physical properties of the
core. Therefore, whether some silicon or sul­
phur is present in the Earth’ s core is debatable
and associated with the way of formation of
our planet as a whole.
In 1958 A. Ringwood assumed that the
core contains silicon as a light element, prov­
ing that elemental silicon constitutes several
weight per cent in the metallic phase of some
reduced (enstatite) chondrites. No other argu­
ments have been present, however, in favour
of silicon existence in the core of the
Earth.
The probable presence of sulphur in the
Earth’ s core stems from a comparison of its
distribution in the chondritic material of me­
teorites and in the mantle material of the
Earth. Thus, a comparison of elemental atomic
ratios, in relation to 106 of silicon, in a mixture
of crust and mantle and in chondrites shows
 C o m p o s it io n an d C o n s titu tio n o f E a rth 85

a considerable sulphur deficiency. The sulphur

content of the mantle and crust is three order
of magnitude lower than that of the average ma­
terial (chondrites) of the Solar System.
It follows from the above that much sul­
phur may well have been introduced into the
Earth’ s core. Moreover, other conditions being
equal, the melting point of Fe-FeS is much
lower than that of iron or mantle material.
Thus, under 60 kbar, the melting point is
990 °C for the Fe-FeS eutectics, 1 610 °G for
pure iron and 1 310 °G for mantle pyrolite.
Therefore with temperature rising in the in­
terior of the initially homogeneous Earth,
the sulphur-rich iron melt will form first and,
because of its low viscosity and high density,
will flow inward to produce a ferrosulphur
core. Thus the sulphur in the iron-nickel ma­
terial acts like a flux, reducing, on the whole,
the melting point. The hypothesis of the high
sulphur content of the core is very attractive
and does not contradict the all known geo­
chemical and cosmochemical data.
V. Rama Murthy and H. Hall (1970), who
proved most convincingly the presence of
sulphur in the core as a light element, assume
that the core/mantle ratio is 31/69 and the
Earth’ s core contains 15 weight per cent sul­
phur. In their theoretical model, the compo­
sition of the Earth can be presented as a mix­
ture containing 40 per cent carbonaceous chon­
drites, 50 per cent common chondrites, and
10 per cent iron meteorites.
The current estimate of the bulk elemental
composition of the Earth on the basis of mod-
8 6 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

ern geochemical and cosmochemical data

is given in Table 12.*5

T A B L E 12. C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n o f th e E arth , w t.%

& H. Hall, 1970

H. Hall, 1970

V. Rama Murthy
V. Rama Murthy

J. Smith, 19 79

J. Smith, 1979
R. Ganapathy
R. Ganapathy

& E. Anders,
& E. Anders,

Major Major
ele­ ele­
ment ment

1974
1974
&

0 30.25 28.5 31.3 Ni 1.65 2.04 1.72

Fe 29.76 35.87 31.7 Ca 1.64 1.93 2.28
Mg 15.09 13.21 13.7 A1 1.32 1.77 1.83
Si 14.72 14.34 15.1 Na 0.30 — —

S 4.17 1.84 2.91

As to the inner core of the Earth below

5 000 km of depth, its nature and composi­
tion remain to be most enigmatic. It cannot
be ruled out that the core has the same com­
position that the outer core has but is in a
solid state. Possibly, it consists solely of
nickelous iron without sulphur admixture.
The modern views on the nature of the in­
terior of our planet thus imply a chemically
differentiated globe divided into two differ­
ent parts—a thick solid silicate-oxide mantle
and a liquid, largely metallic core. The Earth’s
crust is the lightest upper solid shell composed
of aluminosilicates and having the most in­
tricate structure.
Summing up, the following conclusions can
be drawn:
P r e s e n t an d P a st R a d io a c tiv ity o f E arth 87

1. The Earth is stratified, zoned. It con­

sists of a solid silicate-oxide shell, mantle (2/3),
and a metallic liquid core (1/3).
2. The basic properties of the Earth sug­
gest that the core is liquid and only iron
(among the most common metals) with some
light elements, most probably sulphur, can
have this property.
3. The Earth’ s crust and upper mantle
are asymmetric. The oceanic hemisphere is
less differentiated within the upper mantle
than the opposite, continental hemisphere.
The purpose of any cosmogonic theory of the
origin of the Earth is to explain these basic
features of its internal nature and composi­
tion.

The Present and Past Radioactivity

of the Earth
Radioactivity is the most important property
of our planet, and has the basic and profound
properties of its material. While solving so
important a problem as the origin and chemical
evolution of the Earth, we must consider the
properties of the planet’ s radioactivity. As
spontaneous decay of unstable atoms radioac­
tivity reflects the history of the Earth’ s ma­
terial in the remote cosmic past, when differ­
ent atoms of chemical elements, both stable
and unstable, were formed.
Modern radioactivity of the Earth is mainly
associated with radioactive isotopes 238U, 235U,
88 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

232Th, and 40K, which decay takes place in

the following way:
238U 20epb + 8a^ 232Xb 208pb + 6a,
235U ^ 20 7pb + 7a, 40Ca + p

*°K-\-e -*■ 40A r

During the radioactive decay heat energy is

liberated. Consequently, continuous heat re­
lease rising the temperature of the given body
occurs in the system of matter with radioac­
tive elements being present. This body is repre­
sented by our Earth, both as a whole and in
its individual segments. The aluminosilicate
crust of the Earth is most radioactive, the
mantle being considerably less radioactive.
A specific quantity of heat (cal/g per year)
liberated by each radioactive element may
be characterized by the following figures:
238U 0.71 U (total) 0.73
285U 4.3 K (total) 0 .27X 10-4
232T h 0.20
Radioactivity estimation of the planet Earth
is mainly based on more or less probable as­
sumptions. The basic assumption in calculat­
ing the Earth’ s radioactivity is that the aver­
age radioactivity of the Earth is that of me­
teorites. Therefore, according to the data on
the uranium, thorium, and potassium contents
in meteorites of different classes, it is possible
to calculate the average radioactivity of the
Earth’ s material and to construct a certain
model for the radioactive Earth. The proper
calculations carried out by different investi-
 P r e s e n t an d P a s t R a d io a c tiv ity o f E a rth 89

gators resulted in the models of the radioactive

Earth that generate from 2.3 x 1020 to 10 x
X.1020 calories of radiogenic heat per year.
However, the Earth continuously loses its
heat to the world space through thermal con­
ductivity and radiation. At present the entire
surface of the Earth, including the ocean
floor, is covered with geothermal measure­
ments of a varying density. The value of
heat flows per unit surface proved to be the
same above continents and ocean floors. It
follows then that continental and oceanic seg­
ments must contain, on the average, an equal
amount of disseminated radioactive elements
per square unit surface (from the surface to
the centre of the planet). However, in the
area of oceans the radioactive elements are
deeply buried. On the basis of the data of heat
flows, thermal properties of rocks and radioac­
tivity, MacDonald has calculated the deep-
seated distribution of temperatures beneath
the oceans and continents (Fig. 16). The tem­
peratures in the mantle under the oceans have
been found to exceed by 100 °G those under
the continents to a depth of 700 km.
In conformity with modern geothermal
evidence as a result of thermal conductivity
the Earth annually loses 1.9 ± 0.1 x 1020
calories of heat, which is somewhat less than
the amount being produced by a radioactive
model of the Earth according to the least esti­
mates (2.3 x 1020 calories per year). Thus
it is easy to conclude that radioactivity plays
the leading role in the modern heat balance of
our planet and is a powerful energy factor
90 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

that can rise the temperature of the Earth’ s

interior.
Such a conclusion is not surprising. It re­
sulted naturally from the first determinations
Distance, km

F ig. 16. T e m p e r a tu r e d is t r ib u t io n b e n e a th c o n t in e n t s
an d o ce a n s

of radioactivity of the Earth’ s material made

by R. Strutt and J. Jolly in the early 20th
century and was most vividly expressed by
V. Vernadsky in the following way: “ ...the
amount of heat energy, generated by a radioac­
tive process, is sufficient not only to account
for the Earth’s loss of heat and all the dynamic
and morphogeological effects of the planet’ s
internal energy on its surface, the Earth’s crust,
but also to increase the temperature of the
Earth.”
However, the Earth’ s radioactivity in the
remote geological past was higher than now.
The known decay rate for each radioactive iso-
P r e s e n t an d P a st R a d io a c tiv ity o f E arth 91

tope is, in particular, expressed by the half-

life period T (7\ a half-life period equal to
a time interval during which any amount of
radioactive substance decay to half of its pre­
vious amount). Having this in mind, it is not
difficult to calculate the amount of the given
isotope in the past with respect to its modern

10'c cal/year

F ig. 17. H e a t e v o lu t io n b y r a d io a c t iv e is o t o p e s in th e
E a r th ’
s p ast.
The values of radiogenic heat are plotted on the ordinate
axis

concentration. So 4.5 billion years ago there

was twice more 238U on Earth than now, and
it respectively released twice more energy.
The total amount of radiogenic heat released
in the past is shown graphically in Fig. 17.
It inevitably follows that in the past ra­
dioactivity played a considerably greater role
in the heat regime of our planet than at pres­
ent. Since radioactivity has been discovered
in all the bodies of the Solar System, this
92 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

conclusion can be extended as follows: radioac­

tivity of the Solar System’ s material during
the epoch of its formation was much higher
than now. However, relatively short-lived ra­
dioactive isotopes, with a half-life period of
some 106-108 years, were present in the com­
position of young Earth. They had resulted
from nuclear fusion of heavy elements and
later became part of young bodies of the So­
lar System. Some properties of these isotopes
are given in Table 13.
T A B L E 13. E x t in c t R a d io a c t iv e I s o t o p e s

Radioactive Half-life Product

isotope period, years Type of decay of decay

92N b 3 .3 .107 e-ca p tu re 82Z r

i07pd 7-106 p 107A g
129J 1.7-107 p 129X e
146S m 5*107 a 142N d
206pk 5-107 e-ca p tu re a 205
236JJ 2.4-107
244P u 8.2-107 fr a g m e n ta tio n 232Th
fission , a - d e ca y (!3i-i80)Xe
247Cm 1.64-107

244Pu and 247Cm are the most long-living

isotopes of transuranium elements. It is these
isotopes that still existed at the origin of the
Earth and during differentiation of planetary
material. Some amount of these isotopes could
retain to the present day. The traces of 244Pu
decay were definitely found in several ancient
meteorites. The data on the existence of 247Cm
in the early history of the Solar System have
 P r e s e n t an d Past R a d io a c tiv ity o f E arth 93

recently been obtained by M. Tatsumoto

and T. Shimamura (1980).
At present, the following rather valid as­
sumption can be put forward: early in the ex­
istence of solid bodies of the Solar System su­
perheavy transuranium nuclei that have not
yet been obtained artificially were likely to
be also present.
The study of the known transuranium
elements has revealed that their instability
rather rapidly increases as the atomic number,
Z, increases. However, extrapolation of this
tendency into the field of superheavy trans­
uranium elements appears to be arbitrary.
Thus, according to S. Nilsson’ s calculations,
most isotopes within Z = 106-116 with
N = 184 possess unexpectedly long life periods
with respect to both spontaneous and alpha
decay. If heavy transuranium elements un­
dergo fission into fragments in solid bodies
(minerals), they leave tracks, that is, traces
of trajectories of fission fragments. Owing to
a high energy of fission of superheavy transura­
nium elements, the tracks of their fragments
have a greater length than that of the tracks
of plutonium or uranium fission fragments.
Thus, if the tracks resulting from the fission
of plutonium and uranium are 13 to 16 \im
long, those produced by the fission of super­
heavy transuranium nuclei with Z = 114
should be within 18-25 |im.
The study of tracks in some lunar rocks and
meteorites has shown that many of them
have the length exceeding 20 p,m. Specific iso­
topic anomalies of xenon have also been
94 O r ig in an d C h e m ica l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

discovered indicating that they were derived

from a spontaneous fission into fragments of
superheavy transuranium elements with
Z = 112-116.
From the above it follows that the chemical
history of the Earth and other bodies of the
Solar System is associated not only with the
decay of currently retained radioactive iso­
topes 236U, 238U, 232Th, and 40K, but also with
extinct radioactive isotopes. Most of these
isotopes decayed during the star epoch of
nuclear fusion and only their insignificant
amount had survived to the epoch of genera­
tion of our Solar System.
In view of the foregoing it is important
to emphasize that even the insignificant
amounts of rapidly decayed radioactive iso­
topes that occur in the young Earth could cause
its internal radiogenic heat, along with ura­
nium, thorium and 40K of which our knowledge
is much greater. By way of illustration, we
compare the specific energy of 238U with that
of some extinct radioactive isotopes:
1 g of 238U r e le a se s 0.71 cal of h ea t p er y ea r
1 g of 244P u r e le a se s 14.07 cal of heat p er y ea r
1 g of 247C m re le a se s 06.8 cal of h ea t per y ea r
1 g of 129I re le a se s 1.32 cal of h ea t p er y ea r

The above values indicate that if the con­

centration of 244Pu, 247Cm and 129I in the
young Earth had been in total two orders of
magnitude lower than that of uranium, even
then the atomic energy of their decay would
have been commensurable with the decay
energy of uranium itself.
P r e se n t an d P a st R a d io a c tiv ity o f E arth

Unfortunately, we cannot yet estimate

the original content of extinct isotopes in the
material of the young Earth. We cannot either
ignore the possible presence of still other ra­
dioactive isotopes (10Be and 26A1) produced
by solar proton irradiation of the dispersed
material that gave rise to primary planets.
Radioactivity provides valuable informa­
tion about the age of solid bodies in the Solar
System and about that of elements. The study
of isotopic ratios of 266Pb, 267Pb and 268Pb
in the Earth’ s crust and meteorites has en­
abled one to suggest that the age of the Earth
is 4.60 ± 0.05 billion years. Besides,
2°7pb/2°6pb being a function of the life of
236U/238U, the age of U in the Solar System
is close to 5 billion years! The anomalous
contents of 129Xe as a product of decay of
extinct 129I in stony meteorites indicate the
time interval between the completion of the
natural synthesis of radioactive nuclei and
the formation of meteorites. True, this cal­
culation is tentative as we do not know the
initial 129I/127I. The most probable values
range from 50-150 million years. The age
of the Earth and meteorites being 4.6 billion
years, that of radioactive nuclei in the Solar
System does not exceed 4.8 billion years.
This value indicates a prolonged existence of
the Solar System, as in modern conditions no
fusion of 129I and 238U is possible in its bo­
dies. In other words the natural synthesis of
heavy radioactive nuclei had been completed
on the eve of the Earth formation and other
planets of the Solar System. This leads us
36 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

to conclusion that the origin of the Solar

System was related to that of its constituent
chemical elements. The heaviest nuclei of
thorium, uranium, transuranium elements
had immediately been formed before the gene­
ration of the planets of the Solar System.
The data on radioactivity considered here
in a concise form make it possible to come to
definite conclusions of cosmogonic and geoche­
mical significance.
1. The radioactivity of the Earth is an
important source of its internal heat and can
cause melting of material in the Earth’ s in­
terior.
2. The relatively high radioactivity of
the young Earth contributed to the rise in
its temperature and melting of material, and
was one of the leading factors of chemical dif­
ferentiation of the planet.
3. The isotopes of the most long-lived
radioactive elements, including the transura­
nium ones (244Pu, 247Cm, Z = 112-116?), exist­
ed for some time in the early history of the
Solar System, and the material that gave rise
to it was highly radioactive.
4. The modern radioactivity of the Earth
and of all the studied bodies of the Solar Sys­
tem is a natural consequence of the nuclear
evolution of matter in star cosmic conditions.
The construction of heavy atomic nuclei had
mainly been completed not long before the
formation of planets.
 B irth o f A to m s in S p a c e 97

The Birth of Atoms

in Space
All the bodies surrounding us are changeable
and retain the signs of the processes from
which they have resulted. Modern natural
science has revealed a number of the most im­
portant trends in the development of indi­
vidual forms of material accumulation.
The atom is the basis for many cosmic ac­
cumulations of the material. It provides
the possibility of establishing the stable ge­
netic ties between the forms of material ac­
cumulation with sharply differing properties.
Therefore the history of the formation and
destruction of any body is at the same time
the history of atoms that compose it. Using
the language of atomic theory, we can say
that the birth, development, and death of
any form of existence of the material are con­
centration and dissemination of atoms that
form it. But the history of atoms of chemical
elements in nature is not limited exception­
ally by the processes of their connection and
dissemination by the formation of their in­
finite combinations in the form of different
simple and complex compounds. The atom it­
self is a changeable particle in the boundless
history of the universe.
The atoms of chemical elements have their
own history that is of an ambiguous character.
On the one hand, this is the history of ready
atoms that combine with each other according
to chemical laws, eternally moving in the dif-
7-01498
98 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

ferent parts of the Universe, creating all the

beauty of our terrestrial nature, and on the
other, there are processes of creation and
destruction of the atoms themselves in ex­
traordinarily contrasting thermodynamic con­
ditions of space and in its electromagnetic
fields. And if the first, mainly the external
aspect of the history of atoms has been studied
and to a large degree involves the range of
interests of geochemistry, cosmochemistry,
biochemistry, and other sciences, then the
second aspect, touching upon a deeper essence
of the material and dealing with evolution of
atomic nuclei in the nature, has been studied
very poorly and only in the last few years
positive results were obtained in this field.
A new problem is being posed, i.e. the prob­
lem of the origin and evolution of chemical
elements. Every year the investigations in
this field are extended and the idea of the
eternity and immutability of atoms has long
become a legend, leaving as a legacy only the
term itself, i.e. “ atom” (indivisible). Partic­
ular hypotheses on the origin and evolution
of an atom in the nature are being advanced
while considering the problems of the theory
of nucleus, relative distribution of nuclear
types, isotopic composition of elements and
also astrophysical investigations concerning
the sources of energy and the structure of stars.
The problem of natural evolution of atoms
verges on nuclear physics and the physics of
the cosmos being most closely related to a
thorough study of the material of our planet
and the related material of meteorites.
B irth o f A to m s in S p a c e 99

In his brilliant generalizations in the

held of geochemistry and cosmochemistry
A. Fersman distinguished three epochs of exis­
tence of the Earth’ s atoms: star, cosmic and
geological. The star epoch incorporating the
processes of the natural synthesis of atomic
nuclei was evidently the first in the historical
sequence of the evolution of the Solar System ’ s
material. Based upon the composition of nu­
clei we can imagine some of the general features
of this process.
Thus, a successive construction of atomic
nuclei as the number of their constituents—
nucleons (Z and A)—increases can take place
either by merging the charged particles (pro­
tons, a-particles) with each other and with
newly formed nuclei or by a successive ad­
dition of neutral particles, i.e. neutrons.
According to modern concepts, the conditions
necessary for these processes to occur are creat­
ed in the interior of massive stars of different
types. The charged particles in these stars ac­
quire a high velocity, corresponding to tem­
peratures of the order of tens-hundreds of mil­
lions of degrees. The charged particles in the
upper rarefied shells of the stars can be has­
tened by electromagnetic fields probably fol­
lowed by nuclear reactions of protons with
protons and protons with other nuclei. If neu­
trons appear in the process of star evolution
as a result of nuclear reactions, they later
easily penetrate into other nuclei promoting
the formation of heavy nuclear types. With
any one of the mentioned methods of construc­
tion, the atomic nuclei are initially formed
7*
100 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

with anomalous neutron-proton ratio in com­

parison with a stable ratio that is shown in
Fig. 18. Stable isotopes are depicted in this

F ig. 18. N eu tr o n - p ro to n r a t io s o f n a tu r a l s t a b le i s o ­
top es.
Stable isotopes are designated by circles

figure with a fully determined content of pro­

tons and neutrons. Evidently they form quite
a limited stability band. It is easy to imagine
that if the addition of protons played a leading
 B irth o f A to m s in S p a c e 101

role the nuclei appeared with their surplus rel­

ative content. These newborn nuclei were get­
ting rid of the surplus positive charges by
+
means of positron ^-radioactivity. If a succes­
sive capture of neutrons took place, the nuclei
appeared that were maximally enriched with
them and later they were getting rid of the sur­
plus neutrons by means of common p-radioac-
tivity that some of radioactive isotopes of
the Earth’ s crust are known to have now.
The ratios considered above suggest that
any method of the natural synthesis of ele­
ments caused the formation of radioactive iso­
topes as primary products that later equal­
ized the neutron-proton ratios till they ac­
quired a definite stable value by means of p-de-
cay. The heaviest nuclei overcharged with neu­
trons also underwent a-decay and a fragmen­
tation spontaneous fission. Thus, modern
radioactive isotopes in the material of the
Solar System directly bear witness to the
processes of nuclear fusion with neutron par­
ticipation.
Relatively light elements Z < 35 have
a maximum content of a light isotope, i.e.
they are mostly enriched with protons, which
indicates their origin by adding neutrons or
other charged particles (deuterons, a-parti-
cles).
Different hypotheses on the origin of chem­
ical elements due to different types of nuclear
reactions were put forward long ago. According
to one group of hypotheses the formation of
atomic nuclei results from a superdense state
 102 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

of the material during the epoch of early

pre-star existence of the material when the
Universe began to expand. According to
another group of hypotheses it results from the
evolution of massive stars.
At present, when nuclear physics and astro­
physics are gradually being developed, the
theory of the star epoch of elements fusion is
more and more confirmed. In 1931 R. Atkin­
son and F. Houtermans attempted to attri­
bute the sources of star energy to the conver­
sion of light elements into heavy ones. In
1938 H. Bethe and C. Weizsacker put forward
a theory of thermonuclear reactions in stars
according to which conversion of hydrogen
into helium is a probable source of energy of
the most widespread stars of the so-called prin­
cipal sequence. This related the stars evo­
lution to the change in their composition.
The release of energy during the conversion
of hydrogen into helium is enormous. So,
the conversion of only 10 per cent of the Sun’ s
mass would have given enough energy to main­
tain its glow on the modern level during 10
billion years, that is approximately twice the
age of the Solar System. In 1940-1941 V. Cher-
dyntsev was the first to put forward the theory
of the origin of chemical elements with the
participation of a neutron phase in massive
stars.
However, as the calculations of a great
number of studies revealed, the fusion of
heavy elements, heavier than helium and
oxygen, requires extremely high temperatures
that are impossible in the interior of most
B irth o f A to m s in S p a c e 103

of the stars. In 1946 F. Hoyle calculated that

an enhanced distribution of elements in the
area of iron (see Fig. 1) may be due to thermo­
nuclear reactions in extreme conditions of ex­
ceptionally high temperatures and pressures in
the interior of rare massive stars. These con­
ditions are created at the final stages of star
evolution and manifest themselves in the
outburst of the supernova.
In recent years further accumulation of
astrophysical data relating to nuclear fusion
took place. So, the element technetium
(Z = 43) that is absent on the Earth and
whose all isotopes are radioactive has been
discovered in the shells of some of the stars.
Its presence in star atmospheres definitely in­
dicates the possibility of elements fusion in
star conditions. The character of luminescence
fall of supernovas after their bright outburst
is in good agreement with a half-life period
of some of the transuranium isotopes (2B4Cf)
in time that astrophysics consider to be an
indirect indication of the possible fusion of
heavy transuranium elements in some of the
stars. At last, Cameron’ s theoretical calcula­
tions have revealed that at a certain stage of
the development of stars-giants in their in­
terior the generation of neutrons, extraordi­
narily active particles in respect to heavy ele­
ments formation owing to neutrons themselves
by merging with the medium and light ele­
ments, is principally possible.
As a result of correlation between astro-
physical data and theoretical calculations,
V. Cherdyntsev, D. Frank-Kamenetsky,
 104 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

G. Burbidge, E. Burbidge, W. Fowler and

F. Hoyle have shown that chemical elements re­
sulted from superposition of a number of
processes interconnected with star evolution.
These processes can briefly be characterized in
the following way.
1. The conversion of hydrogen into helium
results from thermonuclear reactions with
the participation of carbon and nitrogen as
original catalysts. This is a widespread process
characteristic of the majority of stars of the
main sequence.
2. The conversion of helium into light ele­
ments is effected by thermonuclear reactions
of helium with 12C. Thus, the nuclei can ap­
pear that are multiples of four and are the
most widespread over among light elements:
12C + 4H e 160,
l60 + 4H e 20Ne,
20N e + 4H e - > 24M g

3. Reactions with the participation of a -par­

ticles (a-process). Rapid nuclei of helium (oc-par-
ticles) that react with previously formed light
nuclei and form the following isotopes are
freed from the light nuclei at superhigh tem­
peratures as a result of severe radiation:
20Ne _j.4a 24M g, 28S i + 4a ->■ 82S,
24M g + 4<x 28S i, 32S + 4a 86Ar
4. Equilibrium process (e-process) occurs as
the hottest thermonuclear process at tempera­
tures of 3-109°C, at which static equilibrium
is created between the nuclei present and ele-
B irth o f A to m s in S p a ce 105

mentary particles. As this takes place, the ele­

ments appear that are adjacent to iron with the
most stable specific nuclear bond.
5. The processes of neutron capture occur
when free neutrons appear. The neutrons them­
selves may probably appear in the interior of
stars during nuclear reactions of the type
12C + 4H e 160 + n

The construction of heavy elements, in­

cluding transuranium ones, occurs during
further successive capture of neutrons by more
widespread nuclei. If one considers the distrib­
ution curve (see Fig. 1), it is evident that
the distribution of heavy elements is 1010
times smaller than that of hydrogen. Conse­
quently the process of their construction on a
common scale can be regarded as a relatively
rare event. Neutron generation inevitably
causes the fusion of heavy nuclei according to
the scheme
66Fe + rc 67Fe,
6
S7F e + n 68Fe,
H e a v y .elem ents Pb

The fact that nuclei with unlikely neutron

capture have an enhanced distribution con­
firms the reality of neutron reactions in the his­
tory of the material of the Solar System.
This occurs because a nucleus, whose neutron
capture is highly probable, will easier be­
come the next member of the series than the
nucleus whose capture is slightly probable.
6. The processes of proton capture result
106 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

in the formation of nuclear types with an

increased proton content as compared with
a minimum stable proton-neutron ratio. Pro­
tons that are necessary for nuclear reactions
pick up high speeds in electromagnetic vari­
able fields of star atmospheres. The reactions
can occur during the outburst of supernovas
containing much hydrogen in shells.
The processes considered above qualitative­
ly, and possibly, in some cases quantitatively
account well for the distribution of elements
observed in the Solar System and their isotop­
ic composition. Therefore there are grounds
to believe that the material of the Solar Sys­
tem before the formation of planets has passed
a prolonged stage of development includ­
ing different processes of nuclear fusion.
The appearance of the material consisting
of atoms dates back to the earliest events in
the history of the Universe. At present its
expansion has been established as a real fact.
Different galaxies representing the clusters
of thousands of millions of stars are scattered.
The birth of the first atoms of hydrogen, and
probably, helium is associated with this effect
of expansion in the remote past. The discovery
of cosmic radio emission in the field of heat
waves, uniformly embracing the entire Uni­
verse provides the first piece of information on
physical conditions of its existence at the early
stages of development.
During the epoch of stars formation by the
flat component of our Galaxy (which at pres­
ent incorporates the Sun) the initial material
for constructing the cosmic clusters, as it
B irth o f A to m s in S p a ce 107

follows from the foregoing, was mainly pres­

ented by hydrogen dominating up to the
present in the cosmochemistry of the Uni­
verse. The duration of era of pre-planetary
existence can hardly be estimated even ap­
proximately, since we have not got a reliable
evaluation of the time measurement for the
epoch when there were no radioactive nuclei.
Our knowledge concerning nuclear processes
in the stars makes it possible to assume that
the natural nuclear fusion was at first conse­
cutively following a path of constructing light,
then medium and in conclusion heavy trans­
uranium atoms. Therefore the first stage of the
ascending evolution of elements had to pass
a phase of hydrogen-helium combustion at a
temperature exceeding 108 K. Hot and mas­
sive Wolf-Rayet stars, according to astro­
physics, are prototypes of this stage of devel­
opment of the Earth’ s material. The stage of
hydrogen-helium combustion ends mainly
with 20Ne. Less abundant isotopes (13C, 1BN,
170, 130, 19F) were formed during interaction
with 12C, 160 and 20Ne.
The next stage is that of a-process, when
gravitational energy, compressing stars, causes
heating of their central nuclei up to the
temperatures of about 109 K. Drastically
increased energy of y-radiations causes photo­
disintegration of light atoms with the escape
of a-particles having the energy of 4-5 million
MeV. a-particles interacting with 20Ne suc­
cessively result in the formation of isotopes of
24Mg, 28Si, 32S, 36Ar, 40Ca, possibly 44Ca and
48Ti. Some of the white dwarfs with sharp lines
 108 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

in calcium spectra probably exemplify

element-forming stars with the a-process.
The stage of an equilibrium process at
temperatures of about 3-109K most satisfac­
torily accounts for terrestrial and meteoritic
abundance of the “ iron maximum”on the curve
of cosmic distribution of elements, in this
case the generation of isotopes of Cr, Mn, Fe,
Co, Ni, Cu takes place. The stage of an equi­
librium process is extremely short and its
analogue cannot yet be indicated for the stud­
ied stars of Galaxy. The time scale of the proc­
esses signifies a distinctive leap in the life of
a massive star related to a catastrophic ex­
plosion and dissemination of already formed
atoms from hydrogen to titanium into space
while the elements of the “ iron maximum”
are preserved in its central part.
If we consider the composition of the
Earth’ s crust and mantle, only 13 most abun­
dant elements will constitute a major portion
of the planet’ s mass. These include C, 0, Na,
Mg, Al, Si, S, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni. The
isotopes of these elements were formed in three
processes of nuclear genesis discussed above.
Thus, the products of hydrogen-helium fusion,
the a-process and equilibrium thermonuclear
reactions had determined the composition of
the main mass of the globe in the remote past.
All other elements, taken together, represent a
small quantity. The main products of hydro­
gen-helium combustion and the a-process
predominate even in the Earth’ s crust that
is the lightest differentiate.
The further stage, the processes of neutron
 B irth o f A to m s in S p a ce 109

capture, was rather important in that during

this stage the main isotopes of elements with
A > 60 were formed, including all well-known
and existing now p-active natural radioiso­
topes. The conditions for effecting the processes
of neutron capture could be created in the in­
terior of a large star, considerably exceeding
the mass of the modern Sun. But this massive
star was probably the Sun’ s ancestor to which
it turned having ejected the surplus mass by
catastrophic explosion or gradual outflow of
the material mainly in the area of an equator.
The similarity between the atomic compo­
sition of different bodies of the Solar System
indicates that in respect to nuclear evolution
the material of the Sun and that of the Earth
(as well as of other planets of the Solar Sys­
tem) had had a common history till a certain
stage of development. This stage was distin­
guished by the differentiation of a certain
common system, i.e. the change (of primordi­
al star) for primordial Sun and the near-Sun
protoplanetary material. A similar process
began soon after the fusion of heavy atomic
nuclei.
The formation of numerous radioactive iso­
topes directly resulted from the process of neu­
tron capture that had most probably occurred
directly before the isolation of the Sun from
the rest of protoplanetary material, p-active
isotopes that had been preserved until the
present time in the planetary material prob­
ably originated during neutron capture direct­
ly from some of the stable isotopes formed
earlier by other nuclear processes.
 110 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

The formation of isotopes of transbismuth

elements inevitably occurred under condi­
tions of rapid neutron capture as there were
short-lived isotopes in radioactive series,
whose chain of appearance could be effected
with a rapid and powerful flow of neutrons.
The value that may be in the’ range from 50
to 150 million years is a time interval be­
tween the completion of the process of fusion
of radioactive nuclei and the beginning of
the Earth’ s formation. It is possible that some
of the light isotopes that rapidly burn out in
thermonuclear reactions of the star interior
(D, Li, Be, B) have been formed within this
interval. D. Burnett, W. Fowler and F. Hoyle
advanced the hypothesis of the formation of
D, Li, Be and B in solid bodies (planetesimals)
having surrounded the early Sun under the
effect of proton irradiation accelerated by a^
magnetic field. This proton irradiation in­
teracted with carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and
also caused the formation of neutrons. In
this case it is assumed that the early Sun has
been noted for a high magnetic activity.
Chronological sequence in the history of for­
mation of chemical elements of the Solar Sys­
tem in A. K. Lavrukhina’ s interpretation
(1976) is presented in Fig. 19. According to
this sequence, the main nuclear synthesis had
occurred 11 billion years ago in the epoch of
a single galactic nuclear genesis (nuclear fu­
sion). As this takes place, 99 per cent of the
modern abundance of isotopes were synthes­
ized. The last act of the nuclear fusion had
directly preceded the formation of the Solar
 B irth o f A to m s in S p a c e 111

System planets. The time interval between

the completion of the last act of the nuclear
fusion and the formation of solid bodies in
the Solar System is marked by A£.
The stage of the material transition from
the genesis of heavy atomic nuclei to the plan­
etary existence of common chemical elements
First

F ig. 19. T h e d ia g r a m s h o w in g th e s e q u e n c e o f e v e n ts
o f th e fo r m a t io n o f e le m e n ts a n d th e fo r m a t io n o f
m a t e r ia l o f th e S o la r S y s te m b o d ie s fo r 11 b i l l io n
years

presents a problem that is, in fact, within

astrophysics and cosmogony. It is not so
important for us as yet. The main conclu­
sion from the foregoing is the inevitability of
material that had gone through a number of
stages of nuclear fusion that determined hence­
forth the chemical composition of the Earth,
the observed now isotopic ratios, the radioac­
tivity that had decreased and the radioactivity
of isotopes that had retained up to now.
112 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E a rth

In considering the historical sequence of

the processes of natural evolution of atomic
nuclei it is easy to come to the conclusion
that the primary protoplanetary material
immediately after the completion of the nuclear
fusion was presented in the form of separated,
not related atoms that appeared under condi­
tions of high temperatures as a mixture of
atomic nuclei and separated electrons. In
other words, only after a significant drop in
temperature the newborn bare atomic nuclei
were clothed in electron shells, thus creating
a prerequisite for effecting chemical reactions
and the appearance of the first chemical com­
pounds. Thus, a cosmic dust composed of sol­
id particles and repeatedly used not long
ago in cosmogonic hypotheses as the building
material of planets, must be a secondary object
having resulted from the chemical evolution
of the plasmatic star material as it cooled down.

Chemical Evolution of
the Protoplanetary
Material

The formation of the Earth and other planets

of the Solar System was not only explained by
the laws of mechanics, on which classical
cosmogonic hypotheses were based not long
ago, but was associated with the properties
of the material itself, with physicochemical
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P r o to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 113

processes in the broad sense of the word. The

appearance of atoms in their cosmic history
was governed by the laws of nuclear physics
and thermodynamics. The formation of chem­
ical compounds, consisting of atoms, was
caused by the structure of their electron shells
and physical conditions within relatively low
temperatures as compared with the conditions
of nuclear fusion. The protoplanetary ma­
terial, from which primary planets had been
immediately accumulated over all the space
of the Solar System, acquired a real inhomo­
geneity in the course of its chemical evolu­
tion that affected the composition of the
planets themselves.
As was already noted, a striking similar­
ity between isotopic composition of different
bodies of the Solar System indicates that the
material of the Sun developed in the same
way as that of the Earth to a certain stage.
This crucial stage was expressed in dividing
a general system (primary massive star?) into
the primary Sun and the circumsolar material
originally having the composition of the solar
gas. We do not know a particular mechanism
of separating this material, it was apparently
related with centrifugal forces that appeared
when the velocity of rotation of the primary
massive star changed. In this way protoplan­
etary solar nebula was formed as a gas disc
coinciding with the plane of the solar equator.
The initiation of this disc was inevitably due
to the expansion of the solar (star) material and
its cooling to the temperatures promoting
the birth of molecules, chemical compounds
8-01498
 114 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E a rth

and metal phases. Below we shall try to follow

what processes could occur during cooling
of the gas disc of the solar composition and
how they resulted in the appearance in it of
chemically inhomogeneous areas.
Primarily such an important physical
factor as the pressure of solar rays should be
noted. Probably primary gas underwent a cer­
tain spatial differentiation under the effect
of the beam pressure of the bright primary
Sun. Thus, the lightest gas components of
the primary disc were thrown off to its margin­
al parts. We observe the same in increasing
gas tails of comets as they approach the Sun.
Large planets of the type of Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune, consisting mainly of gases
appeared afterwards in these marginal pe­
ripheral parts of the gas disc. The pressure of
solar rays was a permanent factor having by
now a part in classifying the material of the
Solar System.
The differences in the chemical composi­
tion of a primary nebula were additionally de­
termined by the effect of fast particles being
thrown out by the primary Sun. According
to G. Kuiper, the most effective mechanism
of gas removal from inner parts of the Solar
System was knocking out light atoms and
molecules in the rarefied part of the primary
nebula as a result of impacts of solar corpuscles
of high energies.
The problem of varying compositions of
inner planets is most important. A. Ringwood
considers that this is explained by a different
intensity of the processes of iron reduction
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P ro to p la n e ta r y M a terial 115

that was represented by oxides in the period of

planet formation. In this case the scientist as­
sumed that the reduction itself occurred be­
cause of different heating of the planets soon
after their formation had been completed under
the effect of hydrogen and carbon, whose con­
tent in their composition was large. However,
approaching the solution of the problem from
the viewpoint of different possibilities, two
probable ways of the formation of chemical
composition of the planets of the Solar System
can be distinguished:
(1) the composition of planets was deter­
mined from the moment of their formation
and their differences arise from varying chem­
ical compositions of some areas of the proto-
planetary material (disc, nebula);
(2) at first the planets were of a similar
constitution but later on after having lost a
number of materials they changed to chemi­
cally different bodies.
In the light of modern data on cosmochem-
istry the first way of the formation of chemical
composition of planets seems to have been
more probable and of decisive importance.
The second way is not in principle excluded, it
holds true for some elements also in the mod­
ern epoch (hydrogen and helium are being
lost by inner planets), but as a whole it played
a secondary role in the history of the Solar
System.
In order to clearly imagine the ways of
chemical evolution of the protoplanetary ma­
terial it is necessary to consider most complete­
ly the distribution of all chemical elements
8*
116 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

in the studied bodies of the Solar System, and

this will allow to establish their migration in
the past and to elucidate certain basic trends
that can be interpreted from the standpoint
of chemical laws.
The study of a number of chemical ele­
ments in chondritic meteorites of different
types by means of modern precise methods of
analysis (neutron activation, mass spectro­
metry, etc.) resulted in the essential improve­
ment of the data on their distribution. One
third of the elements of Mendeleev Periodic
Table in all studied chondrites proved to be
markedly deficient in carbonaceous chondrites*
of the Cl type as compared with their distri­
bution. We can consider the latter to be the
bodies that are most similar to the material
of the protoplanetary substance in atomic
composition.
As was already noted, when meteorites
are chemically characterized, carbonaceous
chondrites of the Cl type are most similar to
the solar material in composition. Unlike the
other meteorites, they contain much carbon
(up to 3-5 per cent), bound water and a
relatively large amount of gases. As a result
many investigators regard carbonaceous chon­
drites of the Cl type as the least differentiated
and fractionated material of the Solar Sys­
tem, whose composition is most similar to
the protoplanetary substance, from which
planets and asteroids had originated in the
process of fractionation and chemical differen­
tiation.
The data on atomic distribution of a number
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P r o to p la n e ta r y M a terial 117

of elements in carbonaceous chondrites are

presented in Table 14. As seen from the table,
the content of Au, Cu, F, Ga, Ge, Se, Sn, Mn,
K in common and enstatite chondrites is
decreased and amounts to 0.25-0.5 of their
content in carbonaceous chondrites Cl. The
content of other elements (Ag, Bi, Br, C, Cd,
Cl, Cs, H, Hg, I, In, Kr, Ne, N, Pb, Te,
Tl, Xe, Zn) is much smaller. By and large
it is two or three orders of magnitude smal­
ler.
A marked shortage of many chemical
elements relative to carbonaceous chondrites
is noted in the Earth’ s crust with the exception
of alkali metals (Na, K, Rb, Cs) and Sb, Pb,
Tl. However, the Earth’ s crust is in the long
run a product of differentiation of deep-seated
parts of the Earth, where the most lithophile
elements have been concentrated, including
primarily alkali metals, easily forming 8-elec­
tron ions and being closely bonded to oxygen.
Ultrabasic rocks, the most probable equiva­
lents of the mantle, making up two thirds of
the planet’ s mass, to a considerably larger ex­
tent indicate the average chemical composi­
tion of the Earth, in any case relative to atomic
proportions (the ratio between any element
and silicon). The analyses of lunar rocks of
elements indicated in Table 14 revealed a
similar picture of the shortage of many of them.
They proved to be the same for the Earth’ s
mantle and for the most widespread chondrites.
The conclusion can be referred also to the ma­
terial of the Moon. Consequently, the distribu­
tion and fractionation of elements when form-
T A B L E 14. I n d ic a to r s o f D e ficie n cy o f S o m e o f th e
C h e m ic a l E le m e n ts R e la t iv e to C a r b o n a ce o u s C h o n ­
d r it e s C l (the co n ten t o f e a ch e lem e n t in ca r b o n a ce o u s
c h o n d r ite s C l is a s s u m e d to b e u n ity)

Carbonaceous The Earth’s substance

chondrites Com­ Ensta-
Ele- mon tite
ment chon­ chon­
Type Type drites drites Ultrabasic Earth’ s
C2 C3 rocks crust

Si 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00

Mn 0.67 0.53 0.72 1.00 0.43 0.21
Na * 0.58 0.47 0.70 1.00 0.61 1.61
K 0.63 0.52 1.1 1.1 0.35 18.00
Rb 0.68 0.47 0.87 — 0.57 27.00
Cs 0.56 0.16 0.14 — 0.003 6.00
Cu 0.62 0.52 0.28 0.72 0.05 0.08
Au 0.75 0.79 0.64 1.30 0.017 0.06
Ga 0.61 0.44 0.26 1.1 0.09 0.6
Ge 0.60 0.30 0.16 0.89 0.016 0.022
Sn 0.39 — 0.15 0.29 0.15 0.4
S 0.45 0.25 0.20 0.60 0.0008 0.002
Se 0.38 0.25 0.21 0.54 0.0013 0.0008
Te 0.46 0.24 0.11 0.59 0.000017 0.0001
Ag 0.35 0.30 0.095 0.74 0.072 0.063
Zn 0.42 0.16 0.084 0.68 0.045 0.081
Cd 0.57 0.26 0.08 1.7 0.031 0.05
Hg 0.33 0.089 0.07 0.024 0.0004 0.0025
F 0.69 0.38 0.31 0.44 0.21 0.333
Cl 1.1 0.93 0.021 1.6 0.10 0.22
Br 0.30 0.30 0.024 0.41 0.044 0.13
I 0.45 0.18 0.041 0.28 0.008 0.011
Pb 0.44 0.28 0.02 0.59 0.024 2.30
Bi 1.1 — 0.0055 0.38 0.005 0.027
In 0.46 0.20 0.0018 0.64 0.016 0.37
T1 0.69 — 0.0018 0.49 0.04 2.70
Kr 0.65 0.56 0.023 0.068 — —

Xe 0.62 0.022 0.022 0.05 — —

H 0.55 0.074 0.016 — — —

C 0.54 0.10 0.013 0.069 0.015 0.021

N 0.54 0.15 0.016— 0.0013 0.0027
The data on chondrites are assumed according to
N ote:
J. Larimer and E. Anders (1967), the data on the Earth’ s
crust and ultrabasic rocks, according to A. P. Vinogradov
(1962).
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P ro to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 119

ing solid bodies was due to cosmochemical

reasons.
In the Earth’s mantle the deficit of sulphur,
selenium, tellurium, mercury is especially
pronounced, their relative concentration in the
Earth’ s material being less than 0.001 as com­
pared with the substance of carbonaceous
chondrites Cl. With what properties of chem­
ical elements is their shortage connected in
a number of studied bodies of the Solar System?
The corresponding deficient elements are pre­
sented in the Mendeleev Periodic Table
(Table 15).
T A B L E 15. D e ficie n t E le m e n t s in th e E a r t h ’ s
S u b s ta n c e an d M e te o r ite s in th e M e n d e le e v P e r io d ic
T a b le

1 II III IV V VI VII VIII 1 II in IV V VI VII

7777, 7777/
;Hej
^ 7 ////.
Li Be B m Ne
'//7i 7///. P, p , ////.

Na Mg Al Si P s Cl AA.r:
Z
7 j (....
7777
K \ Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zrv Ga Ge As Se ’ Br. ;Kr:
>
Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag' !Cdi
v/// :ln; Sn Sb 'fe : ■ Xe:
7777 '*7
777 '///s /////
7777/
;Csi
>////
Ba Tr Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au ;Hg
/ __1
rn; Pb ?Bi: Po At Rn
Fr Ra Ac Tb Pa U E 3 1HH2

1- elements of normal deficiency (0.5-0.1)

2- elements of sharp deficiency (0.1-0.001)

According to J. Larimer, these elements

can be of normal deficiency, when their con­
tent relative to Cl is 0.5-0.1 (i.e. their con­
centration is 2 to 10 times smaller) and of ab­
normal deficiency, when their content is with-
120 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

in 0.1-0.001. Thus, their concentration is 10

to 1 000 times lower than an average cosmic
one. Table 15 shows that deficient ele­
ments occupy quite certain places in the Men­
deleev Periodic Table, embracing the fields of
chalcophile, atmophile and volatile litho-
phile elements. Hence, their deficiency is not
accidental and is associated with certain
physicochemical properties. .
It is easy to see that most of the deficient
elements are volatile. Their ^ melting ana
boiling temperatures are relatively low and
therefore they easily migrate at high tempera­
tures in a gaseous state. The separation ot
elements into volatile and nonvolatile is pre­
sented in Tables 3, 4. However, not all ele­
ments are deficient due to the volatility alone.
Such metals as silver, gold, copper are non­
volatile. But their scarcity in the Earth s
crust and mantle may be due to their sidero-
phile properties and concentration in the me­
tallic core of the Earth. Probably sulphur and
its chemical equivalents were also supplied
to the Earth core and their deficit in reality
is probably not so sharp.
A great shortage of volatile elements on
our planet relative to the average material
of the Sun is the result of processes of the Earth
formation as a physicochemical system. The
process that caused the loss of volatiles and
fractionation of elements could occur in two
ways: in the past the Earth had passed a stage
of a high-temperature molten state and vol­
atile elements evaporated and were dissipated
in space. The Earth appeared due to conden-
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P r o to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 121

sation of the material, in which volatile ele­

ments were present in small amounts and
thus it inherited the composition of a certain
part of the protoplanetary disc.
The first process could not provide a differ­
ent degree of the loss of volatiles observed in
reality. The temperatures necessary for heavy
atoms of mercury, thallium and lead to acquire
a cosmic velocity (11.2 km/s) and to escape
the Earth forever prove to be extremely high
and would result in the explosion and disse­
mination of the whole terrestrial material.
Therefore this process of the loss of volatiles
should be abandoned as unreal.
The second way, the successive condensa­
tion of elements and their compounds in the
order opposite to their volatility, is most prob­
able. So, if a temperature rise results in the
increase of volatiles mobility, a temperature
decrease of an incandescent gas system of
the solar composition causes a successive
condensation first of nonvolatile high-melt­
ing elements (see Table 4), then of low-volatile
elements and finally of the most volatile ele­
ments and their compounds. This process of
condensation of the hot gas of a solar composi­
tion was quantitatively studied and calculated
according to the formulae of chemical thermo­
dynamics by J. Larimer and L. Grossman and
other investigators (Fig. 20).
The constructed diagram characterizes a
succession of the condensation of elements and
their compounds in the course of the tem­
perature decrease of a solar gas and the pressure
drop from 1.00 down to 0.007 atm. As seen
122 O r i g i n a n d C h e m i c a l E v o l u t i o n o f th e E a r t h

from the diagram, the condensation of ele­

ments and their simplest compounds in the
form of oxides, silicates and sulphides occurred
in a certain strictly systematic order. Iron,

Mineral Temperature and pressure drop

Corundum A l2 0.,
Perovskite Ca TiO j
Melilite Ca2 MgSi., 0
Spinel M gAI2 0 4
I ron Fe(N i )
Diopside CaMgSi20,
Forsterite Mg2S i0 4
Anorthite CaAI2Si20 8
Enstatite M gSi02
Eskolaite Cr203
Alabandite Mns
K-feldspar KAISi., 0 ;
Troilite FeS
Magmetite Fe, 0 4
Ice H 20
Mercury Hg
11 I I L
200 0 1500 1000 500

F ig. 20. C o n d e n s a tio n te m p e r a tu r e s o f e le m e n ts an d

t h e ir c o m p o u n d s on c o o l i n g o f th e s o la r g a s

nickel, silicates consisting of the most abun­

dant elements (0, Si, Fe, Mg, Ca, Al) were
the first to condensate, then came sulphides and
such volatiles as water and mercury were the
last to condensate at negative temperatures.
Drops of silicates cooled down, passed a
crystallization stage and were turned to solid
bodies, i.e. globular particles. There is a good
probability that chondrules of most of the
stony meteorites are direct residues of the
drops having appeared in the process of con-
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P ro to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 123

densation of the solar gas.

It should he noted that in 1958 J. Wood
proposed the idea that chondrites had condensed
at a high temperature from the protoplan-
etary gas cloud having contained vapours of
iron, magnesium, silicon, and other elements.
At the temperature decrease below 2 000 K
liquid droplets were formed and during further
cooling they produced small specks of dust
that served as the material for the formation
of the Solar System planets. Thus, a thorough
investigation of the meteoritic material allows
one to conclude that the initial high temper­
ature and a subsequent quite rapid cooling are
necessary for its formation.
The calculation results were based on the
assumption that in the course of the solar
gas condensation there was a continuous equi­
librium between a condensing liquid phase
and the surrounding gas. However, this case
should be considered ideal. In the process of
the solar gas condensation the equilibrium
could be disturbed. Silicate particles that
had been formed could undergo a repeated
heating, metamorphism and recrystallization.
The study of the structure of chondrules
themselves indicates a great reality of these
processes. Microscopic investigations and the
analysis of individual chondrules made by
M. Blander and A. Monet (1969) have shown
that chondrules could be formed as overcooled
droplets. The scientists compiled an idealized
scheme of different stages of condensation and
accumulation of chondrites at the same pres­
sure regime (Scheme 1).
124 O r ig i n a n d C h e m i c a l E v o l u t i o n o f th e E a r t h

The sequence of condensation (see Fig. 20)

depends on pressure in a primary solar nebula
High T ►Medium T- Low T

Condensation

Accretion Early
and accretion
isolation

\ Equililbrium Partial Weak equilibrium

Rock
of all equilibrium or its absence
formation fragnrtents

Low degree of
metamorphism,
a great number
of volatiles

Average degree
of metamor­
phism, certain
amount of
volatiles

High degree of
metamorphism,
(ess volatiles
or their absence

S c h e m e 1. T h e s c h e m e s h o w in g d iffe r e n t s t a g e s o f
c o n d e n s a t io n a n d a c c r e t io n o f c h o n d r it ic m e t e o r it e s
at th e s im ila r p r e ssu r e r e g im e ( a cc o r d in g to M. B la n ­
d er an d A. M onet)

that is in essence unknown to us. This depen­

dence is not essential to the change of the
order of condensation. Thus, according to
L. Grossman’ s calculations iron-nickel alloys
have higher condensation temperatures than
magnesium silicates (forsterite Mg2Si0 4, en-
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P ro to p la n e ta r y M a terial 125

statite MgSi03) at all pressure values exceed­

ing 10~5 atm (kgf/cm2). But at lower pressures
forsterite and enstatite are the first to be distin­
guished.
However, the C/O ratio has the most es­
sential effect on the sequence of condensation
processes of different compounds in a cooling
nebula. All the above temperatures of con­
densation were based onj the solar ratio
C/O = 0.6 that was ubiquitously assumed
to be the same in the entire homogeneous so­
lar nebula. In fact we have not got convinc­
ing proofs of this being exactly so. A slight
change of the C/O ratio from 0.6 to 1.00 causes
a significant change of the sequence of con­
densation processes of different substances.
The change in ^ condensation temperatures
depending on the C/O ratio at the pressure of
10“ 4 atm (kgf/cm2) is given in Fig. 21. It
shows that condensation temperatures of iron
and its alloys do not change. At the same
time, when the C/O ratio changes from 0.4 to
0.9, the condensation temperatures of such
compounds as A120 3, Ca2Al2S i0 7, MgAl20 4,
Mg2Si04, MgSi03 are decreased by 50-100°.
When the C/O ratio increases from 0.9 to
1.0, these temperatures are decreased by
300-400 °C. In this case high-temperature
compounds, for example, graphite, CaS,
Fe3C, SiC and TiN are among the first to
appear. They really occur in the most reduced
meteorites of the type of enstatite chondrites
and in some iron meteorites.
Generally we can assume fractionation of
carbon and oxygen in the primary solar nebu-
126 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

la, though particular reasons for such frac­

tionation are not clear. The C/O ratio varied in
the course of condensation and accretion of
substances. Solid phases of carbon (graphite

c/o

F ig. 21. C o n d e n s a tio n te m p e r a tu r e s o f h ig h - m e ltin g

s ilic a t e s an d o x id e s w h en th e C/O r a t io (pressure
10-4 atm ) in crea ses. T h e c o n d e n s a t io n te m p e r a tu r e
o f m e t a llic ir o n r e m a in s c o n s ta n t ( a cc o r d in g t o
J . L arim er)

and carbides) were parts of nuclei of planets,

thus decreasing the G/O ratio in the remain­
ing nebula, where later the chemical processes
came to be mainly determined by the cosmo-
chemistry of oxygen.
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P r o to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 127

The formation of the Earth’ s chemical

composition was caused by certain physico­
chemical processes in a protoplanetary gas
nebula and naturally was a variant of a more
common process of condensation, then thicken­
ing (accumulation, accretion) of condensed
systems to form planets and asteroids.
The products of gas condensation of a
solar composition can be divided into two
main fractions: low-temperature that retained
in its composition a great quantity of volatile
elements and their compounds, and high-tem­
perature, containing no volatiles and consist­
ing of chondrules in chondritic meteorites and
metallic iron as a constituent part of a number
of meteorites and of inner planets.
When the temperature of gas of a solar com­
position is decreased, the equilibria of many
chemical reactions between components of the
solar cosmic substance varied. One of the
most important chemical reactions in a gas
nebula having determined the composition
of planets of a terrestrial group was that of a
redox type.
3Fe + 4H 20 ^ F e30 4 + 4 H 2

H. Urey and W. Latimer who studied this

reaction for the substance of a solar compo­
sition calculated the temperature of its equi­
librium that proved to be equal to 400 K. Be­
low this temperature iron is oxidized to mag­
netite. However, small quantities of iron sil­
icates could appear in the process of cooling
of a protoplanetary substance. R. Mueller has
shown in 1964 that the reduction of iron from
 128 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

silicates to the metal should occur at the tem­

perature exceeding 1 100 K, and iron sili­
cates could form below this temperature.
One might imagine that the material of
the Earth, inner planets and parental meteo-
ritic bodies was formed by condensation from
the solar gas that was being cooled down. It
is quite permissible that inner planets that
are closer to the Sun were formed under
conditions of its heating and the heating slack­
ened farther from the Sun. Therefore inner
planets located closer to the Sun appeared as
a result of thickening of a high-temperature
fraction. But farther from the Sun in the area
between Mars and Jupiter in the so-called aster-
oidal belt parental bodies of meteorites were
formed—mainly chondritic asteroids, in which
the proportion of a low-temperature fraction
of condensates was rather high and generally
increased to the peripheral part of the belt.
Thus, in the central and marginal parts of the
asteroidal belt the condensation occurred dur­
ing rapid cooling of the substance, which re­
sulted in a leading role of a low-temperature
fraction and the formation of the composition
of the substance of the carbonaceous chondrite
type that almost entirely retained the atom­
ic ratios of the Sun. Finally, outer planets
that are remote from the Sun—Jupiter, Sa­
turn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto—were formed
completely from the indivisible and non-
fractionated solar substance mainly retaining
gases in its composition (hydrogen playing
a leading role).
So, according to the ideas discussed above
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P r o to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 129

that are based on the data of cosmochemistry,

meteoritics and thermodynamics, the forma­
tion of the chemical composition of planets had
occurred in two stages. The first stage was
distinguished by cooling of a gas disc and
condensation of a part of its substance to
liquid drops and then to particles. In this
manner a gas-dust nebula appeared. It was
unstable and owing to different velocities of
its cooling down, depending on the distance
from the Sun, had acquired chemical inho­
mogeneity that additionally increased under
the effect of solar rays pressure. The second
stage was expressed in the thickening of con­
densed particles of a dust component of a
protoplanetary disc in separate blobs, i.e.
protoplanets. It can be assumed that these
two stages were not sharply separated from
each other in time. On the contrary, it is
more probable that accumulation in separate
parts of the protoplanetary disc began when
condensation had not been yet accomplished.
Evolution of a protoplanetary nebula is
schematized in Fig. 22. Inner planets of a ter­
restrial type that are close to the Sun mainly
resulted from the thickening of a high-tempera-
ture fraction, containing a significant amount
of metallic iron. Therefore, Mercury, the clos­
est planet to the Sun, is two-thirds metallic
iron, and Mars, the most distant from it among
inner planets, is probably only one-fourth me­
tallic iron.
On physical grounds one can assume that
the protoplanetary gas disc cooled down rather
rapidly. The gas disc that was formed around
9-0 1 4 9 8
130 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

primordial Sun in its equatorial plane was

partially dissipated and partially condensed
in the form of drops rapidly passing into
solid particles. The gas disc was in general
an unstable formation and was quickly dissem­
inated in the world space by diffusion, over-
coming the Sun’ s force of attraction. Evident­
ly only its small part was condensed to become
solid bodies and gas accumulations that gave

Cooiing of gas nebula

Gas

J
Condensation

^ ........ Gas and dust

Accumulation

J © © €& © (© ) ( © ) ( § ) ( © )
Primary planets

F ig. 22. E v o lu t io n o f a p r o to p la n e t a r y n e b u la

rise to planets. Using the data on chemical

fractionation of the meteoritic substance as
the base, J. Larimer and E. Anders calcu­
lated the velocity of cooling down of a
gas nebula and its condensation in two
variants: without regard for and with
regard to solar heating. In the first case
the formation of meteorites had not exceeded
10 thousand years. In the second case the
process occurred slower, i.e. of the order of
1.0 million years. Because of the strong so-
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P r o to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 131

lar heating in the area of inner planets the

process of cooling down was prolonged probab­
ly to 2-5 million years.
Thus, a primary gas nebula as it cooled
down was turned to a gas-dust one. A
dust component served as a building
material for inner planets, meteoritic bodies,
and a gas-dust mixture, for outer planets
(see Fig. 22). Closer to the Sun, at a distance
of 0.5-1.5 AU the primary protoplanetary sub-
stance was cooling down relatively slowly.
Condensed drops were formed, as well as par­
ticles mainly of a high-temperature fraction
with a maximum portion of metallic iron and a
minimum one of a low-temperature fraction.
By accretion of this material inner planets
were formed with a minimum content of vol­
atiles. But farther from the Sun the material
with an increased proportion of volatiles of a
low-temperature fraction was condensed.
It can be assumed that parental bodies of
enstatite chondrites appeared from the ma­
terial found near the Earth’ s orbit. The pa­
rental bodies of common chondrites were formed
near the orbit of Mars, approximately at
a distance of 1.2 AU and in the inner part of
asteroid ring. The greater part of the asteroid
ring was the most favourable place for the
formation of parental bodies of carbonaceous
chondrites.
A general chronological sequence of events
that had occurred in the Solar System after
the finishing of processes of nuclear fusion
is presented in Scheme 2. It is easy to assume
that the substance of our planet in the remote
 132 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

past underwent successively the stages of

nuclear fusion, gas nebula, condensation of
the gas nebula resulting in the formation of
solid particles, of accumulation, of its own de­
velopment accompanied by chemical differ­
entiation into separate shells. A subsequent
course of the above events is based on the
modern study of meteoritic material, the
Earth and planets. However, it is natural
that the data obtained are incomplete and
make it possible to draw a qualitative picture
that requires further confirmation.
| CO
3 O Cooling of gas nebula
3
n c. Appearance of pri­
§i
'•3 <n
Condensation mary atmospheres
aj and hydrospheres
Q. O
E c Formation of light Accumu|ation
c ■-
Star con
ditions

Gas nebula Gas-dust nebula Primary Beginning of che-1

planets mical differentiatior
-0 .1 - IQ9 years-

S c h e m e 2. C h r o n o lo g ic a l s e q u e n c e o f e v e n ts in th e
h is t o r y o f fo r m a tio n o f th e S o la r S y s te m

Thus, we can put the main question: to

what extent can modern data on observation­
al astronomy and physicochemical investi­
gations of an experimental character confirm
the accepted process of cooling of a solar
(star) gas with the formation of chemical
compounds and their subsequent condensa­
tion to solid particles?
Indeed, the spectral studies of distant stars
:>f our Galaxy reveal that as the gas of a star
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P r o to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 133

composition cools, the first chemical com­

pounds appear in the form of diatomic mole­
cules. In the spectra of the coldest stars with
a surface temperature of about 3 000-2 000 K
numerous molecular bands have been dis­
covered indicating the presence of AlO, MgO,
TiO, ZrO, CO, SiO and other compounds.
Condensation of solid particles or liquid
drops from the solar nebula have long been
considered to be one of the most important
physicochemical processes occurring in the
early history of the Solar System.
According to astrophysical observations,
enstatite or olivine grains are in the inter­
stellar space and surround the areas of cold
stars of spectral classes K and M. A thorough
study 'of the spectra of different stars in ul­
tra-violet and infrared areas has made it pos­
sible to make rather interesting conclusions
relating to the composition of the circum-
stellar dust. Wide bands in the infrared area
of the spectrum of giant and supergiant cold
stars indicate that many of them have a sur­
plus of emission within the limits of the light
waves that correspond to the radiation peak
of the silicate material, and that of a star
dust is composed of silicates. It should be
noted that the particles of moissanite SiG,
graphite and metallic iron have also been
found in the composition of the circumstellar
dust. It has recently been established that
the particles of moissanite are formed around
carbon-rich stars and are the main condensates
of stars with the C/O ratio close to unity.
Mainly silica will be a leading component
134 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

of dust particles in the neighbourhood of

stars relatively enriched with oxygen (Ney,
1977).
In spite of the fact that at present the data
on the chemical composition of grains of the
circumstellar dust are very limited, they
show the composition of a high-melting frac­
tion of the star substance of a central stellar
body. Since the chemical composition of differ­
ent types of stars is different, it is natural
that the composition of the circumstellar dust
is individual and depends on that of high-
substances in a parental star. Therefore if
solid bodies of the Solar System (meteorites,
asteroids, and inner planets) reveal to a cer­
tain extent a chemical composition of a high-
melting portion of the Sun, disseminated
dust material surrounding the stars of differ­
ent types reveals to the same extent a chem­
ical composition of a high-melting portion
of these stars.
Thus, the formation of graphitic, mois-
sanite silicate and iron particles from the
substance thrown away by the stars is a rather
abundant process in our Galaxy.
Of course, a particular mechanism of for­
mation of solid particles from a cooling star
gas is not clear yet. But one does not have
to doubt that this process occurred in the
past.
Considering a modern state of the technique
of a physical experiment, separate units of
condensation processes of the solar gas can
be modelled experimentally. The results of
such experiments can confirm general thermo-
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f P r o to p la n e ta r y M a teria l 135

chemical calculations of the solar gas conden­

sation and account for mineral paragenetic
associations observed in meteorites of differ­
ent types. Unfortunately, investigations that
have been carried out in this line are rather
few in number. Nevertheless, it has been pos­
sible under conditions close to cosmic to syn­
thesize silicate minerals and metallic phases
directly from a vapour phase. Physicochemi­
cal experiments with vapours of metals and
oxides under low pressures have recently yield­
ed rather interesting results.
Polymorphic alloys (for example, Fe-Ni,
etc.), magnetite, graphite, metal carbides,
magnesian silicates, polymorphic varieties of
silica can increase directly by condensation
from partially ionized gas in radiation equi­
librium with this gas. Experiments with a
Fe-Ni system have demonstrated that the
phases of this composition increase simulta­
neously from the plasma of a gas system in the
form of discrete well-shaped crystals at a
substrate temperature below 600 K.
The experiments carried out by Ch. Meyer
in 1971 under conditions similar to circum-
stellar condensation have revealed that crys­
talline silicates can really condense from a
hot vapour. Condensation of Mg, Si, Fe, 0
at different temperatures of substrate also
results in fractionation of Mg, Fe, Si relative
to Ca and Al, but Ca and A1 are separated from
each other with difficulty at temperatures
below 1 300 K.
The results of these experiments confirm
the assumption that a total chemical compo-
136 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

sition of chondritic meteorites of different

classes can indicate primary fractional conden­
sation of high-melting oxides in the Solar Sys.-
tem. The direct synthesis of crystalline sil­
icates during vapour condensation supports
the conclusion that, according to their min­
eral and chemical composition, carbonaceous
chondritic meteorites belong to the pattern
of bodies having formed as a condensation
product in the near-Sun space.
Thus, the observational astronomy data
and those of physicochemical experiments un­
der conditions similar to cosmic definitely
reveal that the appearance of solid dust par­
ticles directly from the star substance during
its cooling is a natural and rather widespread
process in the course of stars evolution. Hence
our main conclusion is reaffirmed that in the
history of the Solar System the primitive sub­
stance of a solar composition was subjected to
the condensation of solid particles that later be­
came a building material for terrestrial planets
and parental meteoritic bodies.

Formation of the Earth’

s
Principal Shells
As mentioned earlier, the Earth was derived
from the thickening of the mostly high-tem­
perature fraction of solar condensates con­
taining much metallic iron. Generation of me­
teoritic (silicate, sulphide and metallic) phases
in the form of achondrites and stony-iron
and iron meteorites within the parental me-
F o r m a tio n o f E a rth ’
s P r in c ip a l S h e lls 137

teoritic bodies, as well as metallic cores and

oxide-silicate mantles in the inner terrestrial
planets, is commonly regarded as a second­
ary process experienced by far from all as­
teroids. It is assumed that the inner planets
are zoned owing to radiogenic heating and
chemical differentiation of initially homo­
geneous material.
The early history of the Earth is not trace­
able in the geological record used success­
fully by geologists to reconstruct the Earth’ s
evolution. Even the most ancient rocks, 3.9
billion years old, are products of much later
events subsequent to the generation of the plan­
et itself.
We can postulate, however, that the pri­
mordial Earth had experienced its overall
planetary chemical differentiation with for­
mation of a core and primordial silicate man­
tle. An oceanic and a continental aluminosil­
icate crust formation is related with physico­
chemical processes in the mantle itself.
If the Earth had passed through a high-
temperature stage, whatever its origin and
with its complete melting, the heavier molten
iron masses might have flowed toward its
centre to form a core, while the silicate masses
might have floated upward to give rise to
a molten silicate mantle which later cooled
down to become a solid shell. However, this
view of the differentiation of the entire Earth,
most completely elaborated by V. M. Gold­
schmidt, met with a great difficulty. It con­
sisted in the fact that the high viscosity of
silicates under high pressures in the Earth s
138 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E a rth

interior ruled out the possibility of chemical

stratification with the movement of matter
on a global scale even at temperatures ex­
ceeding the melting point of any known sili­
cate material. Hence a hypothesis of the ho­
mogeneous chemical composition of the Earth,
and some authors related the presence of the
solid core to solidification of silicate material
with the formation of an extremely dense
“ metallized”phase. As mentioned above, how­
ever, the most recent data on the physics of
high pressures, average density of terrestrial
planets, and chemistry of meteorites disagree
with this hypothesis. In the light of modern
geophysical evidence, the model of the liquid
Earth’ s core consisting of iron with admixture
of sulphur and nickel is in closer agreement
with all known to date.
In an attempt to discern the chemical differ­
entiation of the Earth, connected with high
viscosity of silicates, the following two alter­
natives can be presented:
1. as a result of radiogenic heating, the
Earth underwent chemical differentiation with
a release of liquid iron masses in the upper
horizons. Being heavy, they broke through
viscous silicate masses in some place of one
of the hemispheres and flowed down to the cen­
tre of the Earth;
2. when forming by concentration of high-
temperature condensates of the solar gas, the
Earth first accumulated primarily from iron
particles (droplets) to form its interior and
then from silicate particles to produce a pri­
mordial mantle.
F o r m a tio n o f E a rth ’
s P r in c ip a l S h e lls 139

At the present state of knowledge we cannot

definitely select one of the above alternatives.
We discuss both, although the latter is, in
principle, more probable.
According to the former, the Earth was
derived from accumulation as a chemically
relatively homogeneous ball. It was a more or
less uniform mixture of particles of iron,
silicates and, to a lesser extent, sulphides
dispersed throughout the Earth’ s volume.
While accumulating, the Earth also captured
some gases, among them H 20, C02, N and
Hg from the primordial nebula. The cause
was its own gravity when it had become mas­
sive enough. In the opinion of some investi­
gators, the Earth as a primitive planet was
originated at temperatures below the melt­
ing point of its material 5-4.6 billion years
ago. We can very approximately delineate
the temperature limits of formation of the
young Earth. Its mass undoubtedly formed
mostly below the condensation point of high-
temperature (metallic and silicate) fractions,
i.e. below 800 K. The particle impacts, how­
ever, during accumulation could have risen
the temperature of the Earth under genera­
tion. It is true that a quantitative estimation
of this process cannot as yet be sufficiently
reliable. On the whole, the formation of the
Earth could not have been completed below
400 K, which was due to its distance from the
Sun.
Once the primitive Earth had formed, its
fast radiogenic heating began owing to a de­
cay of short-lived radioactive isotopes, among
 140 O r ig in an d C h e m ica l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

them an insignificant amount of transurani­

um ones left behind by the epoch of nuclear
fusion, and a decay of the present radioiso­
topes of uranium, thorium and 40K, which
were then more than now in amount (see
Fig. 17). In general, the amount of radiogen­
ic energy was enough early in the Earth’ s
existence for its material to melt with sub­
sequent degassing and outward movement of
the light-weight constituents.
With the relatively homogeneous distri­
bution of radioactive elements and uniform
dissemination of radiogenic heat throughout
the Earth, the temperature grew highest at
its centre, with subsequent peripheral level­
ling out. The pressure at the Earth’ s centre
was, however, too high to expect melting
there. The radiogenic heat-induced melting
began at certain critical depths (Fig. 23). It
occurred where the temperature exceeded the
melting point of some part of the primordial
material of the Earth. In this process, iron
with some sulphur admixture started to melt
earlier than pure iron or silicate material.
According to the American geophysicist
F. Birch, the chondritic model for the Earth
implies melting in a depth interval of 100-
600 km. Here, a molten layer began to grow,
whose thickness continuously increased both
inward and outward. Because of decisive
importance of iron, which is the most com­
mon metal, chemical stratification—differen­
tiation in a liquid state—started in the molten
layer. The result was a division of layer at least
into two parts, the upper, silicate, and the
 F o rm a tio n o f E a rth ’
s P r in c ip a l S h e lls 141

lower, metallic (iron, iron-sulphur). Remem­

ber that the specific gravity of liquid iron

F ig. 23. M e lt in g o f m a te r ia l in th e E a rth c o n s is t in g

o f a h o m o g e n e o u s m ix tu r e o f s ilic a te , m e t a llic an d
s u lp h id e m a tte r

is more than twice as large as that of the most

common silicates. Further melting continuous­
ly thickened the molten iron layer thus hinder-

F ig. 24. T h e fo r m a t io n of th e E a rth ’

s co r e (after
W . M. E lsa sser).

ing cooling at the planet’

s centre. At the same
time, this layer could not have had an equal
thickness everywhere. Under the gravity of
the newborn Moon, tidal deformation arose,
with a tidal wave (Fig. 24). According to
 142 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

W. M. Elsasser, the tidal effect was very

large at that distant time because of the prox­
imity of the Moon. As a consequence, one of
the bulges of the tidal wave exerted a high
pressure on the substratum and, in the final
analysis, pushed it down towards the Earth’ s
centre. A downwarp formed (Fig. 24a), and
the liquid iron began to move into the Earth’ s
interior, replacing the other, undifferentiated
material containing a great amount of silicates.
Although this material was not in a liquid,
molten state, it possessed elevated plasticity
and fluidity. The further growth of the giant
“ iron drop”led to its fall to the Earth’
s centre
(Fig. 246). It squeezed out the plastic silicate
masses, which moved upward through the melt­
ing zone to undergo differentiation. Along with
iron, related siderophile elements and prob­
ably sulphur and its chemical equivalents
concentrated in its melt. According to F. Birch,
the full submergence of the “ drop” produced
an energy release of some 600 cal per gram of
terrestrial material, which is equivalent to
a 2 000 K temperature rise. The global-scale
energy release was 3.6 x 1030 cal. According
to other estimates, the reconstruction of the
Earth from a homogeneous silicate-metallic
mixture to the modern state with a metallic
iron core must have produced 3.58 x 1030 cal
(E. N. Lyustikh) or 4.78 x 1030 cal (H. Urey).
Thus the differentiation of the whole Earth
material caused a strong heating of the
entire planet. All this occurred geologically
rather rapidly, for the huge masses of molten
iron could not have been in an unstable state
F o r m a tio n o f E a r th ’
s P r in c ip a l S h e lls 143

for long in the upper parts of the Earth. In

the final analysis, all liquid iron flew on one
side and asymmetrically into the Earth’ s cen­
tre to form a metallic core whose internal
portion was transformed into a solid dense
mass under a high pressure with the genera­
tion of a small core below 5 000 km of depth.
With this mode of core generation, which
was mainly completed 4.5 billion years ago,
an inevitable process was asymmetrical di­
fferentiation of material with far-reaching con­
sequences in the form of appearance of a
continental and an oceanic hemisphere (seg­
ment). Probably, the hemisphere of the mod­
ern Pacific Ocean was a segment where the
iron masses submerged to the centre, where­
as the opposite hemisphere was the site
of silicate material rise with subsequent melt­
ing out of aluminosilicate masses and vola­
tiles. Because the silicate masses could have
melted not in the entire Earth but only in
its upper horizons, the silicate material un­
derwent zone melting in the would-be con­
tinental segment during its rise in the process
of Earth differentiation. The mechanism of
zone melting was well studied by Academi­
cian A. P. Vinogradov and his coworkers on
the basis of chondrites. The most typical
lithophile elements concentrated in the low
melting-point fractions of mantle material;
these elements were then supplied, along
with gases and water vapour, onto the Earth’ s
surface. On the completion of planetary differ­
entiation, the silicates mostly formed a thick
mantle, whereas the products of its melting
144 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

began to form an aluminosilicate crust, a

primordial ocean and a primitive atmosphere
with respect to carbon dioxide. Whereas the
hot molten iron masses flowed towards the
centre within the segment of the Pacific Ocean
in the distant past, the opposite hemisphere
was the site where silicate masses mostly rose
and differentiated, with an enrichment of
the upper horizons in silica, and continents
later originated.
The other cause of the zonal structure of
our Earth, as mentioned above, may be relat­
ed to the very mechanism of planet accumula­
tion, with changes at that time in the composi­
tion of major components of the globe. Thus,
when the primordial gas nebula of solar com­
position cooled and condensed, the principal
components of the inner planets and meteor­
ites—iron-nickel alloys and magnesian sili­
cates—precipitated in the following order:
T k_ T K
Fe 1790-1620 M g2S i 0 4 1620-1420
Ni 1690-1440 F es 680
M g S i0 3 1670-1470

Thus the most widespread portion of the

high-temperature fraction condensed from the
solar gas within 1790-1420 K at a chemical
equilibrium. Hence the possibility that the
Earth started to accumulate when the iron-
nickel drops had ceased to form whereas sil­
icate ones only began to originate in the so­
lar gas nebula. Drops of metals touched one
another to produce compact masses, because
tlie metallic material has a high thermal con-
F orm a tion o f E a rth ’
s P r in c ip a l S h e lls 145

ductivity. Therefore, there is a ground to be­

lieve that the accumulation of the Earth and
terrestrial planets progressed simultaneously
with silicate condensation from protoplane-
tary matter. Nuclei of planets were first pro­
duced from metal and then silicate particles
settled down around them to form primor­
dial mantles.
On analyzing the metallic phases of me­
teorites, A.P. Vinogradov and his coworkers
(1971, 1975), put forward more physicochem­
ical arguments on the origin of the solid iron-
nickel alloy independently and directly from
the vapour phase of the protoplanetary cloud
and its condensation at 1 770 K. He believes
that the iron-nickel alloy of meteorites is of
primary nature and, accordingly, character­
izes the metallic phase of terrestrial planets.
According to A. P. Vinogradov, rather dense
iron-nickel alloys originated in the proto­
planetary cloud and caked into lumps, because
of their high thermal conductivity. These
lumps then fell towards the centre of the gas-
dust cloud, still continuing to condensate.
The mass of the iron-nickel alloy condensing
independently from the protoplanetary cloud
was the only one that could have formed the
cores of terrestrial planets.
We do not know, however, the tempera­
tures of large-scale planet accumulation. If
thickening had taken place below 1 000 K,
the conditions of growth of the primordial
planets would have been quite at variance.
Additional factors promoting a selective ac­
cumulation of materials of different com-
i 0— 01498
 i46 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

positions and properties were in action during

the growth of these planets.
In general, the whole dust condensed from
the solar gas consisted largely of metallic
and silicate particles. It is quite natural that
they differed in physical properties and could,
therefore, combine. On their impact in the
primary nebula, three alternative processes
could have occurred: divergence of flying par­
ticles as a result of an elastic collision, com­
bining through adhesion and fragmentation
into smaller particles at the highest collision
speeds. T. Matsui and H. Mizutani (1977)
have made the relevant calculations whose
results are shown in Fig. 25 at the various
temperatures and velocities of impact of
metallic and silicate particles for divergence,
adhesion and fragmentation. When the dia­
grams are compared, it becomes clear that the
metallic iron material distinctly tends to ad­
here easier, and in a broader temperature inter­
val and collision velocity range, than the
silicate material.
Magnetic interaction is also a significant
factor of cohesion of metallic particles. The
highly active primordial Sun created a mag­
netic field in the surrounding space, which
promoted magnetization of ferromagnetic ma­
terials. These are metallic iron, cobalt, nick­
el and, to some extent, sulphide of iron.
The Curie point, below which substances ac­
quire magnetic properties, is 1043 K for Fe,
1393 K for cobalt, 630 K for nickel and 598 K
for iron sulphide (pyrrhotite similar to troi-
lite). For fine particles, the magnetic forces
F orm a tion o f E a rth ’
s P r in c ip a l S h e lls 147

t, «r

1000 -

Adhesion
/
"I n
Scattering |Fragmentation

100L J _____ L
0.01 0.1 1.0 10.0

1000

0.01 0.1 1.0 10.0

Relative impact velocity, km/s

Fig. 25. T h e d ia g r a m s h o w in g d ifferen t te m p e ra tu re s

an d im p a c t v e l o c it i e s at th e t im e o f sca tte r in g , a d h e­
sio n a n d fr a g m e n ta tio n o f m e t a llic (a) a n d s ilic a t e
(b) b o d ie s .
Data on the terrestrial planets are restricted to the shaded
area

are many orders of magnitude stronger than

the gravity forces, which depend on masses.
Hence accumulation of iron particles from
the cooling solar nebula could have begun
10*
 148 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

below 1 000 K as large clots and have been

many times more effective than the accumula­
tion of silicate particles under otherwise equal
conditions. Iron sulphide could also have
accumulated (below 580 K, under the action
of magnetic forces) subsequent to iron, cobalt,
and nickel.
With the above in mind, we can formulate
the following. The zoned structure of our plan­
et can largely be attributed to a successive
accumulation of particles of different compo­
sitions, first ferromagnetic, then poorly mag­
netic, and finally silicate and those of other
kinds, whose accumulation was mostly under
gravity induced by the grown-up massive
metallic clots.
Thus the accumulation process itself was
responsible for the chemical inhomogeneity
and thermodynamic instability of the Earth.
This instability later predetermined the chem­
ical differentiation of the Earth, with the
resulting clear distinction between the man­
tle and core as they look now.
The primordial Earth began to grow with
amalgamation of metallic particles. On the
achievement of a considerable mass, the pri­
mordial metallic core—nucleus—continued a
gravity capture of later condensates from
the surroundings. In this process, the ac­
cumulation was becoming more and more
homogeneous, and primordial mantle arose
as a thick shell composed of a mixture of met­
allic and silicate particles, and troilite
(Fig. 26). During the continuous accumula­
tion, the content of metallic particles was ele-
F o rm a tio n o f E a rth ’
s P r in c ip a l S h e lls 149

vated in the lower parts of the mantle, near

the primordial core, whereas they were abso­
lutely absent in its upper horizons. The final
stages of accumulation were marked by settle­
ment of the latest components: hydrated sil­
icates (serpentine, tremolite, chlorite) and
organic matters, as -well as volatiles. As a
whole, the order of accumulation repeated
that of condensation. It is still unclear whether
the accumulation was continuous or discon-

F ig. 26. M o d e l fo r th e p r im o r d ia l E a r th d e r iv e d fr o m
h e te r o g e n e o u s a c c u m u la tio n (left) an d th a t fo r th e
m o d e r n d iffe r e n tia te d E a r th (right).
Dots indicate the metallic and metal sulphide phases; blank
space depicts the silicate phase

tinuous. The former is more probable, as the

distinction of the condensation temperatures
of the principal materials was not too strik­
ing-
Because of adiabatic compression, primary
heating produced by particle impacts and ra­
diogenic heating preserved by now and short­
lived radioactive isotopes (244Pu, 247Cm, 129I),
the temperature rose rapidly, and the ma­
terial of the planet began to melt in places.
Naturally, the easiest-fusible ferrous-sulphur­
ous masses (eutectics) were first melting,
flowing asymmetrically inward- The model
150 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

proposed implies, therefore, that the central

portion of the core was derived from accumu­
lation of metallic particles, whereas the sub­
sequent melting out of ferrous-sulphurous
masses in the lower primordial mantle marked
the final stage of formation of the core as
a whole (see Fig. 26). .
At the present state of knowledge, the hete­
rogeneous accumulation of our planet from pro­
ducts of condensation of solar matter seems to
be most probable. Rapid radiogenic heating
of the young Earth started also in the case
of heterogeneous accumulation. This heating
rose its temperature and promoted partial melt­
ing of material and further chemical differen­
tiation which led to a more distinct isolation of
the major shells of the planet. Modern geo­
chemical and cosmochemical evidence indi­
cates that the primordial mantle differentiated
along two avenues. On the one hand, melting-
out took place of the easily fusible but heavy
components — ferrous-sulphurous masses —
with their inward subsidence, due to their
high density and low viscosity, to produce
the outer core. On the other hand, the upper
horizons of the primordial mantle were sites
of melting-out of less easily fusible but vol­
atile-rich silicate fractions to form basaltic
magma and then an ocean-type basaltic crust.
While the first, centripetal process led to
removal of mostly siderophile and chalco-
phile chemical elements from the primordial
mantle and their concentration in the central
core, the second, centrifugal process led to
migration of mostly lithophile and atmophil§
 F orm a tion o f E a rth ’
s P r in c ip a l S h e lls 151

elements. The basic trends in the migration

of elements in the globe with the formation
of the Earth’
s shells are illustrated in Fig. 27.
Atm ophile elements
H He

_ Be
B1 C N 0 F Ne

\ 1 Mg Al Si P 1 1 s Cl Ar
< Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr

Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te 1 Xe

Cs Ba Tr Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg TI Pb Bi Po At Rn
cr Ra Ac Ku 105 106 1 0 7 1 0 8 1 0 9 110 111 112 113 114 115116 117 118

Lithophile elements Siderophile elements Chalcophile

■ ■ ■■ ■■ — -— elements

Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd T b Dy Ho Er Tm Yb La
Th Pa U NP Pu Am Cm Bk C f Es Fm Md No

Lanthanides and actinides

Fig. 27. B a s ic m ig r a t io n tr e n d s o f c h e m ic a l e le m e n ts
ip th e fo r m a t io n o f th e E a r t h ’ s s h e lls
152 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

Thus, the zoned structure of the Earth,

as well as other inner planets, is the result of
both the initial conditions of its generation
and subsequent chemical differentiation. The
uppermost shells of the Earth—atmosphere,
hydrosphere and lithosphere are of secondary
nature, being products of the geological histo­
ry of the planet.

Origin and Evolution

of the Ocean and
Atmosphere

All the basic constituents of the Earth’ s at­

mosphere and the World Ocean are referred
to volatiles. They came onto the surface of
the Earth owing to its chemical differen­
tiation. According to the data available, steam
and atmospheric gases were generated in the
interior of our planet and rose to its surface
as a result of internal heating, along with
the low-melting point of mantle material in
the course of volcanic activity.
It should be noted that the idea has long
prevailed in science that the Earth was first
molten and initially surrounded by a thick
atmosphere with water vapour which, on sub­
sequent cooling, condensed into liquid water.
Rains fell to form the World Ocean, whose
water was first fresh. The ocean water became
salty and mineralized later, owing to dissolved
substances again from the land surface
 O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O cea n 153

during a long period of geological time. These

ideas, however, once quite popular, are in­
compatible with modern evidence.
First, it should be borne in mind that, like
all inner planets, the Earth contains very lit­
tle volatiles. Thus the mass of the hydrosphere
constitutes merely 0.024 per cent of that of the
Earth, and the mass of the atmosphere, only
0.00009 per cent! So little amounts of volatiles
is due to the mode and place of formation of
our planet on the area of the initial nebula
where little volatiles were present.
At present, the initial accretion of vola­
tiles by the Earth is taken to have been as fol­
lows. Water and carbon dioxide as constituents
of the solar nebula have existed for a long time
in molecules when most of the solid conden­
sates had precipitated. Hence the remaining
gases were incorporated to some extent into
dust particles by adsorption and by various
chemical reactions.
After temperature had fallen below 400 K
in the gas nebula, the earlier-settled out si­
licates interacted with water vapour. Some
of the olivines and pyroxenes were transformed
into hydrated silicates by the following reac­
tions:
3 M g S i0 3+ S i 0 2+ H 20(gas) -► M g 3S i 4O i0(OH)2
3 M g2S i 0 4+ 5 S i0 2+ 2H20(gas) — 2M g3S i 4O io(O H )2

Thus the hydrated silicates found in some

chondrites were found to be concealed car­
riers of water, an important volatile. More­
over, having a high adsorption capacity in
a finely dispersed state, hydrated silicates
 154 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

could have caught and adsorbed not only

water molecules but also common and inert
gases from the environment. Probably, ad­
sorption was the most important process in
which the volatiles remaining in the nebula
were incorporated by dust and then, during
further accumulation, penetrated into terres­
trial planets and primordial bodies of me­
teorites. Hence the observed elevated concen­
tration of inert gases and high-molecular
organic compounds in carbonaceous chon­
drites is due to adsorption.
E. Anders and T. Owen (1977) assume
that much of 36Ar in the Earth is in its at­
mosphere and can, therefore, be indicative of
the meteoritic and terrestrial behaviour of
noble gases. The basic inference stemming
from the calculation of these authors is that,
with the heterogeneous accumulation of our
planet, only carbonaceous chondrites could
have been suitable to fit the content of ter­
restrial volatiles. The pertinent data are given
in Table 16. The second column presents the
amount of meteoritic material in the Earth,
which can account for the observed volatile
concentration. It is seen that this concentra­
tion is relatively low, namely 1.3-6.3 per cent
of the mass of our planet. On the basis of some
isotopic characteristics, the most suitable ma­
terial for the Earth’ s hydrosphere is carbo­
naceous chondrites C2 or the like. A somewhat
rough character of the calculations should be
noted. We do not know the amount of vola­
tiles in the mantle. According to A.P. Vino­
gradov, it constitutes 92.3 per cent of the
O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O cea n 155

total amount, i.e. water largely concentrates

in the mantle even now, which is in general
little probable. According to J.W. Larimer,
the mantle may contain half terrestrial water.
T A B L E 16. C h o n d r itic M a te ria l a s th e S o u r ce o f
T e r r e s tr ia l V o la t ile s

Object Earth’
s mass = 100% 36Ar/14Kr

T e r r e s tr ia l m a te r ia l* 48
C l c h o n d r ite s 2.4 90±12
C2 c h o n d r ite s 3.9 77±23
C3 c h o n d r ite s 1.3 211±23
C3V c h o n d r ite s 6.3 83±26

* Earth’
s crust, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.

In any case, the presence of volatiles

on our planet is due to the mode of its for­
mation, i.e. mostly to a late accretion of car-
bonaceous-chondrite material which in the
given case was the most probable carrier of
volatiles.
It should be noted that all the gases coming
to the surface from deep in the Earth undergo
in most cases drastic changes and are trans­
formed into other chemical compounds. The
principal volcanic gas—water—is condensed
as liquid water to replenish the hydrosphere.
Carbon dioxide, next common volcanic com­
ponent, is rapidly consumed by the photo­
synthesis of green plants. Some of it dissolves
in water to produce in the hydrosphere a
complex carbonate systeip front which carbon
 156 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

dioxide is extracted to form carbonate rocks—

limestones and dolomites. Smokes of volcano-
genic HC1 and HF enter into the atmosphere
and hydrosphere and then pass into Cl"* and
F" ions and are oxidized with the formation
of carbon dioxide and water. Thus under pres­
ent conditions the volatiles of the Earth come
to the surface, undergo here severe alteration
and not only remain in the atmosphere and
hydrosphere but are to a large extent buried
in sedimentary rocks.
At present all water on Earth forms a sin­
gle unity—hydrosphere, a water shell. The im­
portance of water as a strong factor that has
long been transforming the face of the Earth
and making a tremendous chemical and geo­
logical work is well studied. The work of
water at the surface and interior of the Earth
is due to the crucial capability of water to
exist in three aggregate states —solid, liquid
and gaseous. The ability of liquid water to
dissolve many substances is of great impor­
tance. Hence any waters of the hydrosphere
contain the varying amounts of dissolved
matter. Natural waters are invariably miner­
alized to some extent or other and can be
ragarded as natural solutions of different con­
centrations. Thus even the “ purest”rain water
contains from 10 to 50 mg/1 dissolved sub­
stances.
Water is highly mobile and hence penet­
rates everywhere into various natural forma­
tions. It is present in the atmosphere as steam,
forms oceans, seas and bodies on continents,
and penetrates into sedimentary series to
 O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O cea n 157

produce groundwaters in the different forms

of occurrence. The greater part of water of the
hydrosphere is in the World Ocean (86.5%)
and much less of it is related to land, namely
to lakes, marshes, rivers and groundwaters
in the sedimentary sequence of the Earth’ s
crust. The upper boundary of the hydrosphere
is delineated by the surface of open water
reservoirs. The lower boundary is rather in­
distinct. It probably corresponds to the 400 °C
level deep in the crust, below which all water
is gaseous (critical temperature of water).
The World Ocean occupies two thirds of
the Earth’ s surface. The total mass of its
water is 1 420 x 1015 t, and its average depth
is 3.8 km.
Ocean water is a unique solution contain­
ing, on the average, 3.5 per cent dissolved
substances. Their sum is called salinity.
Quantitatively, salinity is defined as the total
weight, in grams, of the dissolved substances
in a kilogramme of sea water. Among the
principal components of salinity ions are the
most common ones, which are rather few in
number, and the dispersed ions of many chem­
ical elements. The principal ions of ocean
water, with their contents in grammes per
kilogramme of water are given in Table 17.
Ocean water also contains other chemical
elements of the Mendeleev Periodic Table,
but their concentrations are insignificant (be­
low 1 X 10"4%) and vary widely. These ele­
ments can be classified as rare and trace ones.
Some of them, however, play an important
role in the chemical processes in the sea and
158 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

in the life of marine organisms despite their

relatively low concentration. In this respect,
a prominent role is played by nitrogen, phos­
phorus and silicon, which are consumed by
living organisms, their content in sea water
being controlled by the growth and reproduc­
tion of marine plants and animals.

T A B L E 17. P r in c ip a l Io n s o f O cea n W a ter

bo bO bo bo
+J-
£ £ £ >—
i £ £
£ £ £ £ £ £
•2 o o O O O O
cd a c a -+-»
d a £ a
U < < < U < < <

N a+ 10.7638C l " 19.3534S r 2+0.0136 B r“ 0.0659

M g2+ 1.2970SO2 r 2.7007 F~ 0.0013
C a2+ 0.4080H CO J- 0.1427 H 3B 0 3 0.0265
K+ 0.3875 CO§- 0.0702

A striking chemical feature of sea water

should be emphasized—its principal ions have
constant relative proportions throughout the
World Ocean. This suggests an extreme stabil­
ity of the dynamic quantitative equilibrium
between the dissolved substances supplied
from land into the ocean and their precipi­
tated amounts.
A peculiar role in sea water is played by
dissolved natural gases—N2, 0 2, C02 and
H 2S —which are closely associated with the
atmosphere and living matter of land and sea.
The concentration in cm3/l of these and other
 O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O cea il 159

natural gases vary widely depending on phys­

iographic conditions:
N 2 8.4-14.5 Ar 0.2-0.4
02 0-9 H 2S 0-22
C 0 2 34-56

It is obvious that carbon dioxide, which is

in the sea water in different forms, takes the
first place in the greatest amounts. Not so
much of the carbon dioxide proper is present
in sea water. All of its forms in the sea con­
stitute the so-called carbonate system at a
dynamic equilibrium as follows:
A tm o sp h e r e C02
ft
O cean C 0 2+ H 20 ^ H 2C 0 3 H CO J- + H + ^
C O r + 2H+
A complex, temperature-dependent system
of chemical equilibria between the links of
this chain is established in sea water. The
total amount of carbon dioxide in the entire
World Ocean is estimated at 1.4 X 1020 g,
which is 60 times higher than the amount of
carbon dioxide in the Earth’ s atmosphere.
Calcium ions, and indirectly the entire ion
complex of sea water, are related to the
carbonate system. Precipitation of calcite,
CaC03, is largely controlled by the concen­
tration O f COg".
The problem of origin of the ocean is as­
sociated with that of origin of not only the
water itself but also of different types of ions
dissolved in it.
We noted at the beginning that the ocean
could not have formed owing to steam con-
160 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

densation in the earlier suggested primordial

atmosphere of cosmic origin. Water is among
the volatiles of our planet; naturally, its
fate in the Earth’ s history is related to that
of other volatiles. Thus a number of compo­
nents now making up sedimentary rocks, atmo­
sphere and hydrosphere are volatiles in a
broad sence of the word. If we compare their
amount in the modern atmosphere, hydro­
sphere and the whole sedimentary rock com­
plex (stratisphere) with the quantity that
could have been released following weathering
and reworking of crustal crystalline igneous
rocks, a large discrepancy will be obtained
which can be called volatiles excess. In 1951
W.W. Rubey calculated the amount of vola­
tiles near the Earth’ s surface and compared
it with the amount produced by weathering
of crystalline rocks. The results are shown in
Table 18. We see that the volatiles excess is
rather large, exceeding for some components
tens and even hundreds of times the amount
of volatiles produced by weathering of litho­
spheric bedrocks. Thus the excessive volatiles
contain 83 and 60 times more carbon dioxide
and chlorine, respectively, than the amount
that the primordial Earth’ s crust could have
provide on its intense destruction. This evi­
dence suggests convincingly that the natural
gases of the Earth’ s interior (as an excess)
played an extremely great role in the genera­
tion of the principal upper shells of our plan­
et embraced by the modern biosphere, a do­
main of living organisms. This role becomes
even more evident if we compare the composi-
Origin and Evolution of Ocean 161

tion of the volatile excess with that of volcanic

gases and the gases of igneous rocks. A corre­
lation of respective geochemical data indicates
that the composition of the volatile excess is
generally similar to that of volcanic gases
released by the Earth’ s mantle. This forms a
strong foundation for one of the most impor­
tant geochemical inferences—the water of the
World Ocean and the gases of the atmosphere
T A B L E 18. V o la t ile C o n ten ts N ear th e E a r t h ’
s S u r­
fa ce (1020 g, o r 1014 m e t r ic tons)

C as
02 C02 Cl N s

C o n ten t in m o d e m
a tm o sp h ere, hy­
d ro sp h ere an d
l iv in g m a tteiv 14 600 1.5 276 39 13 1.7
C on ten t, in a b u r­
ie d state, in a n ­
c ie n t s e d im e n t a r y
rock s 2199 920 30 4.6 15 15
T ota l am ount 16 700 921 306 43 28 16.7
A. A m ou nt de­
r iv e d f r o m ig n e o u s
r o c k w e a th e r in g 130 11 5 0.6 6 3.5
B. V o la t ile e x c e s s
n o t ta k en in to a c ­
c o u n t w h en e s t i ­
m a tin g c r y s t a llin e
r o c k w e a th e r in g 16 600 910 300 42 22 13
P r e v a le n c e o f v o l ­
a t ile e x c e s s o v e r
a m o u n t o f m a te ­
r ia l d e r iv e d fr o m
c r y s t a llin e rock
w ea th e r in g (B/A
ratio) 128 83 60 70 3.7 4

1 1 -0149 8
 162 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

are derived from mantle degassing. This idea

has gained momentum in science and is elab­
orated in many studies into the origin of the
ocean.
It follows from the above that the history
of the surface of the Earth, with prolonged
degassing of its interior, was closely associated
with that of subsurface volatiles. In other
words, the material of the ocean and atmo­
sphere was generated from one and the same
source; therefore, the origin of the hydrosphere
as such and of the atmosphere of the Earth
should be discussed as a single problem. How­
ever, the composition of the volatiles excess
and volcanic gases differs sharply from that
of the present Earth’ s atmosphere.
The upper boundary of the atmosphere can­
not be established precisely. The air is gradual­
ly becoming less dense with height? The atmo­
sphere is traditionally subdivided into a trop­
osphere, stratosphere and ionosphere. The
troposphere is a zone of vigorously intermixing
air masses extending from the Earth’ s surface
to certain heights. Its height varies between
8 and 17 km depending on latitude and season.
The troposphere is the thinnest at the poles
and thickest at the equator. The temperature
of the air decreases with height. The tropo­
sphere is overlain by the stratosphere, where
air mass mixing is less intense. Above 80 km
lies an extensive rarefied gas shell many of
whose atoms are ionized. It is called the iono­
sphere and directly borders the space.
The chemical composition of dry atmo­
spheric air at sea level is given in Table 19.
 O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O cea il 163

Obviously, our atmosphere is largely of a

nitrogen-oxygen composition. Attention should
be given to a tiny amount of inert gases, except
argon, and hydrogen, which is in a sharp con­
trast with their extreme extension in stars,
gas nebulae and the atmospheres of the outer
planets.
It is accepted to single out stable and un­
stable air portions in the atmosphere, depend­
ing on how long either one component or
other has been present in it. This subdivision

T A B L E 19. C o m p o s it io n o f D r y A tm o s p h e r ic A ir at
Sea L ev el

Com­ Content, Total Com­ Content, Total

ponent vol. % 1mass,
020g ponent vol. % 1mass,
020g
n2 78.0900 38.648 Ne 0.0018 0.001636
o2 20.9500 11.841 He 0.00052 0.001037
Ar 0.9300 0.655 c h 4 0.00015 0.000043
C02 0.0300 0.0233

is relative in character, for actually all the

components of the atmosphere are unstable
in the context of tremendous geological time
intervals.
By the stability of composition, the Earth’
s
atmosphere can be subdivided into a lower,
homogeneous zone, or homosphere, and an
upper, extensive inhomogeneous zone, or hetero­
sphere. The boundary between them lies ap­
proximately at a height of 100 km. In the
homosphere, the composition of air is like that
shown in Table 19. The heterosphere is now
11*
 164 Origin and C h e m ic a l Evolution of the E a rth

a site of several processes related to gas ioniza­

tion and appearance of free atoms owing to
molecule dissociation by solar radiation. Here,
the percentage of light gases increases with
height.
Under the action of solar ionizing irradia­
tion, oxygen molecules dissociate and recom­
bine at a certain height to produce ozone. Many
ozone molecules form between 10 and 100 km
of height, with the maximum concentration
at about 20 km. Ozone generation provides
absorption of most of solar ultraviolet irradia­
tion, which is the lowest at the Earth’ s surface.
This provides the existence of organisms as
a whole, because ultraviolet radiation is dam­
aging for them.
However, as we have already mentioned,
the composition of the modern atmosphere
differs from that of the volcanic gases that
gave rise to it in the far geological past of the
Earth, though common chemical elements are
undoubtedly present. The principal cause of
this difference is that the atmosphere evolved
under the effect of life. Indeed, any living
organism is primarily composed of carbon,
oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, i.e. the basic
chemical elements that constitute the water
and air shells of our planet. Hence in their
growth, feeding and breathing, all living
organisms on Earth transmit through them
enormous amounts of gaseous and hydrous
components and are responsible for new chem­
ical equilibria and states of matter in the
atmosphere and hydrosphere. Therefore it is
absolutely impossible to study and under-
 O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O cea n 165

stand the chemical evolution of the atmosphere

and hydrosphere without taking into account
the chemical activity of organisms since they
have appeared on the Earth’ s surface.
Life on Earth is the most striking process
absorbing the invigorating energy of the Sun
and putting into motion and circulation prob­
ably all the chemical elements of the Men­
deleev Periodic Table.
Life has been affecting the surface of our
planet for billions of years. Because of this,
we should pay attention to the fact that life
on Earth is extremely ancient. Its oldest traces
have been found and recorded in sedimentary,
now slightly metamorphosed, units exceeding
3.5 billion years in age. As a consequence,
modern science considers the origin of life
to be a very ancient event that took place
outside the survived stony record of our planet
life. Moreover, a scrutiny of geochemical,
palaeontological and biochemical information
suggests that life on Earth is as old as the
Earth itself.
Expanses of the Earth occupied by living
organisms at any concentration are termed the
biosphere. In other words, it is a part of space
involved in life with its active chemical mani­
festations. The biosphere as a geological shell
of the Earth was first defined by E. Suess in
1875. The modern idea of the biosphere is due
to the classical .Vernadsky’ s works on geo­
chemistry.
The number of living organisms on the
Earth (biomass) constitutes a single unity—
the living matter of the planet. The biosphere
166 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

proper is the spherical space of the Earth

where can exist living organisms in any con­
centrations possible—from single bacteria per
cubic metre of air to thick tropical forests
in the equatorial zone and traces of life deep
in the World Ocean. In conformity with their
requirements to the environment, organisms
can settle in various upper horizons of the
Earth; hence the actual modern biosphere
includes the whole hydrosphere, the upper
lithosphere and the lower atmosphere (below
the ozone screen).
The living matter is negligible in mass
as compared with any of the above-discussed
upper shells of our planet. According to
current estimates, the total amount of living
matter is 2423 billion t, i.e. 1/2100 of the mass
of the Earth’ s atmosphere. However, it takes
the first place in the effect on the environment
and qualitatively differ drastically from all
other shells, in the same way as the living
matter differs from lifeless.
The living matter of our planet is based
on compounds of carbon, which can give rise
to innumerable organic compounds. In their
generation, carbon is primarily combined
with hydrogen and oxygen. The remaining
elements in living organisms are in small
amounts, despite a very important role played
by some of them in physiological processes.
The abundance of the leading elements of
organisms turns to be elevated, and if we
remember the abundance of elements in space,
it is easy to conclude that a close similarity
is found in this case, except inert gases. Thus,
O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O cea n 167

the living matter of our planet undoubtedly

better reflects the chemical composition of
space or the volatile fraction of solar matter
than any other shell.
The bulk of living matter concentrates in
green plants, which entrap solar energy and
construct complex compounds in their bodies.
This natural construction of organic compounds
is called photosynthesis. It forms the basis
for all the living on Earth, for plants are food
for animals and are indirectly associated with
all forms of life in the biosphere. On a global
scale, photosynthesis is a vigorous process
which involves huge masses of terrestrial
material in the yearly cycle and is responsible
for the high oxygen potential of the Earth’ s
biosphere.
The principal sources of plant feeding are
carbon dioxide and water. In chemical terms
photosynthesis is an oxidation-reduction reac­
tion as follows:
m C 0 2+ n H 20 C m(H 20)7l + m 0 2

Thus carbon dioxide and water are absorbed

to synthesize organic matter and release free
oxygen. The reduction of 1 gram-molecule of
carbon dioxide requires the absorption of
112 kcal of energy. Direct products of photo­
synthesis are carbohydrates (e.g., glucose,
C6H 120 6), but proteins are also generated, and
photosynthesis is altogether of a rather com­
plicated character.
Photosynthesis involves most of the Earth’ s
surface: the land surface covered with plants,
and the upper ocean, where live small algae
 168 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

as part of plankton. According to the most

recent estimates, the intensity of global-scale
photosynthesis can be rendered as the amount
of carbon dioxide and water consumed by
terrestrial plants throughout a year. Individ­
ual kinds of matter consumed and created by
photosynthesis are presented in Table 20.
TABLE 20. P h o t o s y n t h e s is P r o d u c t iv it y , 109 m e t ­
r ic t/ y

Used and absorbed Produced and released

Habitat
C02 h 2o c h 2o 02

L and 253 103.5 172.5 184

O cea n 88 36 60 64
T ota l 341 139.5 232.5 248

It follows from the Table that 248 billion

t of 0 2 a year are introduced into the Earth’ s
atmosphere. All in all, about 480 billion t
of matter are annually consumed by the photo­
synthesis of green plants, which is two orders
of magnitude larger than the sum of dissolved
matter that is transported into the ocean by
rivers every year and approximately 28 times
larger than the total amount of the material
that is annually transported by rivers into
the ocean. If we take into account the fact that
the biosphere (atmosphere and hydrosphere)
of the Earth contains 1 440 X 1015 t of water,
233 x 1010 metric tons of carbon dioxide,
and 11.8 X 1014 metric tons of oxygen, it is
easy to calculate that during 10 million years
 O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O cea n 1C9

photosynthesis reworked the amount of water

equal to the entire hydrosphere. The whole
carbon dioxide of the atmosphere is absorbed
during 6-7 years and the entire oxygen can
be replaced by the photosynthesis-produced
free oxygen during approximately 4 000 years.
Taking into account that the biosphere exists
for at least 3.6 billion years, the whole
water of the World Ocean passed through the
biogenic cycle at least 300 times and the free
oxygen of the atmosphere was renewed at least
1 million times. All this suggests an enormous
intensity of photosynthesis throughout the
whole history of the Earth. The biogenic cycle
inevitably involved also all other chemical
elements that are in plants and animals.
When an organism dies, an inverse process
occurs—decomposition of organic matter by
oxidation, rotting, etc. to form the decompo­
sition products. Hence the photosynthesis reac­
tion in a general form is
photosynthesis
ttiC02+ wH20 ( C7n(H20)n + m02
respiration

This process in the Earth’ s biosphere implies

that the biomass on Earth tends to a certain
stability. Naturally, this conclusion is of
relative importance. Because life is extremely
intensive, however, its general extension as
reflection of the reworked solar energy leads
to a global equilibrium between the production
of living matter and its decomposition.
The rates of organism reproduction show
that the living matter of our planet is in an
170 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

extreme tension, striving to extend through

a maximum of space. This tension, expressed
as rates of growth and reproduction of all the
organisms of the globe, is geochemically mani­
fested in a cycle of all biophile elements in­
troduced into the organism from the surround­
ings and returned back. This is the basic chem­
ical role of the biosphere of our planet and a
drastic distinction between the chemistry of
the upper shells of the Earth and those of the
other planets of the Solar System.
Thus the chemical evolution of the atmo­
sphere and ocean invariably involved living
organisms with the leading role played by the
photosynthesis of green plants.
Back to the initial radiogenic heating of
the Earth, volatiles began to escape onto the
surface to form a primary ocean and an atmo­
sphere. As follows from all the data cited here,
the primordial atmosphere was similar in
composition to volcanic and meteoritic gases.
It may survive in the least altered state on
Venus. On the whole, many sources of natural
gases and vapours worked in the primordial
Earth and participated in the setup of the pri­
mordial atmosphere. Each source, however, was
of its own value. The greatest amount of gases
and vapours was concentrated in the very body
of the primordial Earth; they were caught there
during the accretion of the planet itself supple­
mented with occlusion and adsorption from
the primordial nebula. Then radiogenic heat­
ing gave rise to degassing of the Earth, the
most volatile elements playing the crucial
role in it. Below we present A.P. Vinogradov’ s
 O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O ce a n 171

table, which lists the contents of the elements

of chondrites that were degassed from the
Earth (Table 21).

T A B L E 21. T h e C o n ten t o f E le m e n t s P a r t ic ip a t in g
in D e g a s sin g in C h o n d r ite s (after A.P. V in o gra d ov )

Content,
Element Possible form of degassing wt.%

B B (OH)3, etc. 4*10“5

C C H 4, CO, C 0 2 4 •10”2
N n 2, n h 3 2*10-3
H 20 h 2o , h 2, o 2 0.5 3
F HF 2.8*10"
Cl HC1 7*10-3
Br HBr 5*10-B
I HI 4*10~6
S S, H 2S, S 0 2, etc. 1.8*
Te Te, H 2Te, etc. 5*10-5
Ne In ert g a s e s o f d ifferen t o r ig in
Ar
Kr D it t o n*10-10
Xe D it t o

* W ith due a cc o u n t of th e t r o il it e (su lp h id e)

phase.

According to A.P. Vinogradov and his

coworkers, who have investigated the mecha­
nism of zone melting, the result of this process
on the scale of our planet is approximately as
follows. Owing to the melting and degassing
of the mantle, low-melting point and volatile
materials were transported onto the surface;
these were mainly three fractions of mantle
172 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

material: basaltic magma, water and gasses

dissolved in it.
Each basaltic outpouring supplied a defi­
nite amount of water to the Earth’ s surface,
since the basaltic magma itself may contain
up to 7 wt. % juvenile water in a vapour or
liquid state. As a consequence, according to
A.P. Vinogradov, the amount of basalts issued
and that of juvenile water supplied to the
Earth’ s surface were interrelated. The follow­
ing gases escaped to the surface of the pri­
mordial Earth: H 20, CO, C 0 2, CH4, NH3,
S, H 2S, H3BO3, HC1, HF, and also Ar and
He. These gases constituted the primordial
atmosphere of our planet, although their
relative proportions can hardly be disclosed
reliably and precisely enough. Hydrogen and
carbon dioxide took the first place. If the
temperature at the Earth’ s surface exceeded
100 °C, water was in a vapour state in the
atmosphere for some time.
The World Ocean was derived from steam
coming from the mantle, and the first batches
of condensed water on Earth were acid. They
contained the anions now also present in sea
water, except for SO*-.
It follows inevitably that the initial juven­
ile waters on the Earth’ s surface were mineral­
ized, whereas the fresh water proper appeared
much later as a result of evaporation (natural
distillation) from the surface of the primary
oceans, as well as owing to the formation of
closed basins on land.
The strong acids in juvenile waters rapidly
destroyed primary aluminosilicate rocks, ex-
O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O ce a il 473

trading from them the alkali and alkali-earth

metals: Na, K, Rb, Cs, Mg, Ca and Sr, as well
as, quite intensely, salts of ferrous iron. The
primary land surface was washed by acid
rains and was a site of vigorous hydrolysis
and hydration of the first-produced minerals.
The same processes, but on a different scale,
occurred on the ocean floor. In water cycle
and removal of the cations Na, K, Mg and
Ca, a greater part of them remained in the
ocean. Hence we can consider that most of
the cations of ocean water are the products of
chemical weathering from solid rocks of the
primordial lithosphere.
The primordial atmosphere of the Earth
was reduced in character and was essentially
depleted in free oxygen; only its insignificant
part was affected by solar rays as a result of
H 20 steam photodissociation in the upper
atmosphere.
On the whole, it is now difficult to restore
the amount of gases in the primordial atmo­
sphere of the Earth. However, some qualitative
alterations experienced by that atmosphere
because of life and photosynthesis can be
traced in geological history, when the pri­
mordial atmosphere was transformed into the
modern nitrogen-oxygen one. The primordial
Earth’ s atmosphere may have been similar,
to some extent, to the present atmosphere of
Venus, nearest in size to the Earth. The atmo­
spheres of the Earth and Venus are compared
in Table 22.
The appearance of life on Earth, and large­
ly the photosynthesis of primitive green
174 Origin and Chemical Evolution of the Earth

plants, affected most intensely the chemical

composition of the primordial atmosphere.
The first photosynthesizing organisms were

T A B L E 22. C o m p a r iso n o f th e A tm o sp h e r e s of th e
E a rth an d V en u s

Earth
Venus at
Component present
at present initially *

N„ % 78 1.5 1.8
0 2, % 21 T ra ce s T r a ce s
Ar, 10—«, % 9 000 190 200
C 0 2, % 0.03 98 98
H jO , k m 3 3 T r a ce s
P ressu re, ba rs 1 70** 88 ± 3

* N e ith e r p h o to s y n th e s is n o r ca r b o n a tes are pres-

en t o n th e E arth .
** F or c r u s ta l ca r b o n (abu n dan ce 9 x l 0 22 g).

probably blue-green algae or their ancestors

that appeared at a certain depth in the upper
ocean. This depth was controlled by the water
layer that absorbed the ultraviolet radiation
of the Sun, thus protecting the organisms
from the damaging effect.
The main components of the modern
Earth’s atmosphere are N, 0, C02, and Ar.
We describe in short the history of their
generation.
Nitrogen was found long ago in volcanic
gases and igneous rocks. On heating these
rocks and meteorites, nitrogen is released as
 Origin and Evolution of Ocean 475

both molecules and NH3. There has been found

NH4C1 in volcanic gases, especially in those
escaping in the final stages of eruption. There­
fore, ammonia may have been derived from
nitrogen and hydrogen in the primordial mantle
owing to chemical reactions on heating. It is
difficult, however, to expect substantial ac-"
cumulation of ammonia in the primordial
Earth’ s atmosphere. The ammonia was oxid­
ized to N 2 in the upper atmosphere by oxygen
released in the course of photodissociation of
water vapours and other compounds.
Free oxygen originated initially in very
little quantities owing to photodecomposition
of carbon dioxide, carbon oxide and water in
the upper atmosphere. But the little amount
of oxygen was rapidly consumed to oxidize
other gases. All had changed with the ap­
pearance of photosynthesizing organisms in
the ocean. The amount of free oxygen began to
increase, steadily, with an active oxidation
of many substances in the environment
(Fig. 28). Thus free oxygen rapidly oxidized
NH3, CH4 and CO, while the sulphur diox­
ides—S and H 2S—were converted to the sul­
phates of ocean water. Till the accumulation
of considerable amount of free oxygen in the
atmosphere, it also actively became to oxidize
many materials at the land surface, in par­
ticular promoted the transition of ferrous to
ferric iron and sulphides into sulphates. Hence
the first batches of photosynthetic oxygen were
scanty in the atmosphere. A.P. Vinogradov’ s
study of the isotopic history of atmospheric
oxygen has shown that free oxygen was largely
 176 O r ig in and C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

Photochemical production Increasing photosynthetic

of 0 2 . / production

i§IP^ __ _____ '— •— ’

-------- - Net balance contributing
to atmospheric oxygen

Oxidation (primarily 0 3)

Increased oxidation, respiration,

decay and H 20 solution

F ig. 28. F a c to r s o f e a r ly o x y g e n b a la n c e (after

L. V. B e r k n e r an d I. C. M a rsh all, 1984)

derived from photosynthetic water decompos­

ition. In the final analysis, the amount of free
oxygen in the atmosphere had reached a cert­
ain level to become equal to the amount of
absorbed oxygen. A relatively constant free
oxygen content set up in the atmosphere.
According to H.D. Holland, the overall bal­
ance of oxygen production and consumption
at the Earth’ s surface is as follows:
T o t a l o x y g e n p r o d u c tio n , in 1020 g
P h o to s y n th e s is - d e r iv e d o x y g e n 181
S tea m p r o to d is s o c ia t io n - d e r iv e d o x y g e n 1
182
M odern d is t r i b u t i o n o f o x y g e n r e le a se d
Free a tm o s p h e r ic o x y g e n 12
C o n s u m p tio n fo r o x id a t i o n in to fe r r ic iron 14
C o n s u m p tio n fo r o x id a t i o n in t o v o l c a n i c gases:.
O x id a t io n o f C O to C 0 2 15
O x id a t io n o f S 0 2 to S 0 3 8
O x id a t io n H 2 t o H 20 140
189

Carbon. Both in the past and at present,

O r ig in a n d E v o lu tio n o f O ce a n 177

most of the atmospheric carbon occurred in

C02 and, much less, CH4. In volcanic gases,
carbon also occurs mostly in C02 and, in lesser
quantities, GO and GH4. During mantle degas­
sing, these gases copiously escaped from the
body of the planet. The methane concentra­
tion, however, may have been relatively low,
not more than the methane content of volcanic
gases. From the start of photosynthesis, car­
bon dioxide was rapidly consumed by plants
and also chemically fixed in carbonate sedi­
ments. Carbon monoxide was oxidized to carbon
dioxide, and methane in the oxygen environ­
ment was practically oxidized completely.
The whole activity of photosynthesizing organ­
isms was directed at intense removal of carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere.
The geochemical history of carbon in the
biosphere started with its input into the
atmosphere as C02 and GO from deep in the
mantle as a result of its degassing due to
volcanism. The overall carbon cycle in the
biosphere is shown in Fig. 29. Carbon dioxide
was distributed in the biosphere to form a
complex carbonate system in the hydrosphere.
As Ca2+ and Mg2+ were leached from the
primordial Earth’ s crust and introduced in
the ocean, carbon dioxide precipitated in the
form of carbonates—dolomites and limestones.
The other part of carbon dioxide was consumed
by photosynthesis to produce organic matter,
later experiencing varying transformations,
among them generation of buried organic
matter and then different types of coal, as
well as oil shales and petroleum.
1 2 -0140 8
178 O r ig in and C h e m ica l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

The stable isotopes 12C and 13C were being

partitioned in the course of the carbon cycle
in the Earth’ s biosphere. Thus, an isotopic

F ig. 29. C a rb o n c y c le in th e E a r th ’
s b io s p h e r e

exchange set up by the following reactions

in the carbonate system of the hydrosphere:
13C 0 2+ H 12C0£“ ^ 12C02+ H 13C 0 *-
gas solution gas solution
13C 0 2+ 12C0§- * * 12C 0 2+ l3C0§-
l3C 0 2+ C a 12C 0 3 ^ 12C 0 2+ C a 13C 0 3

In these reactions, isotopic equilibria shift

to the right; as a result, marine carbonates
acquire the highest amounts of 13C, which is
typical of the calcitic and aragonitic skeletons
of marine animals. Hence, the ratio of these
two isotopes, 12C/13C, is the lowest, 88.5 on
the average, for marine carbonates. In con­
trast, in the course of photosynthesis the
O r ig in an d E v o lu tio n o f O ce a n 179

percentage of 13C decreases because the rate

of absorption of 12C02 molecules is higher
than that of 13C02. An elevated 12C/13C—
some 90-91 and higher—is observed in plants
and their derivatives.
Thus, different carbon isotopes have con­
centrated in the different compounds of the
Earth’ s biosphere as the result of a prolonged
geochemical carbon cycle.
Argon. The argon in the Earth’ s atmo­
sphere is mostly of radiogenic. In particular,
this is verified by the fact that it contains here
99.6 per cent 40Ar while 36Ar predominates in
the usual cosmic argon. The radiogenic argon
have long been originating in the mantle by
way of a 40K decay by electronic capture and
escaped into the atmosphere during overall
degassing of the planet. A similar history is
characteristic also of other radiogenic gases,
helium in particular. However, as P. Diamond
and J.L. Kulp have shown, argon and helium
are now predominantly concentrating in the
Earth’ s crust and are introduced in the atmo­
sphere in relatively small amounts. The input
of both gases is so insignificant that it could
not provide their observed concentration dur­
ing 4.6 x 109 years. One can assume, there­
fore, that most argon came from deep in the
Earth early in its history and much less of
it has been added since then owing to rock
weathering and volcanism.
The appearance of free oxygen as a photo­
synthetic product was also responsible for
changes in the ocean. The relative proportions
of individual parts of the carbonate system
12*
180 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

had changed in marine water—sulphur and

its compounds had oxidized to form sulphates.
This happened very long ago, taking account
of traces of photosynthesizing organisms and
direct products of photosynthesis in the Pre-
cambrian sediments, apparently more than
3.5 billion years ago, in South Africa. Know­
ing that organisms can generally reproduce
themselves and extend rapidly owing to the
intensity of photosynthesis, one can assume
that the drastic change in the composition of
the Earth’ s atmosphere occurred relatively
rapidly on a geological time scale.
Naturally, the degassing of the Earth was
most intense very early in its history, when
radioactive elements and core formation gave
rise to its heating; then the degassing became
less intense, but renewed in mobile crustal
zones, namely in volcanoes born in mountain
belts during orogenic epochs. The composition
of the Earth’ s atmosphere was to a larger extent
controlled by the temperature of the Earth’ s
surface.
Therefore, as we can judge from geochemi­
cal evidence, unfortunately very scanty, the
atmosphere undergoes very slow changes in
its chemical composition under the influence
of various physical, chemical, and biological
factors.
 C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C r u st an d B io s p h e r e 181

Principal Trends in
the Chemical Changes
in the Earth’s Crust
and Biosphere
The Earth’ s crust emerged initially as the
upper layer of the solid Earth owing to melt­
ing-out of mantle material; it has then been
reworked substantially by atmosphere, water
and living organisms. At present the crust
is the upper geosphere with a very complex
geological structure and extremely variable
composition at some localities, with the re­
sulting variety of relevant rocks and valuable
minerals.
The material of the Earth’ s interior has
been reworked and chemically altered at the
surface from times immemorial. The first
batches of volcanic material were basaltic or
the like. Ascending to the surface, the basaltic
magma lost gases, which escaped into the
atmosphere to become a basaltic lava that
spread over the primary surface of the planet.
On cooling, it was converted to solid sheets of
a primordial ocean-type crust. However, the
melting-out of aluminosilicate masses enriched
with silica and volatiles appears to have been
asymmetric, and their amount is larger in one
hemisphere than in the other. In the regions
of would-be continents, the young crust was
unstable and rose and subsided owing to inter­
nal causes whose nature is still very little
studied. During the overall oscillatory move­
ments (up and down), parts of the primordial
182 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

crust occasionaly rose above sea level and

underwent destruction by the chemically ac­
tive gases of the primordial atmosphere, water
and other physical agents. The destruction
products were transported to lows in land and
to water reservoirs to form sedimentary rocks
whose particles are mechanically sorted by
size and mineral composition. Feldspars gave
rise to first clays, magnesium and iron were
removed from ferromagnesian silicates into
the ocean, and silicon was a source of siliceous
sediments—fine-dispersed colloid sediments
and coarse-grained sands containing fragments
of chemically unaltered minerals and rocks.
Let us discuss, in somewhat more detail,
the transition of igneous rocks to sedimentary
rocks.
Bedrock changed at the land surface under
the action of various geological agents. The
biosphere is the most active site of these changes.
A totality of rock changes on the surface
of continents (they are directly or indirectly
associated with living matter) is called weather­
ing. The products of weathering are fre­
quently new minerals, which are then incor­
porated into new rocks of sedimentary origin.
Weathering of fresh igneous rocks and then
partition of weathering products in the course
of transport and deposition under varying
physicochemical conditions make a colossal
work on redistribution of chemical elements.
As a result, the elements in sedimentary rocks
concentrate in mineral associations other than
those in igneous rocks. The alteration of prin­
cipal components of different sedimentary
C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C ru st an d B io sp h e r e 183

rock types can be hgured out if we compare

the data given in Table 23. The transition of
principal elements into new mineral species
T A B L E 23. C h e m ic a l C o m p o s it io n of S e d im e n ta r y
R ock s

Average Sand­ Average

Oxide igneous Clay stone Limestone sedimen­
rock tary rock

S iO a 59.14 58.10 78.33 5.19 57.95

T iO a 1.05 0.65 0.25 — 0.57
A120 3 15.34 15.40 4.77 — 13.39
F e20 3 3.08 4.02 1.07 — 3.47
F eO 3.80 2.45 0.30 — 2.08
M gO 3.49 2.44 1.16 7.89 2.65
CaO 5.08 3.11 5.50 42.57 5.89
N a20 3.84 1.30 0.45 0.05 1.13
K aO 3.13 3.24 1.31 0.33 2.86
h 2o 1.15 5.00 1.63 0.77 3.23
p 2o 5 0.30 0.17 0.08 0.04 0.13
C02 0.10 2.63 5.03 41.54 5.38
S03 — 0.64 0.07 0.05 0.54
B aO 0.06 0.05 0.05 — —

C o rg — 0.80 — — 0.66

in the formation of sedimentary rocks depends

on the stability of rock-forming minerals
during chemical weathering. Thus the most
resistant minerals of igneous rocks which are
preserved in sedimentary rocks are quartz,
magnetite and, to some extent, micas and
feldspars. The feldspars are mostly trans­
formed, however, into clay minerals (kaolinite,
etc.).
As seen from Table 23, the mean igneous
rock, which in general corresponds to granite,
differs but little in its principal components
184 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

from the mean sedimentary rock; therefore,

intense metamorphism and melting of sedi­
mentary strata produce crystalline rocks similar
in composition to granite and granite gneiss.
On the whole, the sodium and magnesium con­
tents of the Earth’ s sedimentary shell are
lower because much of these elements are
transported to the World Ocean and remain
there. The enhanced contents of C 0 2, r e 2<J3,
SO, and H 20 and Fe20 3/FeO > 1 in sedimen­
tary rocks is due to the fact that their sub­
stantial part is formed with the involvement
of atmospheric and hydrospheric carbon diox­
ide, and atmospheric free oxygen which ox­
idizes iron to a ferric state and sulphur to a
trioxide. , , , ...
In the distant past of the crustal history,
with an alternation of oscillatory geological
movements, uplift became prominent in one
of the hemispheres; its manifestation was rel­
atively long-term existence of land expanses.
Nuclei of the first continents emerged, which
then began to build up at the expense of
belts of thick sedimentary series produced by
demolition of the elevated tracts of land.
These belts were later folded and raised.
Ancient mountain chains grew about the
nuclei of continents, and they were later
also demolished by external geological agents.
However, this process progressed quite un­
evenly on different continents, and the most
ancient segments of the Earth s crust occur
in their diflerent parts. This was the way by
which, in general, the continental part of the
Earth’ s crust was formed.
C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C r u st a n d B io s p h e r e 185

The oceanic crust rarely, if at all, emerged

above the level of the World Ocean, at least
during the early geological periods, and it
could not be a site of rapid differentiation of
matter, including transport, sorting and de­
position of thick and diverse sedimentary
rocks.
The Earth’ s crust evolved chemically by
way of a permanent geochemical cycle as­
sociated with the formation of sedimentary,
metamorphic and igneous rocks as physico­
chemical systems with either gradual or dis­
continuous transitions between them. The
geochemical element cycle was especially in­
tensive in the continental hemisphere of the
Earth, where thick sediments were accumu­
lated. The bulk of the granites of the continen­
tal hemisphere was derived from granitization
of these ancient sedimentary series with their
intensive metamorphism and melting during
their subsidence to depths with high temper­
atures. ,
It should be borne in mind that the Earth s
crust has progressed to its present state during
an extremely long period of time, hence its
initial appearance has completely changed.
The geological history was studied quite
unevenly on the basis of rocks of different
compositions, origins and ages, fa this respect
it can be subdivided into the Cryptozoic
(a long interval in the history of the Earth
with a concealed development of organic life)
and Phanerozoic (a much shorter time interval
distinguished by prolific plant and animal
remains as fossils of varying types and charac-
 186 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the Earth

ters). The latter, or aeon, embraces three

geological eras: the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and
Cainozoic. The general geochronology of the
Earth is shown in Fig. 30 (the duration of
geological eras and periods is laid in the
spiral coils). On the whole, the stony chron­
icle of the geological history of the Earth is
a rather dilapidated book from which all
prefaces and at least one third of the initial
pages were torn out (pages have survived only
in its last part). The last part describes ap­
proximately one ninth of the whole period of
existence of the planet.
The most common chemical elements of
the upper Earth—0, Si, Al, Fe, etc.—are the
main builders of the Earth’ s crust partici­
pating in the gross cycle of matter: igneous
rock sedimentary rock metamorphic
rock -> melting to form a new magma
(Fig. 31). It was first developed by I.D. Luka­
shevich (1863-1928) in his teaching of meta­
morphism. This view expressed the idea of
a great circulation of matter in the upper
horizons of our planet embracing rock masses
of different origin. This teaching was later
elaborated by V.I. Vernadsky, USSR, and
T. Barth, Norway. Concerning the Earth’ s
crust, V.I. Vernadsky writes that most of the
crustal material is in constant motion (migra­
tion) and forms reversible closed cycles which
always regenerate and are identical (geo­
chemical cycles). They are renewed at the
surface by solar energy absorbed by living
matter and in the interior by atomic energy
produced by radioactive decay.
C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C r u st a n d B io s p h e r e 187

Fig. 30. G e o c h r o n o lo g ic a l scale of the E a rth ’

s h is to r y

Fig. 31. M a jo r c y c l e o f m a t e r ia l in th e E a r th ’
s cr u st
188 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

The geochemical cycle implies, of course,

that lighter molecules, radicals and atoms
pass shorter ways and spend less time for
their motion than heavier ones. Thus the
mobile gas components of the atmosphere, and
water experience the fastest cycle. A much
slower cycle is characteristic of continental
matter. The time required for a full cycle of
matter is 7 years for atmospheric carbon
dioxide; 4 000 years, through photosynthesis,
for atmospheric oxygen; approximately 1 mil­
lion years for ^cean water by way of evapo­
ration; and 80-100 million years for continen­
tal matter by way of weathering and removal
from the land surface. It is quite evident,
therefore, that if no long-term uplifts had
occurred in the continental hemisphere, all
land would have been worn away and remcwed
into the ocean throughout several geological
periods and our planet would have been cov­
ered by a continuous water shell. At present,
the ocean is 12 times as large as land. The
average height of land above sea level is
equal to 825 m, and the average depth of the
World Ocean, 3 800 m, as seen on the hypso-
graphic curve shown in Fig. 32. Then it fol­
lows that the whole modern land reflects a
relative balance between its formation by
means of uplift and its destruction by removal
with external geological agents.
According to T. Barth, the composition
of the ocean is at a relative dynamic equi­
librium, as evidenced by its constant salt
composition. This also implies that the mate­
rial of sediments laid down in the oceanic
C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C r u st a n d B io s p h e r e 189

environment returns from sea to continent at

the same rate at which the weathering pro­
ducts are transported from continent to sea.
Consequently, the average chemical composi­
tion of continental rocks must be similar to
that of sedimentary rocks.
8848

Fig. 32. H y p s o g r a p h ic cu r v e d e p i c t i n g r e la t iv e a rea s

o f th e E a r t h ’ s s u r fa c e at le v e ls r a n g in g fr o m th e
h ig h e st p e a k s t o th e d e e p e s t o c e a n ic a b y s s e s

The cycle of weathering products involved

the marine medium (Fig. 33). The high con­
centrations of sodium and, to some extent,
magnesium in ocean water are due to the fact
that they remain in the ocean longer than
any other rock-forming element.
According to A. Poldervaart, sedimentary
rocks constitute now 6% of the continental
crustal mass. In 1966, M. Horn and J. Adams
calculated a geochemical balance of elements
throughout the geological history and came
to the conclusion that the total mass of
material weathered and redeposited during
that time is equal to 2 X 1018 metric tons.
190 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

The mass of the Earth’ s crust being equal to

25 X 1018 metric tons, nearly 8% of the
whole crust were transformed at different
times into sedimentary rocks. Other investi­
gations, carried out by K. Rankama and
T. Barth (1965), indicate that nearly the
whole continental crust has passed through

Bleached sediments Continental SJ - 29 <

depleted in Na, etc. rocks Al - 8 . 3
j || Atmosphere || ^ ■ c/> M F e - 4.4
|| Ocean || * 8 5 M g - 1 .8
Sediments of constant =5/5 « S " Cd - 3 .0
of oceanic composition N d -2 .3
1 deeps Volcanismi K — 2.6
1 y 1 t t t t
1 V I I I '/ > J
yiagmatisml
Metamophism ____ *
R e m e ltin g -- Juvenile
basalts
\
1_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

F ig. 33. A c o m p le t e g e o c h e m ic a l cy cle .

T h e a v e r a g e c o m p o s it i o n o f c o n tin e n t a l r o c k s in th e
u p p e r r ig h t c o r n e r c o r r e s p o n d s t o th e m id d le o n e
o f th e a n c ie n t s e d im e n t s fr o m g e o s y n c lin a l t r o u g h s
(m odified fr o m T. Barth)

the weathering zone during 3.5 billion years.

In any case, the amount of sedimentary rocks
generated throughout the crustal history is
enormous. The bulk of these sedimentary rocks
(predominantly ancient, Precambrian) has,
however, undergone strong metamorphism and
melting. Therefore, much of the ancient sed­
imentary series look like metamorphic and
igneous rocks.
It should be noted that the presence of
water in pores of sedimentary rocks and in
C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C ru st an d B io sp h e r e 191

other forms decreases their melting point at

depth and promotes their conversion to mag­
ma. Experiments show that water-rich shales
melt under 2 kbars to produce magma even
at 600 °G. The finely dispersed material of
clayey sediments is highly favourable for melt­
ing, if they have the appropriate composition,
already at 570-580 °C. We believe, therefore,
that granite magma may form by way of
melting of sedimentary rocks at a depth inter­
val of 10-15 km.
V.I. Vernadsky considered the granitic
layer of the Earth’ s crust to be a segment of
the past biospheres. Modern geochemical evi­
dence invariably supports this view. Hence a
small, on the whole, proportion of sedimen­
tary rocks in the Earth’ s crust can be regarded
as the part of the sedimentary shell (strati-
sphere) that has survived metamorphism and
granitization in the past geological epochs.
To better understand the basic tendencies
in the chemical evolution of the Earth’ s crust,
we shortly discuss the geochemistry of the
leading lithospheric elements, silicon and
iron, and also the geochemical role of living
matter, which has been rising throughout the
Earth’ s history.
Silicon. Tetravalent silicon reacts with
four oxygen anions to form the complex anion
[Si04]4-, which produces, in different com­
binations, the whole number of crystallo-
chemical structures that constitute almost
all rock-forming minerals. Silicon plus oxygen
(silicon as a component) composes 55 per cent
by weight of the Earth’ s crust- Silicon forms
 192 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

more than 430 mineral species, largely sili­

cates. The silicates are the basic constituents
of igneous and metamorphic rocks, except
marbles and crystalline limestones, and clayey
sediments. Throughout its geochemical his
tory, silicon is practically never divorced with
oxygen and migrates together with it. Of
extremely high importance for the chemistry
of the Earth’ s crust is silicon oxide, which
occurs in various polymorphic modifications,
most commonly in quartz.
As magma cools, silicon-oxygen tetrahedra
[Si04]4“combine together. The order of crys­
tallization of silicate minerals begins with the
connection of these tetrahedra with magnesium
and iron ions in olivines (Mg, Fe)2Si0 4. Then
come metasilicate chains [Si03]„n“of pyrox­
enes, and then even more complex radicals
[Si4Ou ]Sr of amphiboles. Silica, Sin0 2n, in
the form of quartz precipitates at the close of
magma crystallization. At the same time,
the water content of residual melts also rises.
As a result, mineralized thermal solutions are
formed; they remove dissolved silica, which
later precipitates in the form of quartz veins
of different size and also silicification of adja­
cent country rocks, often extensively, takes
place. Quartz is the principal rock-forming
mineral in many lodes.
When rocks are weathered in a moderately
humid climate, quartz remains insoluble while
the silica of decomposed silicates is removed
by streams more rapidly. Silica removal in­
creases drastically in a humid tropical cli­
mate.
 C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s In C r u st an d B io sp h e r e 193

In the water cycle, subsurface waters and

rivers that drain land remove enormous
amounts of silica as suspended clay particles,
fragments of aluminosilicates and solutions.
In sea water, much of the coarse-grained
material precipitates not far from seashore to
produce so-called terrigenous sediments. A com­
plex silica migration takes place in the ocean
water itself. The bulk of it is rapidly taken up
by microorganisms in the upper layers of the
ocean. Thus, diatomic algae extract 70-80
per cent of silica from water. Common radio-
laria, sponges and some corals also have silicon
skeletons. When diatomic algae die, they
slowly settle down and gradually dissolve
between 2 000 and 2 500 metres of depth. The
silicon again is transferred into dissolved
form. The undissolved part of silicon is
deposited on the floor to form extensive sed­
iments of diatomic muds in the cold seas.
The sedimentary rocks of varying geologi­
cal age contain silica as quartz derived from
mechanical destruction of quartz-bearing in­
trusive rocks. The generation of pure quartz
sediments is related to the intensity of weath­
ering and rewashing of primary material. Pure
quartz sands and sandstones are rarely found.
They mostly contain some feldspars and other
minerals. Enormous masses of silicon precipi­
tated in a colloidal state as diverse clay min­
erals.
The relative proportions of silica migration
forms varied in the geological past. In the
Precambrian seas, rhythmic alternation of sed­
iments of line-dispersed silica and iron com-
1 3 -0149 8
 194 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

pounds occurred in many places. In this way

there deposited banded iron formations which
were nowhere found in rock sequences younger
than Precambrian. According to Soviet geo­
logists, the purely inorganic migration of
silica in the deep Precambrian, had given
way to migration with the participation of
living organisms which built their silica
skeletons more and more efficiently.
Iron takes the second place, after alumin­
ium, among the metals concerning its abun­
dance in the Earth’ s crust. Iron settled down
in different geological epochs to give rise to
giant deposits whose reserves exceed greatly
the known reserves of all other metals taken
together.
Iron is a very vivid indicator. It reacts
on the physicochemical aspect of the environ­
ment by changing its valence. Iron becomes
ferric in oxygen-rich solutions to form rela­
tively insoluble oxides and hydroxides.
Among igneous rocks, ultrabasic rocks are
most enriched with iron (up to 10%), while
acid rocks (granites) are poorest (2-3%). In
biosphere iron changes its valence depending
on the environment. It occurs in minerals as
ferrous and ferric ions. Iron is a chemically
active metal that forms over 300 mineral
species in the Earth’ s crust. The iron com­
pounds best characteristic of the biosphere
are those with oxygen, such as hematite,
Fe20 3; magnetite, Fe30 4; and goethite,
FeO(OH). In igneous rocks, the iron is mostly
in ferromagnesian silicates, partially in the
sulphides: pyrrhotite, Fe7S 8, and pyrite, FeS2.
C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C r u st an d B io sp h e r e 195

The migration and forms of iron occurrence

in igneous rocks depend on oxidation processes.
In basic and ultrabasic rocks, iron is predom­
inantly ferrous (FeO). Ferric iron originates
during oxidation in the upper layers of the
lithosphere, a factor of oxidation being water
or steam. According to V.M. Goldschmidt,
the formation of magnetite on magma cooling
is related to water absorption by magma,
which is responsible for the following chemical
reaction:

SM gfsiO ^ } + 2H*° - 2Fe,04+ 6M gSi03+ 2H2

Obviously, this reaction produces free hy­

drogen, which is actually observed in volcanic
gases.
During rock weathering, iron sulphides
and silicates with ferrous iron are easily
oxidized. Magnetite is much more stable.
Ferrous iron dissolves easier than ferric iron.
Oxidation in natural water reservoirs leads
to precipitation of ferric ores. Thus bog iron
ores and ferric iron-bearing marine sediments
are formed.
Enormous amounts of iron are introduced
in the sea owing to weathering and water
cycle. It is transported in the form of mineral
and rock fragments, colloids, and dissolved
compounds. Little iron (1 X 10“ 6%) is con­
tained in the marine water itself, which is due
to a poor solubility of its oxidized compounds.
One can distinguish in natural water
reservoirs the principal reagents that promote
13*
19() O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

precipitation of iron minerals; these are 0 2,

C02, and H 2S. Accordingly, ferric iron, and
iron carbonate (siderite) and sulphide are
laid down.
Huge iron masses have been gradually
oxidized throughout the geological history.
Thus, whereas ferrous iron is thrice as much
as ferric iron in common early Precambrian
sedimentary rocks, their amounts are com­
mensurate in the late Precambrian and ferric
iron exceeds in amount ferrous iron in Paleo­
zoic rocks. Therefore, ferric iron has been
continuously increasing in content with pass­
ing geological time while ferrous iron decreas­
ing in sedimentary units under the effect of
free biospheric oxygen.
The concentration of iron in sedimentary
series is highest in the Precambrian iron for­
mations, which gave rise to iron ore deposits
(Krivoi Rog and Kursk Magnetic Anomaly,
USSR; Lake Superior, USA and Canada;
Minas-Gerais, Brazil; Hamersley, Australia;
etc.). Most of these formations have been
metamorphosed. However, poorly metamor­
phosed varieties have also been preserved, so
the initial sedimentation environment can
be reconstructed. Thus we can observe in
them iron sulphides, carbonates, silicates and
oxides alternating with finely dispersed silica
to form banded ferruginous rocks (jaspilites)
and ores.
Living matter. During crustal evolution,
the role of living organisms has been increas­
ing steadily, primarily affecting sedimen­
tation and ore deposition. The problems con-
C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C r u st and B io sp h e r e 197

nected with these processes were discussed

by E.A. Boichenko et al. in 1967-68; they
assessed the possibilities of plants to con­
centrate various chemical elements through­
out the biosphere history of the Earth. Of
large importance in this process was the capa­
bility of living organisms to concentrate cer­
tain elements to values many times higher than
those in the environment. V.I. Vernadsky
called this capability the concentration func­
tion. If the environment is taken to be sea
water, then the silicon concentration in ma­
rine plants is 103-105 times, phosphorus 105
times and manganese 103-104 times higher
than that in sea water. In plant cells many
metals form complex compounds with differ­
ent anion groups. The contents of these metals
in plants are tens and hundred thousands of
times higher than in the environment. The
concentration is especially great for the fol­
lowing metals of the transition groups of
Mendeleev’ s Periodic Table:’Ti, Gr, Mn, Fe,
Co and Ni. Quite naturally/after plant death
most o f 'the elements, that had been con­
centrated in them, entered into various sedi­
ments to participate in the formation of mineral
deposits. According to Vernadsky, enormous
amounts of metals accumulated by bacteria
and other lower plants could have easily
become a source of sedimentary ores.
According to Boichenko, a succession of
the concentration functions because of the
evolution of the organisms themselves can be
distinguished. Thus, it is assumed that organ­
isms first appeared in the ocean. They devel-
198 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

oped through oxidation of abiogenic organic

matter. A break should have set up after
spending the reserves of organic matter, name­
ly transition to an autotrophic development
by using light energy (photosynthesis). This
transition was accompanied by greater con­
centration of Al, Si, Ga, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co,
Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo and other elements.
The life development on Earth has un­
doubtedly greatly changed the migration of
chemical elements in the biosphere. Studies
have been started into the many-sided rela­
tions between the evolution of organisms on
our planet and ore deposition in sedimentary
rocks in the past. It should be noted that the
amount of biological mass has been increasing
steadily since life origin. The first living or­
ganisms developed in the sea; these were ap­
parently planctonic microalgae in the sun­
lit horizons of sea water, near the very sur­
face. Later on, benthonic marine forms ap­
peared in the relatively nearshore, shallow-
water zone. From here, deeper and deeper
levels of sea floor were colonized. Later, the
spreading of living matter also occurred land­
ward after the increased free oxygen produc­
tion had resulted in the creation of an ozone
screen, which protects the organisms from the
damaging ultraviolet radiation of the Sun.
Land vegetation started to develop in the
humid belts of the ancient continents, and
it then began to conquer other, less humid
climatic zones.
The total amount of the present-day mass
of living matter in the Earth’ s biosphere is
C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C r u st an d B io sp h e r e 199

equal to 2 420 billion t. The Soviet investi­

gators N.I. Bazilevich, L.E. Rodin and
N.N. Rozov (1971) present the distribution of
this mass in Table 24.
T A B L E 24. B io m a s s o f O r g a n ism s o n th e E a rth

Mass,
Habitat Group of organisms metric Percentage
tons

C o n tin e n ts G r een p la n ts 2 40 -109 99.2

A n im a ls an d m i­
c r o o r g a n is m s 20- 9 0 .8
T ota l 2 420-109 1 0 0 .0
O cea n G r ee n p la n ts 0 .2 -109 6.3
A n im a ls an d m i­
c r o o r g a n is m s 3.0 *109 93.7
T ota l 3.2*109 1 0 0 .0
T ota l am ount 2 4232-109

An analysis of geochemical, biochemical

and paleontological evidence on the survived
parts of the Earth’ s crust leads to the con­
clusion that we are still within the biosphere in
getting knowledge of the most ancient epoehs
in the Earth’ s history. The biosphere was the
site of evolution of living organisms, with
the production of countless kinds of plants
and animals. V.I. Vernadsky thought that the
mass of living matter has remained constant
throughout the geological history. At present,
however, V.I. Vernadsky’ s conclusion cannot
be accepted without reservations. The general
distribution of life, its extreme tension as the
reflection of the reworked energy of the Sun
rays lead to the onset of a global equilibrium
between the natural production of living
200 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

matter and its decomposition. Therefore, it

is now more correct to speak of the biomass
tending to remain constant in amount in
certain, maybe even prolonged intervals of
geological time.
The appearance of life on the land was of
large importance for the history of the bio­
sphere. As seen from the Table, the biomass
on land now substantially surpasses that in
the World Ocean. Since the life conditions
are more favourable in ocean, it can be shown
that the whole hydrosphere was distinguished
by a relative constancy of biomass throughout
its existence. In this particular case, the total
amount of biomass was controlled by the
area of the surface of the World Ocean, which
was probably variable and depended on the
geological evolution of the Earth’ s crust.
Life passed on to the surface of continents
in the Devonian period of the Paleozoic era.
It follows from Table 24 that, as a result,
the mass of living matter has grown by almost
800 times. Naturally, so substantial in­
crease of biomass has greatly affected the
geochemical processes in the Earth’ s bio­
sphere.
In M.I. Budyko and A.B. Ronov’ s (1979)
opinion, the dependence of the total mass of
living matter on carbon dioxide content has
existed all the time within the biosphere. As
the biomass was rising, the rate of photo­
synthesis increased. Hence the suggestion
that in the geological periods of the Phanero-
zoic in which the carbon dioxide concentration
was higher than now because of vigorous vol-
 C h e m ic a l C h a n g e s in C r u st an d B io sp h e r e 201

canic activity, the mass of vegetation cover

must have also exceeded the present-day
values. In other words, the changes in the
concentration of carbon dioxide may have
been accompanied by the changes in the whole
mass of living organisms on our planet.
A.B. Ronov (1980) noted that the amount
of carbonate sedimentary rocks in the Phanero-
zoic sections may reflect the carbon dioxide
content of biosphere in the relevant periods.
Since the fate of carbon dioxide is also con­
nected with the history of free oxygen through
photosynthesis, limestone sediments, of course,
also reflect the changes in composition of the
Earth’ s atmosphere as a whole.
On the death of organisms in the past,
organic matter was buried in both a dissemi­
nated state, in various finely dispersed sedi­
ments, and a concentrated form to produce
rocks rich in organic matter, coals and oil
shales. The amount of disseminated organic
matter exceeds greatly that concentrated in
all known fossil fuel deposits. Thus, according
to R. Lawson, the Precambrian Grenville
Formation in North America contains more
carbon than all coal fields in the world.
According to A.B. Ronov’ s more recent cal­
culations, the amount of disseminated organic
carbon is, on the average, approximately
200 times higher than that in all large fossil
fuel deposits.
202 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

The Chemical Evolution

of the Earth’
s Crust
We characterize the main trends in the evo­
lution of the crust, with due account of its
overall dynamics.
Once the biosphere started to form, sedi­
mentary rocks were deposited in it. This process
was closely related to changes in the atmo­
sphere and hydrosphere. The stony records
of the geological chronicle provide information
on the sequence of chemical and petrographic
changes in the Earth’ s sedimentary shell.
Studies into the composition of ancient
sedimentary rocks of different ages have revealed
the principal trends in their evolution
under the effect of life in the biosphere. The
most fundamental investigations in the field
of the theory of formation of sedimentary
rocks (theory of lithogenesis) were conducted
by the Soviet scientists N.M. Strakhov,
A.B. Ronov and others. In his summarizing
publications on lithogenesis theory, N.M. Stra­
khov distinguished four stages of chemical-
biogenic sedimentation.
The first stage is barely to be restored com­
pletely enough, for it encompasses the earliest
history of our planet. Various reconstructions
of the oldest stage of sedimentation invariably
speculative and are based on general physico­
chemical considerations. Thus the landscape
of the first land expanses was a typical vol­
canic one. Numerous craters were formed owing
to intensive impacts of asteroid fluxes, and
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C ru st 203

the landscape was in this respect similar to

the present-day lunar one. The extensive,
relatively flat-lying tracts between volcanoes
were covered by a shallow ocean. Volcanic
chains emerged as islands. In a humid cli­
mate, the volcano-sedimentary type of sedimen­
tation prevailed at that time. No climatic belts
similar to the modern ones existed on Earth.
As there was a plenty of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere, igneous rocks were weathered
with the formation of K, Na, Ca and Mg car­
bonates and colloidal particles of S i0 2, A120 3
and Fe20 3. On introduction in the acid ocean
water, the carbonates reacted with free acids
to produce K, Na, Mg and Ca chlorides.
As a result, the composition of the primary
ocean underwent changes. The solution of the
strong acids HC1 and HF was being replaced
by solutions of Ca, Mg, A1 and Fe chlorides.
A distinctive feature of this water was its
enrichment with aluminium, iron and other
heavy metal chlorides.
The character of primary sediments early
in lithogenesis is difficult to establish reliably
enough. The constituent parts of the Earth’ s
crust were lavas and masses of loose volcanic
ash. This material was weathered to give rise
to terrigenous (mechanical) sediments. Silica
was transported and precipitated chemically.
Since copious hydrogen sulphide was present
in sea water, sulphides of heavy metals may
have been laid down. Iron and manganese
precipitated, if at all, as ferrous and manga­
nous forms, respectively. No calcium and
magnesium carbonates and sulphates, and
204 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

evaporites, such as rock salt, were deposited.

The duration of the early stage in the develop­
ment of the Earth’ s geospheres is completely
unknown; obviously, it was short because the
life on the Earth originated very long ago and
and has severely affected the upper horizons
of the planet.
The second stage in the evolution of the
Earth’ s upper geospheres was of longer du­
ration, probably from the start of anaerobic
life to the appearance of photosynthesizing
organisms. The most ancient findings of these
organisms are as old as 3-3.5 billion years.
The stony record of this stage has survived to
the present. Most rocks whose age exceeds
3 billion years are highly metamorphosed
varieties—gneisses, granites and migmatites—
in which the traces of primary sedimentation
have been completely destroyed. Only one
geological section in South Africa, in the so-
called Swaziland system, contains weakly
metamorphosed rocks in the form of various
shales alternating with quartzites, ferruginous
rocks and volcanic deposits. The principal
geological events in the second stage were
a substantial growth of aluminosilicate crust,
or sial, and subdivision of the crust into basic
structural units known in the entire sub­
sequent history of the Earth. The morphology
of the Earth’ s surface experienced changes.
Linear mountain chains and subdued con­
tinental expanses in-between originated. The
lunar, crater topography gave way to the ter­
restrial one. As a result, seaward transport of
terrigenous material increased, and the ocean-
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C r u st 205

ward flow became more intense of the dissolved

carbonates Na2C03, K 2C03, CaC03, MgC03,
FeC03, MnC03 and other components derived
from chemical weathering of the land surface.
The introduction of carbonates in the
World Ocean caused substantial chemical
alteration in it. Thus, strong acids had grad­
ually disappeared, and progressive accumu­
lation of carbonate salts became possible. The
abundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
and water caused the abundance of dissolved
carbonates. In this stage, nitrogen and carbon
dioxide played an increasing role in the
atmosphere.
Sedimentation acquired radically new fea­
tures under those new conditions. The origin
and development of extensive continental
masses promoted the generation of the follow­
ing climatic zones: dry (arid), cold (glacial)
and wet (humid). Therefore, the sedimen­
tation conditions became more diverse than
before. Carbonate sedimentation set up, owing
to accumulation of carbonates in sea water.
They were probably dolomites in chemical
composition, which purely chemically pre­
cipitated in the vast areas of the ocean floor.
These same regions, located far from land
masses, intensely received silica, iron and
manganese. In their appearance they were
jaspilites, finely stratified muds, in which
thin layers of silica alternate with those of
the ferrous iron minerals, siderite and silicates
(chlorite).
The next stage of crustal history began
approximately 3 billion years ago. It is pro-
206 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

vided with an abundant stone record—highly

metamorphosed rocks—gneisses, schists, quart­
zites and jaspilites, on the one hand, and
the weakly altered or unmetamorphosed rocks
within the Precambrian shields. The Earth s
crust had grown extensively by that time and
continued to increase. It contained distinct
geosynclinal zones with thick folded sedimen­
tary rocks and extensive cratonic regions with
a sedimentary cover on a broken crystalline
basement. On the whole, the tectonic develop­
ment of lithosphere controlled sedimentation.
The sialic crust built up not only laterally
but also vertically, becoming thicker. As a
result, the ancient sedimentary rocks sub­
sided to great depths and underwent meta-
morphism and granitization with a loss of
the mobile components concentrated in sedi­
mentary rocks. Thus, the carbonate minerals
of sedimentary rocks were decomposed by
metamorphism to give rise to silicate minerals
with a release of carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere and hydrosphere. The same was
true of water between fine mineral grains or
sorbed on clay particles. Thus whereas water
and carbon dioxide were transported from
heep in the mantle into the atmosphere and
dydrosphere early in the Earth s history
owing to mantle degassing, now the supply
of regenerated water and carbon dioxide is in
progress along with juvenile water supply-
The gases of the metamorphic origin super-^
sede the juvenile gases to an increasing
extent.
The accreting cratonic areas became exten-
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C r u st 207

sive continents on which physiogeographic

zones set up affecting the differentiation of
sedimentation. Clear indications are observed
of continental (glacial) sedimentation, as sug­
gested by glacial deposits in the sections of
North America, South Africa and Australia.
The extensive continental regions are sources
of clastic and dissolved materials. However,
the growth and development of photosynthesis
of green plants in Precambriari seas were of
crucial importance for changes in the sedimen­
tation environment. Prominent traces of photo-
synthesizing organisms have been found in the
sediments of this stage.
All these phenomena have changed the
hydrochemistry of the World Ocean. The
volcanic sulphur and hydrogen sulphide in­
troduced in hydrosphere and atmosphere under
conditions of oxygen abundance were trans­
formed into sulphates of sulphuric acid. React­
ing with the dissolved carbonates in the hydro­
sphere, sulphuric acid superseded carbon diox­
ide, enriching water with SO*".
Under these conditions, the mobility ol
many elements, such as Fe, Mn, V, Cu and
heavy metals, reduced greatly. The forms of
precipitation of these elements and other
multivalent metals also changed. Naturally,
they began to precipitate in the oxygen
environment mostly in the highest stage of
oxidation [Fe(OH)3, Mn02*raH20, etc.]. The
lower oxides were becoming less and less
abundant in precipitation.
The third stage of sedimentation is char­
acterized by accumulation of huge series of
 208 O r ig in and C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

ferruginous rocks mostly laid down 3 000-

2 000 million years ago.
Further chemical precipitation took place
of such carbonate rocks as limestone and
dolomite. However, alga deposits, stromato-
lithic strata, indirectly related to the vital
activity of diverse colonial blue-green algae,
began to accumulate in certain horizons.
The increased amount of living matter in
the middle and late Precambrian was respon­
sible for accumulation of organic matter in
sedimentary rocks. It became an integral
component of sedimentary rocks, especially in
late Precambrian sediments. Oil shales are
laid down in places; their metamorphosed
varieties are called shungites.
On the whole, the sedimentary rocks in
the middle and late Precambrian (the Riphean)
were becoming more and more varied. Pro­
ceeding from the basic features of sedimen­
tation, N.M. Strakhov calls this depositional
period a two-stage, higher-lower oxide, dolo-
mite-jaspilite one. First salt-bearing—halide
deposits appear.
The last, or historical, stage in the history
of the upper geospheres of the Earth, embraces
Phanerozoic time. Extensive cratons arose
in the southern hemisphere (Gondwana) and
northern one (Laurasia). This gave rise to all
the known types of formation of sedimentary
rocks, among them sedimentation in lows
inside the continents. Major changes took
place in the hydrosphere and atmosphere.
They affected the very character of sediment
deposition, primarily owing to life development.
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C r u st 209

Living matter passed onto the land and

occupied areas of a humid climate already
at the very beginning of the Paleozoic era.
Terrestrial floras and faunas were formed. The
onslaught of the continents by living organ­
isms was inevitably accompanied by an in­
crease in the amount of living matter. Accord­
ing to the above estimates, the amount in­
creased nearly 800 times. Living matter ex­
tended over the floor to include new regions in
the deeper portions of the ocean. This also
promoted the growth of living matter.
However, not only simple increase of the
biological mass of organisms took place, but
its qualitative composition was being com­
plicated. New species of organisms appeared.
As a result, more and more mineral substances
are absorbed by organisms to construct
their internal and external skeletons. Use
was made of S i0 2, CaC03, MgC03(Cu, V, etc.),
which are involved in the living activity of
cells and tissues of different organisms. There­
fore, the biological mass of living matter
exerted a much greater influence on the whole
geochemistry of the ocean, atmosphere and
the sedimentary shell of the Earth in Phane-
rozoic time.
The composition of the atmosphere was
approaching the modern one in the relative
proportions of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon
dioxide. The composition of sea water was also
approaching the modern one. Having been
chloride-carbonate-sulphate in the third stage
of sedimentation, it was gradually becoming
chloride-sulphate. At the same time, the
1 4 -0149 8
210 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

elements with varying valence (iron, manga­

nese) existed as little-soluble, most oxidized
compounds; therefore, their concentration in
sea water fell sharply. Thus the greater
amount of free oxygen in the atmosphere and
sea water has sharply limited the mobility
of iron, manganese and many trace elements.
They were transported as solutions to a much
lesser extent, and to a greater extent in fine
suspension, inside clay particles or on their
surfaces (in an adsorbed state). Their Phanero-
zoic concentration as ores in different climatic
zones tended to occur near the coasts of con­
tinental regions. The central parts of seas
were becoming more and more barren.
A radically new phenomenon caused by
the expansion of continental regions was
precipitation of evaporites. Sodium, magne­
sium, calcium and potassium were not only
transported from land to sea but also returned
to some extent as a result of sea transgression,
precipitating as sulphates and chlorides in
closed and semiclosed water reservoirs, most­
ly in arid climatic zones. In the Phanerozoic,
salt precipitation in the World Ocean thus
worked along with opposite processes, with
some salt removal from, and desalinization
of the hydrosphere. Salt precipitation began
in the Early Cambrian and alternatively in­
creased and decreased throughout the Phanero­
zoic. The chemical character of salt accum­
ulation is striking. Sea water entered semi­
closed gulfs and extensive marginal portions
of intracontinental seas. It evaporated there,
and various salts, primarily CaS04, the
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C r u st 211

NaCI (in lesser amount but still abundant)

and potassium and magnesium chlorides and
sulphates (in still lesser amount) precipitated.
Therefore, huge salt masses were removed
from the entire salt mass in the ocean and
buried in the sedimentary shell of the Earth.
N.M. Strakhov believed that the salinity of
the ocean could not have remained the same
but had reduced when salt precipitation had
been especially active and risen in the opposite
case. In general, typical salt deposition in
the Phanerozoic was periodic in character.
The epoch of intense salt precipitation in
Early Cambrian, Middle Devonian and Per­
mian times alternated with less intense epochs
in Silurian, Carboniferous, Jurassic and Cre­
taceous times. The approximate estimates
made by A.B. Ronov and other investigators
show that about 10 per cent of the total sodium
and chlorine reserves in the modern ocean
precipitated in the Permian epoch of salt de­
position.
Quite a distinctive feature of Phanerozoic
sedimentation was abundant deposition of
organic matter along with ancient marine
and continental sediments. Bituminous clays
and oil shales were laid down in sea and coal
masses, on land.
Coals were also accumulated in a periodic
fashion closely related to vegetation evolu­
tion, and this affected the texture and petro­
graphy of the coals themselves. No coal was
accumulated early in the Paleozoic (Cambrian,
Ordovician and Silurian), because terrestrial
vegetation was still very scanty. Psilophyto
14*
 212 O r ig in a n d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

shrubs developed early in Devonian and mid-

Devonian time, and true forests, in Late
Devonian time. Coal deposits appeared for
the first time. Coal deposition was much more
intensive, with three maxima, in the Carboni­
ferous and Permian, owing to a rapid pro­
gressive development of the vegetable world.
In the Triassic, less coal is accumulated, and
three peaks of coal deposition took place in the
Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleogene.
The role of organisms in the extraction of
a number of metals from sea water rose dis­
tinctly. Magnesium carbonate was exclusively
extracted biochemically but still on a limited
scale. In areas of a humid climate, carbonates
on the whole accumulated as limestones. The
use of calcium carbonate by organisms to
construct their skeletons was increasing with
geological time, because new animal groups,
ranging from tiny planktonic organisms (glob-
igerines) to mollusks, crinoids, sponges and
corals, became capable of extracting calcium
carbonate from water. A similar phenomenon
is noted in the geochemical history of silica;
its purely chemical precipitation gave way to
purely biological deposition with participation
of many organisms.
The elevated sea water alkalinity favoured
precipitation of phosphorites, and their huge
accumulations were formed in the last stage
in the form of major mineral deposits.
The Phanerozoic witnessed all the types
and varieties of sedimentary rocks. On the
whole, according to N.M. Strakhov, the Phane­
rozoic sedimentation can be defined as two-
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C r u st 213

stage, lower-higher oxide, carbonaceous-car-

bonate-evaporate, which occurred under a
strong influence of living matter, this being
not only indirect one, as earlier, but also direct.
The distinguishing and description of the
four stages of chemical-biogenic sedimentation
is an attempt to discern the principal character
of lithogenesis in the history of the Earth. These
stages have no distinct boundaries in both
space and time. They merely express a certain
tendency in the evolution of the planet’ s
sedimentary shell. This tendency is that
chemical sedimentation is gradually super­
seded by partially terrigenous and partially
biogenic sedimentation. The living matter
of the biosphere exerted an ever increasing
influence, both indirect and direct, on the
migration of chemical elements in the upper
Earth’ s shells.
It follows from the above that the Earth’ s
sedimentary shell, hydrosphere and atmo­
sphere are an interconnected system. In this
system, an exchange of compounds took place
continuously, and chemical equilibria changed
in the course of evolution of the organic world.
As a result, the total content of sedimentary
material in the Earth’ s crust should consider­
ably exceed 10 per cent, or even 30 per cent,
according to A.B. Ronov. The long-term
growth of the sedimentary shell was due to
supply of volcanic materials from depth, of
terrigenous materials from the elevated regions
of the lithosphere and of oceanic and atmo­
spheric chemogenic materials replenished con­
tinuously owing to removal of chemical weath-
214 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

ering products from continents and escape of

volatiles from the Earth’ s interior.
Overall changes in lithologic composi­
tion and relative proportions of sedimentary
and volcanic rocks in continental areas of
Evaporites

tones

PR: I p Rj I p z I I I k z
MZ

- 5 0 0 0 - 4 500-----3500---- 2 500----- 1700 — 950 - 500-225-70^

Absolute age, m.y.

F ig. 34. D ia g r a m m a t ic a lly p r e se n te d e v o lu t io n o f

th e l i t h o l o g i c c o m p o s it i o n a n d p r o p o r t io n s o f s e d i­
m e n ta r y a n d v o l c a n ic r o c k s in d e p o s it io n a l a re a s o f
c o n tin e n t s (after A .B . R o n o v )

sedimentation with passing time are shown

in Fig. 34 (after A.B. Ronov).
Because the ancient sedimentary material
has been repeatedly metamorphosed and is
now primarily composed of crystalline rocks,
various schists, gneisses and granites, and
because the continental crust basically con­
sists of these rocks, one can consider that the
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C ru st 215

evolution of the Earth’ s sedimentary shell

has affected the chemical evolution of the
continental crustal segment as a whole.
The chemical evolution of continental
crust, or sial, in principle can be discerned
by comparing the chemical and petrographic
compositions of the most ancient known geo­
logical formations with younger ones. Such
a comparison has been made for North Amer­
ica. In 1972 A.B. Ronov generalized the
voluminous analytical information about geo­
logical formations of varying age within the
North American and East European cratons.
The history of the Earth’ s crust as follows
from the petrochemical data on different
continents was studied by A. Engel, S. Eatson
et al. (1974). J. Veizer and W. Gompston
(1976) used the 87Sr/86Sr ratios for Precam-
brian carbonates as indicators of crustal
evolution and came to the following in­
ferences.
Large geological provinces whose age ex­
ceeds 2.5 billion years show an average bulk
chemical composition similar to that of basalt,
i.e. that of oceanic crust. The provinces whose
age is less than 2.5 billion years are typical
continental crust in composition. A comparison
of the petrographic composition of the ancient
continental nuclei in North America, South
Africa, India and West Australia has shown
that so-called greenstone rocks, i.e. altered
basic lavas akin to basalt, basaltic andesite
and other similar rocks are common there.
Therefore, the modern continental crust, or
sial, has evolved, throughout geological time,
 216 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

from basic (basaltic) composition to acid

(granitic) one. This general tendency is shown
in Fig. 35.
To compare chemical changes, we present
the compositions of the oceanic and continen­
tal crust (Table 25). It is easy to see that
removal of such components as T i0 2, FeO,

U _I 1— I -- 1-- 1-1
1 ,.1.)
AZ | AR I PR i-7 I PR, IPZ M Z
KZ
-4500-3500-2700-1900-600-225-0 *
Absolute age, m.y.

F ig. 35. D ia g r a m m a t ic a lly p r e se n te d c h a n g e s in th e

p r in c ip a l r o c k g r o u p s in th e e r o s io n a rea s o f c o n t i­
n e n ts (after A.B. R o n ov )

Fe203, MnO, MgO and CaO and conservation

of A1203, S i0 2 and Na20 are necessary for
the oceanic crust to become in composition
the continental, sialic crust.
What processes promoted the formation of
sialic, continental crust in its present appear­
ance and composition?
The first possible process consists in the
general initial asymmetrical differentiation
of the Earth probably owing to generation of
its core. As a result, primordial basalt issues
were more abundant in one hemisphere of the
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C r u st 217

planet than in the other. In the final analysis,

however, this process cannot account for the
transformation of basaltic masses into sialic
T A B L E 25. C o m p a r iso n o f th e C o m p o s it io n s o f O ce a n ­
ic an d C o n tin e n ta l C r u st an d A b y ss a l O ce a n ic S e d i­
m en ts, w t. %

Continental Abyssal
Oxide Oceanic crust crust oceanic
sediments

S i0 2 48.17 56.23 46.6

T i0 2 1.40 0.71 2.9
A I 2O 3 14.9 14.46 15.0
F e 20 3 2.64 2.36 3.8
F eO 7.37 5.41 8 .0
M nO 0.24 0.13 0 .2
M gO 7.42 4.77 7.8
C aO 12.19 6.98 11.9
N a 20 2.58 2.40 2.5
k 2o 0.33 1.98 1.0
h 2o 1.62 0 .6 —

P 20 5 0 .2 2 0.16 0.3

ones, enriched with silicic acid and similar

in composition to granodiorite.
It is natural to assume that the huge natu­
ral cycle and reworking of material from the
Earth’ s upper horizons, with stages of weath­
ering, sedimentation and secondary melting,
were responsible for S i0 2 and A120 3 accumu­
lation and loss of other components characteris­
tic of primordial basalts.
Both internal, endogenic, and external,
exogenic processes have played a certain
role in compositional changes in the primary
crust, which may now occur as miserable
218 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

remnants of basaltic material in the most

ancient continental areas.
Magmatism in a wide sense of the word is
among internal processes—the melting of vol­
atile-rich mobile silicate material at different
levels of the mantle. A characteristic feature
of vigorous magmatic processes in the geo­
logical history of the crust is their restriction
to certain tectonic epochs. Especially inten­
sive magmatic phenomena and volcanism, their
external expression, took place in geosyn­
clinal areas. Owing to vigorous tectonic move­
ments, they were later transformed into orog-
enic areas and then, after long-term erosion,
into rigid stable areas with a sedimentary
cover produced by prolonged subsidences below
sea level.
Radiometric age determinations on igneous
rocks have established a sequence of the most
ancient magmatic epochs (Fig. 36). A.I. Tuga-
rinov and the present author distinguished the
most common Precambrian tectonomagmatic
cycles as early as 1966. They confirmed the
earlier suggestions that the 1 800-2 000 and
2 500-2 700 million years old epochs of magma­
tism and metamorphism were of crucial im­
portance in the Precambrian geological his­
tory. As seen from Fig. 36, the former epoch
(the Svekofenian-Karelian one, or the Hudson
cycle) was especially prominent. It encom­
passed the vast areas of what are now Precam­
brian shields and the ancient basement of
platforms.
According to the most recent calculations
of geophysicists, the periods of igneous activity
C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C r u st 219

in the geological history were controlled by

those of radiogenic heat accumulation in the
upper mantle. The primordial crust of our
planet consisted of the mantle-derived basaltic
material.
With passing geological time, however,
the composition of eruptive products that
thicken the Earth’ s crust within continental
segments has changed. Thus basaltic magmas
were supplemented by basaltic andesite and
andesite eruptions, which are more acid.
Indeed, if we compare the composition of
typical oceanic (tholeiitic) basalt with that
of andesite, we see a substantial difference, as

m.y. 180

Fig. 36. H is t o g r a m o f a g e s b a se d on m o r e than 3 000

d e t e r m in a t io n s (after R. D e a m le y )
 220 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

shown in Table 26. It is easy to infer from

the table that introduction of andesitic mate-

T A B L E 26. A v e ra ge C o m p o s it io n s o f V o lc a n ic R o c k s
(after A. P old erv a a rt), w t. %

Tholeiitic
Oxide basalt Andesite Difference

S i0 2 51.0 60.3 + 9 .3
T i0 2 1.4 0.8 — 0 .6
A120 3 15.6 17.5 + 1 .9
F e 20 3 1.1 3.4 + 2 .3
F eO 9.8 3.1 — 6.7
M nO 0.2 0.2 —

M gO 7.0 2.8 — 4.2

C aO 10.5 5.9 -4 .6
N a20 2.2 3.6 + 1 .4
k 2o 1.0 2.1 + 1 .1
p 2o 5 0.2 0.3 + 1 .0

rials into the continental segments of the

Earth’ s crust gave rise to a relative increase
in S i0 2, A120 3, Fe20 3 and Na20 and decrease
in MgO, FeO and CaO, i.e. sialization of the
crust took place, as well as its approach in
composition to the modern one. Andesite
may have been molten from the horizons in
the upper mantle other than in the case of
basalt. V.M. Sinitsyn notes (1972) that the
acid products of mantle differentiation (basalt­
ic andesites) are more abundant on continents
than in the ocean floors because in the former
an active zone of magmatic processes (tectono-
sphere) penetrates far down into the mantle.
 C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f E a rth ’
s C r u st 221

The extent of crustal sialization in the

course of mantle differentiation rose and
became greatest in the late Phanerozoic. How­
ever, the role of volcanism in the driving of
continental crust towards a more acid com­
position was, however, insufficiently active.
The second mechanism of crustal siali­
zation is associated with an intense exogenic
material cycle, incorporating primordial crust
transformation by solar energy, gravitation
and the biospheric agent as a whole. The
material cycle in the biosphere (see Fig. 31)
was the most important crust-forming process.
Unlike volcanism, it did not add new material
to the crust but vigorously transformed crustal
masses, namely their chemical composition
and physical state. As we have repeatedly
mentioned earlier, the enormous continental
crustal masses passed through a state of sedi­
mentary rocks and were eroded and altered
by all exogenic geological agents. The extreme­
ly prolonged water cycle is responsible for
erosion of the continental crust with a remov­
al, once and for all, of some most common
soluble simatic (basaltic) elements (Mg and
Fe) and conservation of relatively immobile
components (Si02 and A120 3), with its overall
sialization.
In comparing the average composition of
continental crust with that of deep-sea oceanic
sediments (Tables 25 and 26), it is seen that
the latter contain more components that were
partly lost by the continental crust as com­
pared with the basaltic crust. These pelagic
oceanic sediments- lie on vast expanses of the
222 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the Earth

ocean floor; they have practically never re­

turned to continents and are hence irrevocable
products of removal of continental crust.
Obviously, long-term erosion of the pri­
mary basaltic crust was responsible for the
removal of T i0 2, Fe20 3, FeO, MnO, MgO and
CaO into the ocean and their laying down
both near the shore and very far from where
the continental crust was formed. The fates
of sodium and potassium are somewhat differ­
ent. The former was introduced into the ocean
in large amounts and retained there in a dis­
solved state. Its large proportion, however,
returned to the continental crust in sediments
that had long occurred in the sea. It was then
removed from sea water by cation exchange
(Na+^ H +) with sedimentation water.
The potassium removal into the World
Ocean was substantially retarded by sorption
in finely dispersed clays. The same is true
for this element in plant remains, since it is
a component of ashes. This may explain, to
some extent, the higher potassium content in
the continental crust than that in the oceanic
crust. Naturally, however, there were also
other causes of potassium concentration in
the continental crust.
Thus the volcanic processes producing
more and more acid products in their develop­
ment interacted closely with repeated erosion
and redeposition of the direct products of
basic and acid volcanism, against the back­
ground of alternating uplift and subsidence
in one of the segments of the globe. The result
is the present-day sialic continental crust
 C o n c lu s io n 223

enriched with S i0 2 and A120 3 and depleted

in Fe, Mg and Ca as compared with the origi­
nal material at the surface of the planet.

Conclusion

Irrefutable evidence about the atomic struc­

ture of chemical elements and their properties
has greatly expanded the knowledge of the
world around us. At the time of a great revo­
lution in science and technology, man has left
.the boundaries of his own planet, stepped
down on the Moon’ s surface and acquired for
the first time the reliable information on the
surface of Venus, Mars and the satellites of
Jupiter and Saturn. Hence a new step has been
made towards a better knowledge of the origin
and history of the Solar System.
Already in the near future, more and more
material of celestial bodies will undoubtedly
appear in laboratories, and its comparative
studies will inevitably be made with due ac­
count of atomic laws, both known and those
to be discovered.
Modern science postulates a unity of mate­
rials in the world on the basis of the most
recent advances in atomism; it expresses this
unity by means of isotopic ratios of various
chemical elements. The whole set of sciences
uses the fundamental achievements of physics
and chemistry to gain insight into the origin
of our planet and the first davs of its history
224 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E a rth

until the ancient known rocks were formed

at its surface.
Early in the evolution of the Universe,
the interaction between radiation and ele­
mentary particles produced light atoms as the
most stable entities. Possibly, only hydrogen
and helium were dominant at those remote
times. The hydrogen atoms later combined to
form large celestial bodies that gave rise to
massive stars and galaxies. In one of the
innumerable stars of the plain component of
our Galaxy, hydrogen and then helium were
involved in natural fusion to produce other
chemical elements. These processes progressed
according to the laws of nuclear physics and
thermodynamics. It should be emphasized,
however, that all the elements heavier than
helium have, in general, a low abundance in
the Universe, and their genesis can be regarded
as an accompanying event associated with
star evolution. The heaviest transuranium
elements were generated at the end of formation
of nuclides in stars. At the same time, this
final stage disturbed the element-forming sys­
tem and caused an outburst of material. The
primordial Sun became surrounded by a gas
disc that rapidly cooled down and dispersed
in space.
The cooling of this disc-shaped gas nebula
caused condensation of material into liquid
and soild bodies, first droplets and then par­
ticles as solidified drops. According to the
laws of chemical thermodynamics, high melt­
ing-point metals, in particular drops of iron
and then of silicates at 1 800-1 000 K, were
 C o n c lu s io n 225

first to condense from the material of solar

composition. Then, at 1 000-400 K, other
less abundant metals and their compounds
condensed with sulphur and oxygen. The
solidified silicate material drops in the form
of small spherical bodies, chondrules, produced
a multitude of asteroids—parental bodies of
chondritic meteorites—apparently during the
later thickening.
The chemical processes and condensation
were controlled by dropping temperatures in
the different areas of the primordial nebula,
and also by the C/O ratio, which was respon­
sible for its chemical inhomogeneity. Near the
Sun, the primordial gas cooled slower than
away from it. Therefore, the terrestrial planets
orbiting closer to the Sun were produced by
condensation of the highest-temperature frac­
tion with an enhanced metallic iron content.
Numerous organic compounds were formed
late in the cooling of the gas nebula, and these
gave rise to first primitive living things.
After the Earth had been formed below the
melting point of its material, it started to
warm up rapidly under the effect of strong
radioactivity. This caused initial chemical
differentiation with the formation of central
core of the planet.
According to one of the hypotheses, radio­
genic heating produced melting of material
in the upper parts of the young Earth. Iron
was the first to melt and then came silicates.
An admixture of iron sulphide eased, on the
whole, melting of iron, acting as a flux. A thick
belt of molten iron was generated in the upper
1 5 -0149 8
 226 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e E arth

horizons of the Earth, and this belt was un­

stable because iron has a high specific gravity.
Hence an insignificant thickening of the belt
in one place, for instance owing to tidal
phenomena, caused a one-sided flow of molten
iron masses towards the centre of the Earth.
It also cannot be ruled out that much of the
Earth’ s metallic core had been formed even
earlier by condensation of metallic particles
or drops when the temperature was still too
high for silicate compounds to condense abun­
dantly. However, the asymmetric structure and
composition of the Earth’ s crust and upper
mantle definitely indicate that the differen­
tiation of the Earth was one-sided and unidirec­
tional. The huge subsiding heavy masses of
molten iron superseded lighter plastic silicate
masses into the opposite hemisphere. These
silicate masses then melted and differentiated
to give rise to the lowest melting-point ma­
terials along with water vapour and other
gases, which were supplied to the Earth’ s
surface by volcanic processes to form primeval
aluminosilicate crust, ocean, and carbon diox­
ide-rich atmosphere.
The further Earth differentiation occurred
in the upper mantle and at the surface during
the long-term cycle of crustal material under
the influence of solar energy, internal forces
of the planet, and under chemical and mechan­
ical interaction with the ocean and atmo­
sphere. The appearance of life early in the
Earth’ s evolution had produced a biosphere
which later encompassed the hydrosphere,
atmosphere and upper lithosphere.
 C o n c lu s io n 227

Life rapidly conquered the upper geo­

spheres, involving the increasing masses of
materials in the prolonged biogeochemical
cycle, which has greatly affected the sedimen­
tary shell of the Earth’ s crust. The Earth’
s
surface was initially depleted in free oxygen,
and ultraviolet solar radiation could have
penetrated into the primary ocean to a depth
of 10 m. The illuminated surficial layers of
sea water were favourable for the develop­
ment of living matter that gave rise to photo-
synthesizing organisms. Unicellular photo-
synthesizing organisms—blue-green algae or
their ancestors—may have originated where
they were protected from destructive ultra­
violet solar radiation, i.e. deeper than 10 m.
Therefore, the conditions required for the
evolution of photosynthesizing unicellular
autotrophic organisms were most favourable
where visible solar light penetrated into sea
water while ultraviolet radiation did not.
These ancient organisms developed at their
constant density, because the cell that became
heavier descended below the illuminated zone,
and if it was light, it emerged, undergoing a
damaging action of ultraviolet radiation.
The generation and evolution of photo-
synthesizing organisms in the illuminated
zone of sea were responsible for water decom­
position to form free oxygen. As a result, the
biosphere became oxidizing in nature. The
carbon dioxide was nearly wholly taken from
the atmosphere by photosynthesis and carbon-
atization.
The free oxygen in the atmosphere formed
15*
228 O r ig in an d C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f the E arth

an ozone screen against destructive ultra­

violet radiation. A possibility arose for organ­
isms to disperse rapidly, in particular to
extend onto the land.
The world of animals that eat plants arose
as a superstructure relative to the photosyn­
thesis of plants in the oxidizing atmosphere
of the Earth. Animals can no longer synthesize
the organic compounds important for their
life, such as amino acids, but consume them
from the plant world. At the same time, their
life turned to be connected with oxidation by
way of breathing and oxygen fixation in the
pigments of blood. Hence animals could
develop their functions in the cryptozoic in­
terval of the Earth’ s history, move actively
in space and conquer new places of habitat.
However, animals have long evolved in ma­
rine water, in the zone of sea saturated by
oxygen. The animals built then their bodies
from soft tissue; they have no rigid skeletons.
The evolution of skeletons was strongly ham­
pered, because they made organisms heavier
and these submerged below the oxygen layer
into the zone unfavourable for their life.
Rigid skeletons could, therefore, develop only
in the organisms that had acquired swimming
organs and could swim independently or
move over the sea floor in near shore zones.
After multicellular organisms had acquired
rigid skeletons, carbonate rocks became laid
down mostly biogenically during further geo­
logical history. The surficial layers of ocean
water had long been the principal sites of
an intense cycle of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
 r.o n clu sio n 229

and other biophile elements. Only with the

appearance of land vegetation, the role of the
ocean surface in the production of free oxygen
had decreased, giving way to the surface of
continents.
In connection with life in the biosphere,
one should note an important geochemical
equilibrium related to the geochemical carbon
balance, which is essential but whose essence
is still known insufficiently well. As early as
1934, V.I. Vernadsky wrote that a simple,
still unknown numerical ratio must exist
between the amount of free oxygen on our
planet, particularly in its biosphere, and
the mass of hard coals, bitumens, oils and
carbonates.
A.B. Ronov has recently estimated this
ratio, with due account of the limited reserves
of carbon dioxide. As the source of food for
the whole living matter, free carbon dioxide
has been continually replenished by volcanic
processes. When these processes cease, how­
ever, owing to the exhaustion of the internal
energy sources, the supply of carbon dioxide
to the surface will cease also. As a result, the
biosphere must die off and life will cease,
because the sources of internal carbon dioxide
will disappear. The free oxygen not replen­
ished by photosynthesis will be gradually in­
volved in oxidation. According to A.B. Ronov,
it is hardly probable that life will be able to
effect a closed cycle, because the reserves of
carbon will also be exhausted, since they are
confined to the system atmosphere-ocean-liv­
ing matter and will be lost inevitably owing
230 O r ig in and C h e m ic a l E v o lu tio n o f th e Earth

to carbonate sedimentation. The author comes

to a general conclusion formulated as the geo­
chemical principle of life preservation: “ Under
otherwise equal conditions, life on the Earth
and other planets is possible until these planets
are active and an exchange of energy and mat­
ter takes place between their interior and sur­
face. Life must cease when the energy resources
of the planets are exhausted.”
As to the Earth, we can neglect this con­
clusion, taking account of prospects of man­
kind development. With mastering the enor­
mous sources of nuclear energy, the release
of carbon dioxide necessary for life and con­
centrated in carbonate rocks, will not be a
perplexing problem.
The conquer of Nature, reasonable and
harmonious uses of its resources are impos­
sible without getting insight into the cycle
of all the chemical elements in the Earth’ s
biosphere. But this cycle, caused by solar
energy and the internal atomic energy of ra­
dioactive decay, has an extremely long his­
tory. The physicochemical equilibria in the
Earth’ s biosphere and deep interior are con­
tinually disturbed by intense energy pulses
coming from distant outer space and the in­
terior of the planet.
The Earth’ s surface is being qualitatively
transformed. An antroposphere is arising in
the biosphere, a sphere of man’ s activity,
which expands all the time beyond the Earth
itself into the near-Sun space. All these huge
changes in Nature and society, as we see them
today, are the result of the extremely long
C o n c lu s io n 231

history of the planet, its chemical evolution

and other forms of development of matter.
Only some of the features of this majestic
history of our planet, beginning with the
origin of its atoms, have been discussed shortly
in this book.
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To the Reader

M ir P u b lis h e r s w o u ld b e g r a te fu l fo r y o u r c o m m e n t s
o n th e c o n te n t, tr a n s la tio n a n d d e s ig n o f th is bo o k .
W e w o u ld a ls o b e p le a s e d t o r e c e iv e a n y o th e r s u g ­
g e s t io n s y o u jn a y w ish t o m ak e.
O u r a d d r e s s is:
M ir P u b lis h e r s
2 P e r v y R iz h s k y P e r e u lo k
1-110, G S P , M o scow , 129820
U SSR
Also from Mir Publishers

S. N. BAIBAKOV and A. I. MARTYNOV

Satellite and Typhoon

Eye-to-Eye
240 pp., 36 illustrations, 26 tables
T h is book p r e se n ts a d e ta ile d m e th o d to e x p lo r e
in situ ty p h o o n s a n d h u r r ica n e s u s in g s a te llite s
and sa te llite p r o b e s to d e liv e r b a llo o n s w ith a
p a y lo a d o f m e a s u r in g in s tr u m e n ts in to th e ir e ffectiv e
ran ge. T h e re is a ls o an e x te n s iv e d is c u s s io n o f
p r o b le m a re a s in m e te o r o lo g y , o ce a n o g r a p h y , and
e v ir o n m e n ta l s c ie n c e c a p a b le o f bein g; a d d r e s s e d b y
s p a c e b o r n e t e c h n o lo g ie s .
S tu d ie s o f ty p h o o n s an d 'h urrican es b a se d o n con-
v e n tia l tr a c k in g t e c h n o lo g ie s — g r o u n d w ea th e r sta ­
tion s, sh ips, a ircra ft, an d w ea th e r r o c k e t s — r a r e ly
tu rn o u t to b e e ffec tiv e en ou gh , s in c e th e tim e an d
p la c e o f ty p h o o n o r ig in are u n p re d icta b le . A n ew
a v en u e o f a p p r o a ch to th e p r o b le m is o p e n in g u p
w ith a d v a n c e s in s p a c e te ch n o lo g y .
T h e b o o k is in te n d e d fo r a ll th o s e in te r e s te d in a str o ­
n a u tics, o c e a n o g r a p h y an d in the p r o te c tio n o f the
en v iron m en t.
 SCIENCE
forevERYone
One of the most important problems in modern science
is the origin of the Earth and formation of its shell.
Modern views on the chemical composition of meteorites,
planets and other bodies of the Solar System are pres­
ented in this book. On the basis of recent achievements
in cosmochemistry, the author, who is one of the leading
scientists in the field of geochemistry, geophysics, de­
scribes the most probable processes that determined the
chemical composition of the Earth in the remote past.
Prof. George Voitkevich is also a winner of the Kar­
pinsky Prize, which is given to a scientist for outstand­
ing work in geology by the USSR Academy of Sciences.

ISBN 5-03-000190-5