Earth System Dynamics Discussions www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net 2190-4995 1 1 2010 10.5194/esdd-1-191-2010 http://www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net/1/191/2010/ http://www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net/1/191/2010/esdd-1-191-2010.html http://www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net/1/191/2010/esdd-1-191-2010.pdf 191 246 2010-09-17 Assessing life's effects on the interior dynamics of planet Earth using non-equilibrium thermodynamics J. G. Dyke jdyke@bgc-jena.mpg.de F. Gans A. Kleidon Max Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, Jena, Germany Vernadsky described life as <i>the</i> geologic force, while Lovelock noted the role of life in driving the Earth's atmospheric composition to a unique state of thermodynamic disequilibrium. Here, we use these notions in conjunction with thermodynamics to quantify biotic activity as a driving force for geologic processes. Specifically, we explore the hypothesis that biologically-mediated processes operating on the surface of the Earth, such as the biotic enhancement of weathering of continental crust, affect interior processes such as mantle convection and have therefore shaped the evolution of the whole Earth system beyond its surface and atmosphere. We set up three simple models of mantle convection, oceanic crust recycling and continental crust recycling. We describe these models in terms of non-equilibrium thermodynamics in which the generation and dissipation of gradients is central to driving their dynamics and that such dynamics can be affected by their boundary conditions. We use these models to quantify the maximum power that is involved in these processes. The assumption that these processes, given a set of boundary conditions, operate at maximum levels of generation and dissipation of free energy lead to reasonable predictions of core temperature, seafloor spreading rates, and continental crust thickness. With a set of sensitivity simulations we then show how these models interact through the boundary conditions at the mantle-crust and oceanic-continental crust interfaces. These simulations hence support our hypothesis that the depletion of continental crust at the land surface can affect rates of oceanic crust recycling and mantle convection deep within the Earth's interior. We situate this hypothesis within a broader assessment of surface-interior interactions by setting up a work budget of the Earth's interior to compare the maximum power estimates that drive interior processes to the power that is associated with biotic activity. We estimate that the maximum power involved in mantle convection is 12 TW, oceanic crust cycling is 28 TW, and continental uplift is less than 1 TW. By directly utilizing the low entropy nature of solar radiation, photosynthesis generates 215 TW of chemical free energy. This high power associated with life results from the fact that photochemistry is not limited by the low energy that is available from the heating gradients that drive geophysical processes in the interior. We conclude that by utilizing only a small fraction of the generated free chemical energy for geochemical transformations at the surface, life has the potential to substantially affect interior processes, and so the whole Earth system. Consequently, when understanding Earth system processes we may need to adopt a dynamical model schema in which previously fixed boundary conditions become components of a co-evolutionary system. 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