Re: ET: Scientific American article on GHZ

From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Mon Oct 29 2001 - 12:40:17 MST


Don Klemencic wrote:
>
> Daniel Ust asked:
>
> > I wonder if having liquid oceans has an impact on having plate
> tectonics...
> >
> Brownlee and Ward, two of the three authors of the Scientific American
> article, say in their book, Rare Earth, that oceans are probably necessary
> to weaken the crust enough to make plate tectonics possible.

While oceans are partly dependent upon plate tectonics to sequester
large amounts of the primordial atmospheric CO2 necessary to cool things
down enough to allow permanent oceans.



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