Abstract
Planet Earth was formed from the agglomeration of solid bodies. Earth’s iron-nickel enriched core segregated from a silicate mantle as early 30 million years after its formation 4.1–4.7 billion years ago. Earth is the third planet in our solar system circling around the Sun in an elliptical orbit at a distance of 147–152 million kilometers. Such a distance from the Sun enables our planet’s temperature to be hospitable to animal and plant life. Among the nine planets of our solar system, Earth is the only one whose surface environment is adapted for water to exist in its three states: solid, liquid and gas. The elements necessary for life consisting essentially of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur, are also found in comets, stars and probably on other planets in the Universe. 71 % of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, which means that when seen from space, our home could be called the “Blue Planet”.
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Hekinian, R. (2014). Our Haven, Planet Earth. In: Sea Floor Exploration. Springer Oceanography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03203-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03203-0_2
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