Our Volatile Planet

Goldschmidt2009's theme

The chemistry of the Earth records detailed information about the way in which the Earth formed, reacted and changed to form the planet that we live on today. The secrets of planetary formation and clues about the evolution of life have always held a basic societal fascination. Topically, understanding the Earth's chemistry is essential in uncovering how the mineral and biological world interact, discovering new mineral and energy resources, finding safe drinking water supplies, understanding how and why climate is changing, and developing technologies to mitigate some of the damage that man has done to the planet.

'Our Volatile Planet' represents a topic central to all of these themes. Volatile elements and compounds, such as water, are those which have a tendency to exist in a vapour or gas phase, to boil or dissipate. Water is essential for life, controls planetary scale processes of subduction, earthquakes and even volcanic outpourings. Water forms beautiful mineral formations, transports the suns energy from the equator to the Polar Regions and, when polluted, kills. Our society is also volatile. Wars are fought over mineral resources, cities devastated by Earthquakes, and drought caused by changes in climate. Providing knowledge of Earths complex systems is essential if we are to balance society's needs with the available resources, changing climate and many and diverse, but fragile, ecosystems.