The biosphere is a living open system. It exchanges energy and matter with the outside world. In this case external world It is boundless outer space.

From the outside, solar and electromagnetic radiation; the so-called solar wind, which is a bunch of plasma clouds continuously emitted by the Sun with variable intensity; galactic and solar cosmic rays, as well as meteor showers.

From the Earth, its own thermal radiation, part of the backscattered radiation of the Sun (albedo), as well as flows of matter from the Earth's upper atmosphere, go into space.

Thus, the "biosphere-space" interaction is a complex dynamic system that is in a state of mobile equilibrium.

The boundary area between the Earth-space system runs at a distance of 50-60 thousand km above the Earth's surface. This is the distance that the boundary of the geo magnetic field Earth's magnetosphere. The processes of interaction of the magnetosphere with the substance of the solar plasma - the solar wind and cosmic rays - are studied and studied within the framework of magnetohydrodynamics - a modern space science that jointly takes into account the complex phenomena of the boundary medium in accordance with the equations electromagnetic field Maxwell, on the one hand, and the equations of hydrodynamics, on the other.

At one time, Academician V.V. Vernadsky emphasized that there is a close relationship between the phenomena occurring on Earth and the processes of a cosmic order. Now there is no doubt that our habitat is not only the Earth and even not only the Solar System, but the entire Universe around us, of which we are an integral part.

In this regard, when studying terrestrial phenomena, it is necessary to proceed from a systematic approach in the Earth sciences, which is dictated not only by the discovery of certain specific relationships between terrestrial and cosmic phenomena, but also general principles modern natural science. A holistic perception of the world is a necessary feature of the modern style of scientific thinking.

The era in which we live is rightly called the space age, the era of space exploration. And the point is not only in the implementation of space flights and the successful development of space technology. Space exploration, ever deeper knowledge of patterns space phenomena, the wide involvement of space in the sphere of human practice is an urgent need of the modern stage in the development of earthly civilization.

It becomes clear that the very emergence and existence of the biosphere and man is closely related to the physical conditions in the Universe, as well as to the peculiarities of the course of physical processes on Earth, in the region of space immediately surrounding us and in the Universe as a whole.

Earthly phenomena are connected by countless threads with physical processes flowing in outer space. First, in many earthly phenomena are reflected general patterns cosmic order. Secondly, there are a number of direct connections and dependencies that determine the influence of certain cosmic factors on our planet, including the biosphere. There are many such factors.

For example, as a result of the rotation of the Earth, sea tides are observed twice a day under the influence of the gravitational attraction of the Moon. It is clear that this phenomenon is important for the inhabitants coastal areas Earth.

The position of the Earth in space relative to the Sun leads to a daily change of day and night and a natural change of seasons in different parts of the Earth, which affects all aspects of the life of the biosphere.

An important role was played by factors of a cosmic order in the process of the formation of life on Earth. In particular, many characteristics living organisms, including the human body, are directly related to the magnitude of gravity on Earth, the nature of solar radiation, the position of our planet in solar system, as well as the position of the solar system in our Galaxy.

So, for example, the structure of the organs of vision of humans and animals is due to the fact that the Sun intensely radiates in the optical range and this radiation passes through the Earth's atmosphere. It is no coincidence that the human eye is most sensitive to yellow-green rays, because it is these rays that have the highest intensity in the composition of sunlight.

There is reason to believe that solar activity has an impact on the biosphere of our planet at the present time.

So, a number of statistical dependencies, which reveal the connection between fluctuations in solar activity and epidemic, cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric diseases, exacerbation of chronic diseases, productivity and growth of annual rings in trees. As a result, a new area of ​​science has emerged. heliobiology, the main task of which is to find out the physical mechanisms of the influence of the solar system on the processes occurring in the biosphere. This is one of the topical problems of modern natural science, which has a huge practical value for humanity.

The study of outer space with the help of satellites and spacecraft In recent decades, it has allowed significant progress in the study of the mechanisms of solar-terrestrial relations, primarily in elucidating a number of cyclic processes on the Sun and their manifestations in terrestrial conditions. First of all, we are talking about 27-day (on average) rhythms associated with the rotation of the Earth about its axis, with 11-year (on average) and 22-year (on average) cycles of solar activity, manifesting themselves more or less synchronously in long time series by a large number visual characteristics of the Sun in the form of sunspots, torches, floccules, chromospheric flares, etc.

Modern heliobiology confirms the influence of the Sun's rhythms on terrestrial processes, but it turns out that the mechanisms of such influence are much more complex than it seemed in the first half of the 20th century. the founders of space biology V.V. Vernadsky and A.L. Chizhevsky.

At the same time, a number of specific issues of solar-terrestrial connections have already been solved both from the point of view of studying the material carriers of such connections (mainly solar corpuscular flows) and their mechanisms themselves. In particular, these include:

Issues of studying the causes of variations in the Earth's magnetic field, including the appearance magnetic storms on the ground;

Abrupt changes in the state of the ionosphere that disrupt the propagation of radio waves on Earth;

The appearance of polar lights, terrestrial electric currents, processes of changing atmospheric electricity, etc.

It is clear that further study of the influence of all established geophysical phenomena on the biosphere, including the human body, is necessary.

The human body is a complex and highly perfect self-regulating system that strives for balance with the environment, which includes factors of a cosmic order. Any violation of this balance, associated with a change in external conditions, causes a corresponding restructuring in the activity of the organism.

This pattern is used, for example, by modern medicine for medicinal purposes. Influencing the body with climatic, balneological and other natural factors, doctors consciously achieve such purposeful changes that would entail the elimination of certain diseases. The possibilities of such a method are far from being exhausted. Further study of the influence of various natural, including space, factors on living organisms opens up new ways to rid a person of various ailments.

IN last years ideas about the presence of multilateral cosmic-terrestrial connections are confirmed in works on the influence of the geomagnetic field and solar activity on the rhythms blood pressure, the frequency of cardiovascular diseases, the behavior of red blood cells, blood clotting, hemoglobin content, homeostasis of living organisms, soil formation, baric pressure and atmospheric circulation, precipitation, the genesis of the Earth's relief, etc. Thus, the frequency of solar activity is one of the most important factors affecting life on Earth.

Biosphere and noosphere

Factors of evolution and stages of development of the biosphere. The evolution of the biosphere throughout most of its history was carried out under the influence of two main factors:

1) natural geological and climatic changes on the planet;

2) changes in the species composition and number of living beings in the process of biological evolution.

On present stage in the Tertiary period, the developing human society became the main factor determining the evolution of the biosphere.

The evolution of the organic world has gone through several stages. First stage- the emergence of the primary biosphere with its inherent biotic cycle, second-complication of the structure of the biotic component of the biosphere as a result of the emergence of multicellular organisms. These two stages of evolution, proceeding in accordance with the purely biological laws of life and development, are called biogenesis.

Third stage associated with the emergence of human society. Of course, according to their intentions, the activity of people on the scale of the biosphere contributes to the transformation of the latter into the noosphere. At this stage, evolution proceeds under the decisive influence human consciousness and related production (labor) activities of people, which corresponds to the period noogenesis.

The notion that living beings interact with external environment, changing it, arose long ago. This was facilitated by observations of natural phenomena. At the beginning of the XVII century. rudimentary ideas about the biosphere took place in the writings of Dutch scientists B. Varenius And X. Huygens.

A century later, the French naturalist J. Cuvier noticed that living organisms can exist only by exchanging substances with the environment. Other researchers – French chemist J.B. Dumas and German chemist Y. Liebig found out the importance of green plants in gas exchange the globe and the role of soil solutions in plant nutrition. Subsequently, many scientists studied the relationship of organisms with their environment, which eventually led to the modern understanding of the biosphere.

In particular, J.B. Lamarck in his book "Hydrogeology" devoted an entire chapter to the influence of living organisms on the transformation earth's surface. He wrote:

There is a special force in nature, powerful and continuously active, which has the ability to form combinations, multiply them, diversify them. The influence of living organisms on the substances located on the surface of the globe and forming its outer crust is very significant, because these beings, infinitely diverse and numerous, with continuously changing generations, cover all parts of the surface of the globe with their gradually accumulating and all the time deposited remains.

From these statements follows a correct assessment of the enormous geological role of organisms and the products of their decomposition.

Outstanding naturalist and geographer A. Humboldt in his essay "Cosmos" he gave a synthesis of the knowledge of that time about the Earth and space and, on the basis of this, developed the idea of ​​the interconnection of all natural processes and phenomena.

The existence of the Earth's biosphere as an integral natural system is expressed primarily in the circulation of energy and substances with the participation of all living organisms of the planet. The idea of ​​the biospheric cycle was substantiated by the German physiologist J. Moleschott. And proposed in the 80s. 19th century division of organisms into three groups according to feeding methods (autotrophic, heterotrophic and mixotrophic) by a German physiologist W. Pfeffer was a major scientific generalization, contributing to the understanding of the basic metabolic processes in the biosphere.

The beginning of the doctrine of the biosphere is associated with the name of the famous French naturalist J.B. Lamarck. The definition of the biosphere was first introduced by the Austrian geologist E. Suess in 1875. We find a much broader idea of ​​the biosphere in V.I. Vernadsky.

Biosphere and man. At the initial stages of the existence of human society, the intensity of the impact on the environment did not differ from the impact of other organisms. Getting from environment means of subsistence in such an amount that was completely restored due to the natural processes of the biotic cycle, people returned to the biosphere what other organisms used for their life activity. The universal ability of microorganisms to destroy organic matter, and plants - to turn mineral substances into organic ones ensured the inclusion of the products of human economic activity in the biotic cycle.

The first human-made culture paleolith(stone Age) - lasted approximately 12–30 thousand years. It coincided with a long period of glaciation. The economic basis of the life of human society at that time was the hunting of large animals: reindeer, woolly rhinoceros, horses, mammoth, tour. Numerous bones of wild animals are found at the sites of a wild man - evidence of a successful hunt. Intensive extermination of large herbivores has led to a relatively rapid reduction in their numbers and the extinction of many species. If small herbivores could make up for the losses from persecution by hunters with a high birth rate, then large animals, due to the peculiarities of their biology, were deprived of this opportunity. Additional difficulties for them were created by the changes at the end of the Paleolithic climatic conditions. 10-12 thousand years ago there was a sharp warming, the glacier receded, forests spread in Europe. This created new living conditions, destroyed the existing economic base of human society. The period of its development, characterized by a purely consumer attitude towards the environment, has ended.

IN next era- era Neolithic(new stone age) - along with hunting, fishing and gathering, the process of food production is becoming increasingly important. The first attempts were made to domesticate animals and breed plants. At the sites of archaeological excavations of settlements that existed 9-10 thousand years ago, wheat, barley, lentils, bones of domestic animals - goats, pigs, sheep are found. The beginnings of agricultural and cattle-breeding economy are developing. Fire is widely used to destroy vegetation in slash-and-burn agriculture and as a means of hunting. The development of mineral resources begins, metallurgy is born.

The growth of the population, the intensive development of science and technology in the last two centuries, and especially today, have led to the fact that human activity has become a factor on a planetary scale, the guiding force for the further evolution of the biosphere. arose anthropocenoses(from Greek. anthropos- Human, koinos- general, community) - communities of organisms in which a person is the dominant species, and his activity determines the state of the entire system. At present, man extracts raw materials from the biosphere in significant and ever-increasing quantities, and modern industry and agriculture produce or use substances that are not only not used by other types of organisms, but are often poisonous and alien to nature. As a result, the biotic cycle becomes open. Water, atmosphere, soils are polluted with production wastes, forests are cut down, wild animals are exterminated, natural biogeocenoses are destroyed.

Undesirable consequences of uncontrolled human activity recognized by natural scientists in late XVIII- early 19th century (J.-L.-L. Buffon, J.-B. Lamarck).

According to their consequences, the impact of human society on the environment can be positive and negative. The latter are especially noteworthy. The main ways people influence nature are the use of natural resources in the form of minerals, soils, water resources; environmental pollution, extermination of species, destruction of biogeocenoses.

The positive influence of man is expressed in the breeding of new breeds of domestic animals and varieties of agricultural plants, the creation of cultural biogeocenoses, as well as in the development of new strains of beneficial microorganisms as the basis of the microbiological industry, the development of pond fisheries, products beneficial species in new living conditions.

Forecasts of the future of mankind, taking into account environmental issues standing in front of him are of direct interest to the entire population of the planet. According to experts, ecological situation, which is taking shape on Earth, is fraught with the danger of serious and, possibly, irreversible violations of the biosphere in the event that human activity does not acquire a systematic character consistent with the laws of the existence and development of the biosphere. At the same time, calculations show that human society does not use significant reserves of the biosphere.

One of the most acute problems of our time is the problem of the rapid growth of the world's population. The annual population growth in absolute terms reaches 60-70 million people, or about 2%. By 2000, the population reached 6 billion people. The land surface area on the planet is equal to 1.5 10 14 m 2, which is enough to accommodate 15–20 billion people with an average density of 300–400 people per 1 km 2, which is currently taking place in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Japan.

The growing population of the Earth must be provided with food. It is known that food production per capita is growing more slowly than the production of energy, clothing, and various materials. Many millions of people in underdeveloped countries experience; food shortage. At the same time, only 41% of the entire land area suitable for agriculture, on average around the globe, is occupied by agricultural land. At the same time, according to various experts, on the territory used, they receive from 3-4 to 30% of the amount of products possible with the current level of development of agricultural technology. The reasons for this are partly due to insufficient power supply. Agriculture. Thus, in Japan, when growing a crop that is five times larger than in India (from 1 hectare of agricultural land), they spend 20 times more electricity and 20-30 times more fertilizers and pesticides.

Already, 30% of metal products are made from recycled materials. With the existing technology, only 30-50% of reserves are extracted from oil fields. The yield of minerals can thus be increased by developing progressive mining methods. About 95% of energy is currently obtained from the combustion of fossil fuels, 3–4% from the energy of river runoff, and only 1–2% from nuclear fuel. The use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes solves the problem of the energy crisis.

The transforming activity of people is inevitable, since the well-being of the population is connected with it. Modern humanity has exceptionally powerful factors influencing the nature of the planet. Following the principle of scientifically based rational nature management allows to obtain a generally positive result.

The transformation of the biosphere into the noosphere. The concept of "noosphere" was introduced to science by the French philosopher E. Leroy in 1927

NoosphereLeroy called the shell of the Earth, which includes human society with its language, industry, culture and other attributes of intelligent activity.

The noosphere, according to E. Leroy, is a “thinking layer”, which, having originated at the end of the Tertiary period, has been unfolding since then over the world of plants and animals, outside the biosphere and above it.

A much broader idea of ​​the biosphere and noosphere was given by one of the outstanding scientists, the founder of geochemistry, biochemistry, and radiogeology, V.V. Vernadsky. He proceeded from the fact that natural-scientific hypotheses should reflect the objective reality of the material world - patterns associated with physicochemical, geological, biochemical and other processes in a single complex.

In contrast to the interpretation of the noosphere put forward by E. Leroy, Vernadsky represented the noosphere not as something external to the biosphere, but as new stage in the development of the biosphere, which consists in the reasonable regulation of relations between man and nature.

V. Vernadsky formulated a number of specific conditions necessary for the formation and existence of the noosphere. Let us list these conditions and see to what extent these conditions are met or are being met.

1.Human settlement of the entire planet. This condition has been met. There is no place left on Earth where no human has set foot. He settled even in Antarctica.

2.Dramatic transformation of means of communication and exchange between countries. This condition can also be considered fulfilled. With the help of radio and TV, we instantly learn about events anywhere in the world.

The means of communication are constantly improving, accelerating, there are such opportunities that it was difficult to dream of recently. And here it is impossible not to recall the prophetic words of Vernadsky:

This process - the complete settlement of the biosphere by man - is due to the course of the history of scientific thought, is inextricably linked with the speed of communication, with the success of the technique of movement, with the possibility of instantaneous transmission of thought, its simultaneous discussion on the entire planet.

Until recently, telecommunications were limited to the telegraph, telephone, radio and television. It was possible to transfer data from one computer to another using a modem connected to a telephone line. In recent years, the development of the global telecommunications computer network Internet has given rise to a real revolution in human civilization, which is entering the era information technologies. The growth of the development of the network, the improvement of computing and communication technology are now proceeding exponentially, like the reproduction and evolution of living organisms. Vernadsky drew attention to this at one time:

With a speed comparable to the rate of reproduction, expressed by a geometric progression in the course of time, an ever-growing multitude of inert natural bodies new to it and new large natural phenomena are created in this way in the biosphere, the course of scientific thought, for example, in the creation of machines, as noted long ago, is completely similar to the process of reproduction of organisms.

If earlier the Internet was used only by researchers in the field of informatics, government officials, now almost anyone can access it. And here we see the embodiment of Vernadsky's dream of a favorable environment for the development of scientific work, the popularization of scientific knowledge, and the internationality of science.

Any scientific fact Every scientific observation, no matter where and by whomever they are made, enters into a single scientific apparatus, is classified and reduced to a single form, and immediately becomes a common property for criticism, reflection and scientific work.

If earlier in order to be published scientific work, and scientific thought has become known to the world, it took years, now any scientist with access to the Internet can present his work to the scientific world.

3.Strengthening ties, including political ones, between all countries of the Earth. This condition can be considered, if not fulfilled, then fulfilled. The United Nations (UN), which emerged after the Second World War, turned out to be quite stable and effective.

4.The beginning of the predominance of the geological role of man over other geological processes occurring in the biosphere. This condition can also be considered fulfilled, although it was precisely the predominance of the geological role of man in a number of cases that led to severe environmental consequences. Volume rocks, extracted from the depths of the Earth by all the mines and quarries of the world, is now almost twice the average volume of lavas and ash carried out annually by all volcanoes on the Earth.

5.Expansion of the boundaries of the biosphere and access to space. In the works of the last decade of his life, Vernadsky did not consider the boundaries of the biosphere to be permanent. He emphasized their expansion in the past as a result of the emergence of living matter on land, the appearance of tall vegetation, flying insects, and later flying lizards and birds. In the process of transition to the noosphere, the boundaries of the biosphere, according to the teachings of Vernadsky, should expand, and man should go out into space. These predictions have come true.

6.Discovery of new energy sources. The condition is fulfilled in principle, but sometimes with tragic consequences. We are talking about atomic energy, which has long been mastered for both peaceful and, unfortunately, military purposes. Humanity (or rather, politicians) is clearly not yet ready to confine itself to peaceful purposes, moreover, atomic (nuclear) force has entered our century, primarily as a military means and a means of intimidating opposing nuclear powers. The question of the use of atomic energy deeply worried Vernadsky even more than half a century ago. In the preface to Essays and Speeches, he prophetically wrote:

The time is not far off when man will receive atomic energy in his hands, such a source of power that will give him the opportunity to build his life as he wants. Will a person be able to use this power, direct it to good, and not to self-destruction?

For the development of international cooperation in the field of the peaceful use of atomic energy, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established in 1957, uniting most of the UN member states.

7. Equality of people of all races and religions. This condition, if not achieved, is, in any case, achieved. In the last century, the destruction of colonial empires was a decisive step towards establishing the equality of people of different races and religions.

8.Increasing the role of the masses in resolving issues of foreign and domestic policy. This condition is observed in many countries with a parliamentary form of government.

9.Freedom of scientific thought and scientific research from the pressure of religious, philosophical and political constructions and the creation in the state system of conditions favorable for free scientific thought. Now it is difficult to speak about the fulfillment of this condition in different countries. For supporting Russian science established international funds. In developed and even developing countries, for example, in India, the state and social system creates a maximum favorable regime for free scientific thought.

10. Well thought out system public education and the rise in the well-being of workers. Creation real opportunity to prevent malnutrition and hunger, poverty and alleviate disease. It is too early to judge the fulfillment of this condition. However, Vernadsky warned that the process of transition of the biosphere into the noosphere cannot occur gradually and in one direction, that temporary deviations are inevitable along this path.

11.A reasonable transformation of the primary nature of the Earth in order to make it capable of satisfying all the material, aesthetic and spiritual needs of a numerically growing population. This condition cannot yet be considered fulfilled, however, the first steps towards a reasonable transformation of nature in the second half of the last century, undoubtedly, began to be carried out. The whole system of scientific knowledge provides the foundation for solving environmental problems.

12.The exclusion of wars from the life of society. Vernadsky considered this condition extremely important for the creation and existence of the noosphere. But it has not yet been completed. In general, the world community is striving to prevent a world war, although local wars continuously arise.

Thus, we see that most of the conditions the transition of the biosphere into the noosphere is performed, and those for which such conditions are not yet ripe can in principle be fulfilled by the combined efforts of all mankind. However, it is clear that the process of transition to the noosphere will be gradual. This was repeatedly emphasized by Vernadsky himself, arguing that human civilization is only entering a transitional period from the biosphere to the noosphere.

At the present stage, it is too early to talk about the intelligent planetary activity of mankind. The noosphere is a certain image or ideal of future planetary development. Vernadsky's ideas were far ahead of the time in which he worked. This fully applies to the doctrine of the biosphere and its transition to the noosphere. Only now, in conditions of extraordinary aggravation global problems modernity, the prophetic words of Vernadsky about the need to think and act in the planetary - biospheric - aspect become clear. Only now the illusions of technocracy, the conquest of nature are crumbling, and the essential unity of the biosphere and humanity is becoming clear. The fate of our planet and the fate of mankind are the same fate.

Aspiration to the future is a characteristic feature of the noospheric doctrine, which in modern conditions needs to be developed in all directions.

Similar information.

Considering the question of the origin of life on Earth, we briefly mentioned the biosphere, living matter and its biogeochemical functions discovered by V.I. Vernadsky. The present topic involves a more detailed study of these issues.

For many hundreds of human generations, the interaction of man with the environment did not cause noticeable changes in the biosphere, but all this time there was an accumulation of knowledge and strength. Gradually, using his intellectual superiority over other representatives of the animal world, man embraced with his activity the entire upper shell of the planet - the entire biosphere. This activity led to the domestication of animals, to the breeding of cultivated plants. Man began to change the world around him and create for himself a new living nature that had never existed on the planet.

Under the influence of human labor, from the moment of the appearance of mankind, the process of modifying the biosphere and its transition to a new qualitative state began and continues to take place at an increasing pace. Natural science knows earlier transitions of the biosphere to qualitatively new states, accompanied by its almost complete restructuring. But this transition is something special, incomparable phenomenon.

In the system of the modern scientific worldview, the concept of the biosphere occupies a key place in many sciences. The development of the doctrine of the biosphere is inextricably linked with the name of V.I. Vernadsky, although it has a rather long background, which began with the book by J.-B. Lamarck "Hydrogeology" (1802), which contains one of the first substantiations of the idea of ​​the influence of living organisms on geological processes. Then there was the grandiose multi-volume work of A. Humboldt "Cosmos" (the first book was published in 1845), in which a lot of facts were collected confirming the thesis about the interaction of living organisms with those earthly shells into which they penetrate. The term “biosphere” itself was first introduced into science by the German geologist and paleontologist Eduard Suess, who meant by it an independent sphere intersecting with others in which life exists on Earth. He defined the biosphere as a collection of organisms limited in space and time and living on the surface of the Earth.

But nothing has yet been said about the geological role of the biosphere, about its dependence on the planetary factors of the Earth. For the first time, the idea of ​​the geological functions of living matter, the idea of ​​the totality of the entire organic world as a single inseparable whole was expressed by V.I. Vernadsky. His concept developed gradually, from the first student work "On the change in the soil of the steppes by rodents" (1884) to "Living Matter" (manuscript at the turn of the 1920s), "Biosphere" (1926), "Biogeochemical Essays" (1940), as well as "Chemical structure of the Earth's biosphere" and "Philosophical thoughts of a naturalist", on which he worked in the last decades of his life - the theoretical result of the work of a scientist and thinker.

By introducing the concept of living matter as the totality of all living organisms on the planet, including humans, Vernadsky thereby reached a qualitatively new level of analysis of life and living things - the biospheric one. This made it possible to understand life as a powerful geological force on our planet, effectively shaping the very appearance of the Earth. In functional terms, living matter became the link that connected history chemical elements with the evolution of the biosphere. The introduction of this concept also made it possible to raise and resolve the issue of the mechanisms of the geological activity of living matter, the sources of energy for this.

The geological role of living matter is based on its geochemical functions, which modern science classifies into five categories: energy, concentration, destructive, environment-forming, transport. They are based on the fact that living organisms, by their breathing, their nutrition, their metabolism, and the continuous change of generations, give rise to the most grandiose planetary phenomenon - the migration of chemical elements in the biosphere. This predetermined the decisive role of living matter and the biosphere in the formation of the modern appearance of the Earth - its atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere.

Such grandiose transformations of the geosphere require gigantic expenditures of energy. Its source is the biogeochemical energy of the living matter of the biosphere, discovered by Vernadsky.

The biosphere is the living substance of the planet and the inert substance transformed by it (formed without the participation of life). Thus, it is not a biological, geological or geographical concept. This is a fundamental concept of biogeochemistry, one of the main structural components organization of our planet and near-Earth outer space, the sphere in which bioenergetic processes and metabolism are carried out as a result of the activity of life.

The film of the biosphere enveloping the Earth is very thin. Today it is generally accepted that microbial life occurs in the atmosphere up to about 20-22 km above the earth's surface, and the presence of life in deep oceanic depressions lowers this limit to 8-11 km below sea level. The penetration of life into the earth's crust is much less, and microorganisms are found during deep drilling and in formation waters no deeper than 2 - 3 km. But this thinnest film covers absolutely the entire Earth, leaving not a single place on our planet (including deserts and ice expanses of the Arctic and Antarctic), where there would be no life. Of course, the amount of living matter in different areas of the biosphere is different. Its largest amount is located in the upper layers of the lithosphere (soil), hydrosphere and lower atmosphere. As one goes deeper into the earth's crust, the ocean, higher into the atmosphere, the amount of living matter decreases, but there is no sharp boundary between the biosphere and the earth's shells surrounding it. And above all, there is no such boundary in the atmosphere that would make the biosphere closed to all cosmic radiation, as well as solar energy. Thus, the biosphere is open to space, bathed in the flows of cosmic energy. Processing this energy, living matter transforms our planet. The very formation of the biosphere, including the origin of life on Earth, is the result of the action of these cosmic forces, the most important factor in the functioning of the biosphere.

Cosmic radiation and, above all, the energy of the Sun have a constant effect on all phenomena on Earth. The founder of heliobiology A.L. Chizhevsky was especially interested in the study of solar-terrestrial relations. He noted that the most diverse and diverse phenomena on Earth - both the chemical transformations of the earth's crust, and the dynamics of the planet itself and its constituent parts, the atmosphere, hydro- and lithosphere - proceed under the direct influence of the Sun. The sun is the main (along with cosmic radiation and the energy of radioactive decay in the bowels of the Earth) source of energy, the cause of everything on Earth - from a light breeze and plant growth to tornadoes and hurricanes and human mental activity.

The connection between solar activity cycles and processes in the biosphere was noticed as early as the 18th century. Then the English astronomer W. Herschel drew attention to the relationship between wheat yields and the number of sunspots. At the end of the 19th century, Professor of Odessa University F.N. Shvedov, studying a section of the trunk of a hundred-year-old acacia, found that the thickness of annual rings changes every 11 years, as if repeating the cycle of solar activity.

Summarizing the experience of his predecessors, A.L. Chizhevsky provided a solid scientific basis for these empirical data. He believed that the Sun dictates the rhythm of the majority biological processes on the ground; when many spots form on it, chromospheric flashes appear and the brightness of the corona increases, epidemics break out on our planet, the growth of trees increases, agricultural pests and microorganisms that cause various diseases multiply especially strongly.

Of particular interest is Chizhevsky's statement that the Sun significantly influences not only biological, but also social processes on Earth. Social conflicts (wars, riots, revolutions), according to Chizhevsky, are largely determined by the behavior and activity of our star. According to his calculations, during the minimum solar activity, there is a minimum of mass active social manifestations in society (approximately 5%). During the peak of solar activity, their number reaches 60%. These conclusions of Chizhevsky only confirm the inseparable unity of man and the cosmos, point to their close mutual influence.

MAN AND SPACE

The initial basis for the existence of the biosphere and the biogeochemical processes occurring in it is the astronomical position of our planet, primarily its distance from the Sun and its inclination. earth's axis to the plane of the earth's orbit. This spatial arrangement of the Earth mainly determines the climate on the planet, and the latter, in turn, determines life cycles all organisms that exist on it. The sun is the main source of all geological, chemical and biological processes on our planet.

Today, the majority of scientists are unanimous in their opinion that man and mankind are part of the living matter of our planet. This means that people are also exposed to cosmic energies and solar radiation. Thus, the human body, like the organisms of other animals, adapts to the rhythms of the biogeosphere, primarily daily (circadian) and seasonal, associated with the change of seasons.

Human metabolism proceeds in a circadian rhythm inherited from generation to generation. It is currently believed that about forty processes in the human body are subject to a strict circadian rhythm. For example, back in 1931, cyclicity was established in the functioning of the human liver. In people who lead a normal life and eat three times a day, in the first half of the day the liver secretes the largest number bile, which is necessary for the digestion of fats and proteins, using up the glycogen stored in it and turning it into simple varieties of sugar. It gives off water, forming a lot of urea, and accumulates fats. In the afternoon, the liver begins to absorb sugars, accumulating glycogen and water. The volume of its cells increases three times.

During the day, the content of hemoglobin in the blood cyclically fluctuates, its maximum falls on 11-13 hours, and the minimum - on 16-18. The content of potassium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, and iron in the blood is subject to daily fluctuations. At night, the amount of magnesium salts increases, and in the cerebral fluid - the amount of potassium salts. Both of these compounds dampen neuromuscular excitability. The autonomic nervous system also works according to the daily schedule. Statistics say that even birth and death occur more often in the dark part of the day, around midnight.

All living nature sensitively reacts to seasonal changes in ambient temperature, the intensity of solar radiation - trees become leafy in spring, leaves fall in autumn, metabolic processes fade, many animals hibernate, etc. Man is no exception. Throughout the year, it changes the intensity of metabolism, the composition of tissue cells, and these fluctuations are different in different climatic zones. Yes, in southern regions(Sochi) the hemoglobin content and the number of erythrocytes, as well as the maximum and minimum blood pressure in the cold period, increase by 20 percent compared to the warm period.

In the conditions of the North, the highest percentage of hemoglobin was found in most of the surveyed residents in the summer months, and the lowest - in winter and early spring.

Cycles of solar activity also have an impact on human life. So, having processed material on outbreaks of relapsing fever in European Russia from 1883 to 1917, as well as data on cholera in Russia from 1823 to 1923 and data on solar activity, Chizhevsky came to the conclusion that these earthly phenomena occur synchronously with changes, occurring in different solar spheres. Back in the 1930s, based on the graphs he built, he predicted that an epidemic outbreak of cholera would occur in 1960-1962, which actually happened in the countries of Southeast Asia.

The fact that the state of solar activity is not indifferent to life on Earth is also shown by the increase in the number of cases of infection with scabies in 1968 and the unexpected jump in the number of diseases of tick-borne encephalitis and tularemia at the top of the maximum secular cycle of solar activity in 1957 (despite the ongoing, as in the past years, vaccination of the population). Here we find a clear relationship between man and the plant and animal world, in which all life cycles: diseases, mass migrations, periods of rapid reproduction of mammals, insects, viruses - proceed synchronously with eleven-year cycles of solar activity, as well as the alternation of thunderstorm and calm summer weather, more and less crop production, etc.

Hematologists came to the conclusion that during the years of maximum solar activity, the rate of blood clotting in healthy people doubles, and since compensatory activity, in particular the ability of blood not to coagulate, is depressed in cardiovascular patients, heart attacks and strokes become more frequent with an increase in sun spots.

The above facts allow us to talk about the influence of space on physiological processes in a separate human body. But at the same time, a person is a part of humanity, a social organism, which is also subject to the influence of solar activity. Chizhevsky tried to establish the relationship of eleven-year-olds solar cycles with saturation historical events different periods of human history. As a result of his analysis, he concluded that the maximum of social activity coincides with the maximum of solar activity. The middle points of the course of the cycle give the maximum mass activity of mankind, expressed in revolutions, uprisings, wars, campaigns, migrations, they are the beginnings of new historical epochs in the history of mankind. At the extreme points of the course of the cycle, the tension of universal human activity of a military or political nature drops to a minimum, giving way to creative activity and accompanied by a general decline in political and military enthusiasm, peace and calm. creative work in the field of state building, science and art.

These ideas about the connection between the cosmos, man and the biosphere, presented by the concepts of Vernadsky and Chizhevsky, formed the basis of L.N. Gumilyov about the passionary impetus that gives birth to new ethnic groups. The key concept of Gumilyov's concept of ethnogenesis is the concept of passionarity, which he defines as an increased desire for action. The appearance of this trait in an individual is a mutation that affects the energy mechanisms of the human body. A passionary (carrier of passionarity) becomes able to absorb more energy from the environment than is necessary for his normal life. The excess of the received energy is directed by him to any area of ​​human activity, the choice of which is determined by the specific historical conditions and inclinations of the person himself. A passionary can become a great conqueror (Alexander the Great, Napoleon, etc.) or a traveler (Marco Polo, A. Przhevalsky, etc.), a great scientist (A. Einstein, J. Goethe, etc.) or a religious doer (Buddha, Christ). The appearance of the property of passionarity is initiated by some specific rare cosmic radiation (passionary shocks occur 2-3 times per millennium). Carriers of passionarity appear in the zone of the trace from this radiation - bands 200 - 300 km wide, but up to half the planet's circumference. If several peoples living in different landscapes find themselves in the zone of this radiation, they can become the embryo of a new ethnic group. The change of ethnic groups is the process of world history, the cause of progressive changes in it.

COSMIZATION OF MODERN SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

Gradually, ideas about the connection between the biosphere and space, man and space, society and space entered the scientific circulation, becoming an important part of the modern scientific worldview, a characteristic feature of modern culture. These views are usually called cosmism, and the very process of forming such a worldview is called the cosmization of science and philosophy. A sign of a cosmic worldview is the introduction into the mass consciousness of the above ideas about the connection between the Earth and space, the awareness of this dependence and the transition from anthropocentrism to biospherocentrism, which makes the interests of man and mankind dependent on the needs of the entire planet and all life on it.

Today, the study of the Earth by separate sciences, which are in no way connected with each other, is becoming a thing of the past, this approach is being replaced by the study of our planet from global positions, which make it possible to comprehend the Earth as a whole, as part of the cosmos, which is interconnected and interdependent with a single whole of outer space.

Part of the new cosmic outlook is the expansion of the subject of many old classical sciences, their withdrawal beyond the study of purely terrestrial phenomena and processes, the emergence of a cosmic aspect in their research (astrochemistry, exobiology, radiation genetics, etc.). In connection with the exit of man into space, astronautics appeared as a response to the theoretical and practical problems of this step. At the same time, people are increasingly putting the natural forces of the cosmic order at their service (for example, the use of nuclear energy).

A new worldview requires the introduction of a new system of values, a new solution to the "eternal" human questions about the meaning of life, death and immortality, good and evil, which should be oriented towards a person's awareness of the cosmic significance of his activity.

The formation of a new worldview has been especially active in recent decades, although the first ideas of cosmism arose at the dawn of human history. After all, cosmism has never been only a philosophical or natural-science school; it cannot be considered an artistic direction either. It can be defined as a peculiar direction of thinking, a state of mind in the atmosphere of which new approaches to the development of a holistic concept of the universe, ideas about the organic unity of the whole world and its closest connection with the Universe, with the cosmos were formed. Cosmism understood in this way was originally inherent in the cultural self-consciousness of mankind - the mythological consciousness of our ancestors was completely based on the paradigm of cosmism. This is evidenced by their intuitive ideas about the close connection between the world and man, the revitalization of the world, as well as attempts to discover some universal laws behind the formidable natural elements that harmonize these relationships, which was reflected in the cosmological myths of different peoples. Then there was the Platonic picture of the world based on the recognition of the primacy of the world of ideas, immanent to material existence. Periodically, cosmism also came to life in Christianized Platonism, in the natural-philosophical developments of the Renaissance.

Cosmism experienced a most serious crisis in modern times in connection with the development of science, which schematized reality and consigned to oblivion the ideas of integral knowledge. And, although the ideas of the unity of the world, man and space (D. Bruno, G. Galileo, N. Copernicus, etc.) were periodically revived in the natural science of modern times, they could not reverse the prevailing trends in the development of European science, its desire for strict rationalism and analyticism .

Only in the second half of the 19th century did European science and philosophy demonstrate tendencies towards the synthesis of knowledge, although they were perceived by European culture with great difficulty.

Russia was in a completely different situation in the second half of the 19th century. Our country was freed from the burden of ideas that dominated Europe. After all, both Russian science, born in the 18th century, and Russian philosophy, which has existed since the 11th century (their true flowering begins from the second half of XIX century), were based on the deep archetypes of Russian consciousness, among which was cosmism. This is due to the fact that in Russia the pagan holistic worldview was not destroyed by Christianity. Moreover, Russian Orthodoxy also represented the cosmos as a living organism in constant interaction with the Creator, spoke of the important role of man in this interaction.

These ideas, latently stored in the Russian mind, combined with the realization of the crisis of the scientific worldview at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries and gave the world the phenomenon of Russian cosmism - characteristic feature Russian culture of the second half of the 19th century - the first half of the 20th century. We cannot speak of cosmism as a purely Russian phenomenon, but if in Europe it was associated with individual bright thinkers and barely emerging trends in the development of thought, then in Russia it has become a whole layer of culture, represented in the work of a remarkable constellation of scientists, philosophers and artists. . The ideas of cosmism in Russia found their expression in the works of V. V. Dokuchaev, V. I. Vernadsky, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, A. L. Chizhevsky, L. N. Gumilyov, N. G. Kholodny, S. P. Korolev , N. A. Morozova, N. F. Fedorova, V. S. Solovyov, A. Bely, A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, etc.

Of particular interest today are the ideas of N. F. Fedorov, who was one of the first to create his concept of cosmism. He believed that the growth of the population on Earth, which he associated with the need to resurrect all previously living people, would lead to the development of other planets on which they would be settled. In this regard, he proposed his own version of the movement of people in outer space. To do this, in his opinion, it will be necessary to master the electromagnetic energy of the globe, which will allow to regulate its movement in world space and turn the Earth into a kind of spaceship. In the future, a person, according to Fedorov, will unite all the worlds and become a "planetary engineer".

Fedorov's ideas about the resettlement of people on other planets were supported by his student, one of the founders of rocket science and the theory of space flights K.E. Tsiolkovsky. Based on his idea of ​​the universality of life, always and everywhere existing through moving and eternally living atoms, Tsiolkovsky built his "cosmic philosophy".

He believed that life and intelligence on earth are not the only ones in the universe. A number of planets also have an intelligent, organic, sentient world. But our planet is much younger than many other planets, so life on Earth is less perfect than on these planets. Consequently, outer space is inhabited by intelligent beings of various levels of development. There are planets in the Universe that have reached the highest level in the development of intelligence and power and are ahead of others. These "perfect" planets have the moral right to regulate life on other, yet more primitive planets.

Tsiolkovsky believed that our planet in the universe has a special role. Earth belongs to the category of young planets, "promising". Only a small number of such planets will be given the right to independent development. Earth is one of them. In the evolution of the planets, a union of all intelligent higher beings of the cosmos will gradually be formed. The task of the Earth in this union is to contribute to the improvement of space. To do this, earthlings need to start space flights and start settling on other planets of the Universe. This is the main idea of ​​his "cosmic philosophy": migration from the Earth and the settlement of the Cosmos.

The works of these and other thinkers substantiated the dependence of the cosmos and the mind, proved the need to unite people not on the basis of socio-political or ideological theories, but on the basis of ideas of an ecological order. But the main result of their activity was the creation of such a cultural situation in which a change of paradigms in science became possible, a restructuring of the scientific and cognitive attitudes of a scientist who now deals not with nature in its pristine purity, but with nature changed by human activity. This is a new understanding of the place and role of man in the world. From now on, it began to be understood as the pinnacle of the development of matter on Earth, in the solar system, and perhaps in the universe. It becomes a force capable of mastering and transforming nature on a cosmic scale in the future. The result of these reflections on the role of man was the formulation of the anthropic principle in modern science.

ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE

The ideas of cosmism gradually put scientists in front of the question: why is our Universe the way it is? More strictly, this question sounds like this: why do the physical constants (universal: Planck, the speed of light, as well as such constants as the gravitational constant, the charge of the electron and proton) have such and not other values, and what would happen to the Universe if these values ​​are different? The legitimacy of this question is determined by the fact that the numerical values ​​of the physical constants are not theoretically substantiated in any way, they are obtained experimentally and independently of each other.

The uncertain situation with physical constants caused a desire to check what the consequences of changing the values ​​of individual physical constants or their whole group will be for the Universe. The analysis carried out led to a stunning conclusion. It turned out that quite small, within 10-30 percent, deviations of the values ​​of the constants in one direction or another are enough - and our Universe will turn out to be such a simplified system that there can be no question of any of its directed development. The main stable states - nuclei, atoms, stars and galaxies - cannot exist.

For example, an increase in Planck's constant by more than 15 percent makes it impossible for a proton to combine with a neutron, that is, it makes nucleosynthesis impossible. The same result is obtained if the proton mass is increased by 30 percent. A decrease in the values ​​of these physical constants would open up the possibility of the formation of a stable helium nucleus, which would result in the burning out of all hydrogen in the early stages of the expansion of the Universe. We have to admit that there are very narrow "gates" suitable values physical constants within which the existence of the familiar universe is possible.

But the "coincidences" don't end there. Let us recall those of them with whom we have already met, speaking about the evolution of the Universe. A slight asymmetry between matter and antimatter allowed the formation of a baryonic universe at an early stage, without which it would have degenerated into a photon-lepton desert; thanks to the stoppage of primary nucleosynthesis at the stage of formation of helium nuclei, the hydrogen-helium Universe could arise; the presence in the carbon nucleus of an excited electronic level with an energy almost exactly equal to the total energy of three helium nuclei opened up the possibility for stellar nucleosynthesis to proceed, during which all the elements of the periodic table were formed, heavier than hydrogen and helium; the arrangement of energy levels at the oxygen nucleus again accidentally turned out to be such that it does not allow all carbon nuclei to turn into oxygen in the processes of stellar nucleosynthesis, and carbon is the basis of organic chemistry and, therefore, of life. The totality of numerous accidents of this kind is aptly named by P. Davis as "fine tuning" of the Universe.

Thus, science is faced with a large group of facts, the separate consideration of which creates the impression of inexplicable random coincidences bordering on a miracle. The probability of each such coincidence is very small, and even their joint existence is completely unbelievable. Then it seems quite reasonable to raise the question of the existence of yet unknown regularities that are able to organize the Universe in a certain way and the consequences of which we are faced with.

So, the presence of "fine tuning", certain physical laws, the properties of the elements and the nature of the interactions between them determine the structure of our Universe. In the course of its development, structural elements of increasing complexity appear, and at one of the stages of development, an “observer” appears who is able to detect the existence of “fine tuning” and think about the reasons that gave rise to it.

An observer who has our system of perception of the world and our logic will inevitably have a question: is the “fine tuning” of the Universe discovered by him accidental or is it predetermined by some kind of global process of self-organization? And this means that the old problem that has worried humanity throughout its entire conscious history is emerging: do we occupy a special place in this world or is this position the result of random development. Recognition of “fine tuning” as natural natural phenomenon leads to the conclusion that from the very beginning the emergence of an "observer" at a certain stage of its development is potentially laid in the Universe. Accepting such a conclusion is tantamount to recognizing the existence of certain goals in nature.

In this situation, the anthropic principle was put forward and is currently being widely discussed. In the 1970s, it was formulated in two versions by the English scientist Carter. The first of these was called the weak anthropic principle: "What we intend to observe must satisfy the conditions necessary for the presence of a person as an observer." The second option is called the strong anthropic principle: "The universe must be such that an observer could exist in it at some stage of evolution."

The weak anthropic principle is interpreted in such a way that during the evolution of the Universe a variety of conditions could exist, but a human observer sees the world only at the stage at which the conditions necessary for its existence were realized. In particular, for the appearance of man, it was necessary that, in the course of the expansion of matter, the Universe passed through all those stages that were mentioned above. It is clear that a person could not observe them, since the physical conditions then did not ensure its appearance. But, on the other hand, all these stages could only take place in a world where “fine tuning” existed. Therefore, the very fact of the appearance of a person already predetermines what he should see: both the modern Universe and the presence of “fine tuning” in it. In short, since a person exists, he will see in a very definite way organized world because he can't see anything else.

A more serious content lies in the strong anthropic principle. In essence, we are talking about the random or regular origin of the “fine tuning” of the Universe. Recognition of the natural structure of the Universe entails the recognition of the principle that organizes it. If we consider “fine tuning” to be random, then we have to postulate the multiple birth of universes, in each of which random values ​​of physical constants, physical laws, etc. are randomly realized. In some of them, a “fine adjustment” will randomly occur, ensuring the appearance of an observer at a certain stage of development, and he will see a completely comfortable world, of which he will initially not be aware of the accidental occurrence. True, the probability of this is very small.

If we recognize the “fine tuning” as originally incorporated in the Universe, then the line of its subsequent development is predetermined, and the appearance of an observer at the corresponding stage is inevitable. From this it follows that in the Universe that was born, its future was potentially laid, and the development process acquires a purposeful character. The appearance of the mind is not only “planned” in advance, but also has a certain purpose, which will manifest itself in the subsequent development process.

So far, we still know too little about the Universe, because earthly life is only a small part of a gigantic whole. But we have the right to make any guesses, if they do not contradict the known laws of nature. And it is quite possible that if mankind continues to exist, if its ability to know itself and the world around it is preserved, then one of the main tasks of the future scientific search of mankind will be the realization of its destiny in the Universe.

Seminar plan (2 hours)

1. Biosphere and living matter: definitions, functions and role in geological processes.

2. Influence of space on biospheric processes and human life.

3. Anthropic principle in modern science and philosophy.

Topics of reports and abstracts

1. A.L. Chizhevsky on the influence of the Sun on natural and social phenomena.

2. VI Vernadsky about the biosphere and living matter.

3. Russian cosmism as a cultural phenomenon.

LITERATURE

1. Alekseev V.P. The formation of mankind. M., 1984.

2. Budko N.P., Fedorov V.M. The doctrine of the biosphere, the scientific picture of the world and the global problems of our time // Vestn. Moscow State University. Ser. "Philosophy". 1988, No. 1.

3. Vernadsky V.I. Philosophical thoughts of a naturalist. M., 1988.

4. Vernadsky V.I. Chemical structure of the Earth's biosphere and its environment. M., 1987.

5. Girenok F.I. Russian cosmists. M., 1990.

6. Davis P. Random Universe. M., 1985.

7. Kaznacheev V.P. Teachings of V.I.Vernadsky about the biosphere and noosphere. Novosibirsk, 1989.

8. Kaznacheev V.P. The doctrine of the biosphere. M., 1985.

9. Kuznetsov V.I., Idlis G.M., Gutina V.N. Natural science. M., 1996.

10. Leonoich V.V. Philosophical questions of medicine, biology, sociology. L., 1973.

11. Rovinsky R.E. Developing Universe. M., 1996.

12. Ursul AD., Ursul T.A. Evolution, space, man. Chisinau, 1986.

13. Chizhevsky AL. Earth echo of solar storms. M., 1973.

14. Chizhevsky A.L. Physical factors of the historical process. Kaluga, 1924 (reprint).

UDC 550.4+551.02

SPACE IMPACT ON THE EARTH'S BIOSPHERE

S.G. Neruchev

All-Russian Oil Research Geological Prospecting Institute (VNIGRI),

Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Email mail: [email protected] The article was received by the editors on 03/29/2010, accepted for publication on 05/07/2010

Planet Earth is a space object. Its circulation around the Sun determines every year the manifestation of the well-known climatic seasons of the year, to which the biosphere clearly reacts. Much less is known about the impact on the Earth's biosphere of much longer periods due to the revolution of the Sun together with the Earth around the center of the Galaxy, the so-called galactic years. The purpose of the article is to consider, using the accumulated paleobiological materials, the impact on the Earth's biosphere of changing cosmic conditions during galactic years and their climatic seasons with a frequency of about 200 million years, as well as shorter-term changes in cosmic conditions that cause the activation of deep processes on Earth and the manifestation of biospheric crises in each galactic year with a frequency of about 30 million years. The geological, paleobiological and astronomical data characterizing the most studied Phanerozoic era of the Earth with a duration of about 600 million years, from the beginning of the Cambrian period to the present moment, served as material for the analysis of these phenomena. Key words: biosphere, space, galactic years, crisis biospheric events.

COSMIC INFLUENCES ON THE EARTH BIOSPHERE

Oil and Geological Prospecting Institute, Saint-Petersburg, Russia E-mail: [email protected]

The planet Earth is a cosmic object. Its orbiting around the Sun results in well known seasonal changes in the biosphere. Less familiar are significantly longer periodic changes caused by Solar system orbiting around the center of our Galaxy, the so-called galactic years. The present article uses paleobiological data to discuss changes in the Earth biosphere associated with galactic year periods of about 200 million years and, also changes featuring shorter periodicity associated with stirring of deep planetary processes in the Earth and with biospheric crises occurring several times over each galactic year. These phenomena are exemplified with geologic, paleobiologic, and astronomical data related to the Phanerozoic era lasting from the beginning of the Cambrian period up to the present time.

Keywords: biosphere, Cosmos, galactic year, biospheric crises.

Introduction

The idea of ​​the influence of space on the planet Earth and its biosphere has long attracted the attention of researchers. In a number of works, starting from 1982, this problem was repeatedly considered by me.

The calculation of the galactic orbit of the Sun was first made by P.P. Parenago in 1952 and determined the duration of the galactic year - the time of revolution of the Sun around the center of the Galaxy at 212 million years. The average angular motion of the Sun for 1 million years was taken by him roundedly equal to 1.7°, although in fact, according to his data, it is equal to 1.68°. In accordance with this, the period of revolution of the Sun could be determined by P.P. Parenago and somewhat larger, equal to 214 Ma.

Based on the periodicity of terrestrial geological and biological events and geochronology, I initially determined the duration of the galactic

which year at 220 million years, and somewhat later, in accordance with the more accurate geochronological scale of W.B. Harland and others, - at 216 million years. Somewhat later Yu.A. Zakoldaev, based on the analysis of geochronological scales, determined the duration of the galactic year at 217 million years.

As you can see, the discrepancies in the definition of the galactic year by different authors are small and amount to only a fraction of a percent, i.e. one can speak of an almost perfect correspondence.

Very important in the works of astronomers A.A. Shpital, A.A. Efremov and Yu.A. Zakoldaev turned out to be their conclusion that as a result of the addition of the orbital velocity of the Sun with the absolute velocity of the Galaxy relative to the microwave radiation of the Universe discovered in 1965, the absolute velocity of the Sun during its orbital motion changes significantly,

reaching a maximum (> 800 km/s) in apogalactia and a minimum (400 km/s) in perigalactia. According to the authors, this should lead to periodic changes in the mass of the bodies of the Solar System, to pulsations in the size of these bodies, and to a change in the luminosity of the Sun.

A.G. Shlenov calculated the mass increment (Am), the power received from the physical vacuum (AR), and the change in the luminosity of the Sun and planets (Table 1). In accordance with these calculations, the increase in the luminosity of the Sun each galactic year in apogalactia increased to 5.3-1028 erg/s, i.e. 4 times.

Palaeographic evidence for the existence of a galactic year

Above was the theory. Are there any facts supporting these theoretical constructions? Yes, there are such confirmations. Significant cooling on Earth is evidenced by glacial events. They manifested themselves on Earth mainly during periods of intense basalt volcanism, which led to clouding of the atmosphere, the release of sulfur dioxide with the formation of sulfur aerosols, scattering Sun rays and reduce solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface. According to the data during the passage of the Sun's orbit from the side of the perigalactium, i.e. during the cold period, 12 glacial events with a total duration of about 58 million years were manifested, and when the Sun passed the orbit from the side of apogalactia, only three glacial events with a total duration of about 14 million years occurred.

During the warm summer half-periods of galactic years, when the Sun was in orbit from the side of the apogalactium, the bioproductivity of terrestrial vegetation increased significantly, as a result of which 84.9% of the world's coal reserves were formed in the warm summer half-periods, and in the cold, when the Sun was in orbit from the side of the perigalactium, - only 15.1% of coals. Oil is a product of thermal destruction of the planktonogenic organic matter of the seas accumulated in sediments. In the warm summer half-periods, 84.7% of the world's oil reserves were formed, and in the cold - only 15.3%.

In addition, there are direct confirmations of summer and winter galactic periods based on the determination of paleotemperatures from the ratio of oxygen isotopes (18O/16O) in organic remains.

E.J. Barron showed that the average global temperature on the Earth's surface "summer" in the Cretaceous period was 6-12 ° C higher than in the present "winter" time. The temperature of the deep ocean waters was about 15 °C.

Rice. 1. Change average temperature on the Earth's surface in the third galactic year (K1-0) from mid-summer to early winter. According to .

Evidence of a warm climate and frost-free winters are also the remains of salamanders, lizards, turtles and crocodiles even at the end of the galactic summer in high latitudes beyond the arctic circle.

Rice. 1 illustrates, according to T.1. Сro^^ey , a significant decrease in global temperature on Earth from the Cretaceous period, when the Sun was in apogalactia, to the modern "winter" period from 20 ° C to 10 ° C in the last ice age and up to 14 °С during the interglacial period.

Thus, the reality of the manifestation of the galactic seasons - summer when the Sun passes through the orbit in the apogalactium, and winter when it passes through the perigalactium - does not raise any doubts.

Taking into account astronomical calculations, stratigraphy based on the study of fauna and flora, and geochronology based on radioactive age dating of rocks, in Fig. 2 shows the orbital geochronological scale for the Phanerozoic, which has a time duration of about 600 Ma.

The duration of the revolution of the Sun around the center of the Galaxy is taken as 216 million years. Geological time was counted from the zero (modern) moment, from the point in the orbit where the Sun is currently located, not far from the perigalactium, in the direction opposite to the Sun's motion. After placing the dates of all periods and epochs of the Phanerozoic into orbit, one can be convinced that in the Cambrian, Carboniferous and Cretaceous periods, the Sun was indeed in orbit from the apogalactian side, and in the Silurian,

Table 1

The results of calculations of increments of the mass of power received from the physical vacuum and the luminosity of the Earth and the Sun according to A.G. Shlenov

Absolute speed of the Sun (km/s) Earth Sun

Am, g AR, erg/s AL, erg/s Am, g AR, erg/s AL, erg/s

400 0.53-1022 0.44 1021 0.36 15 0.77 -1027 1.48 1026 1.33 -1028

800 2,12 1022 1,78 -1021 1,42 1015 7,07 -1027 5,92 1026 5,33 1028

Increments 1.6 1022 1.3 1021 1.11015 5.3 1027 4.4 1026 4.0 1028

Rice. 2. Orbital geochronological scale with climatic seasons of the galactic year.

The orbit is given according to P.P. Parenago. A - apogalactia, P - peri-galactia. Age dating of the boundaries of periods and epochs is given according to U.B. Harland and others. The digitization of time along the orbit is given in millions of years from the present moment for one revolution of the Sun. In previous revolutions, time is defined as n+216 and n+(216 x 2). I, II, III - galactic years of the Phanerozoic. Geological periods: C - Cambrian, O - Ordovician, S - Silurian, D - Devonian, C - Carboniferous (Carboniferous), P - Permian, T - Triassic, J - Jurassic, K - Cretaceous, P - Paleogene, N - Neogene.

Triassic periods and in the Neogene time - from the side of the perigalactium. The beginning of the Cambrian, Carboniferous and Cretaceous periods, from which the galactic years begin, turned out to be at one point of the orbit from the apogalactic side, i.e. at the beginning of the "galactic summer", their middle - in the region of apogalactia, at the height of the galactic summer. Symmetrically to the beginning of "summer" on the other side of the orbit, the end of "summer" is distinguished, and symmetrically to summer, the winter galactic period in the perigalactic region, as well as the "autumn" and "spring" galactic seasons intermediate between them.

The duration of the galactic summer is about 98 million years, winter - 68 million years, and spring and autumn - 25 million years each. Of course, there is some convention in distinguishing the boundaries of the galactic seasons, but, as we will see below, the seasonal processes that took place on Earth confirm this scheme.

For more than 200 years from early XIX century, after work

B. Smith and J. Cuvier, paleobotanical and paleozoological studies have led to the accumulation of vast material on the characteristics of tens of thousands of plant and animal species of the Earth's biosphere that existed in the past geological epochs. It was truly a grandiose work of many thousands of paleobiologists in different countries of the world. Gradually, information appeared about the time of the first appearance of certain organisms, their heyday and extinction.

I used the materials of a number of generalizing works, mainly in the field of paleobotany

C.V. Meyen. Most sensitive to the manifestation of warm

Rice. 3. History of lycopsform and arthropod plants: 1 - lycopsform, 2 - arthropod.

and the cold seasons of galactic years, of course, terrestrial vegetation should have reacted.

Of the spore plants, the first to appear on Earth in the Devonian time were the lycopsids. This happened at the end of the winter galactic season (Fig. 3).

In spring, their prevalence and diversity increased, and in the middle of summer (C1-C2), when the Sun was in the apogalactic region, Lycopods reached their maximum bloom. They played a significant role in the formation of swamps and mangroves on the coast of the seas. Some lycopsid plants had rather thick trunks (up to 40 cm).

At the end of summer (P1) and autumn (P2-T1), the prevalence and diversity of lycopods decreased significantly, and in winter (11-12) they reached a minimum. Having somehow survived the galactic winter, they did not revive either in the spring (13) or in the summer (K1-K2) of the next galactic year, and in this state survived until the next winter period (^-K), now represented by a few herbaceous plants.

Articular plants first appeared at the beginning of the galactic spring ^2), reached their maximum distribution, diversity and flourishing in the summer galactic period (C1-C2). From the end of summer, their prevalence began to decrease (P1-P2), even more noticeably - in autumn (P2-T1), and in winter (11-12) reached a critical minimum. The arthropod vegetation was no longer revived and existed at the same low level in the plant community throughout the next galactic year (K1-K) until the present moment, now represented by the only genus Equisetum.

Among spore vegetation, many orders of the fern class are characterized by a similar pattern of development, depending on the galactic climatic seasonality (Fig. 4).

Zygopterian ferns appeared for the first time in late spring (^3), reached their maximum distribution

Rice. 4. History of ferns:

1 - Zygopterian, 2 - Bothryopterian, 3 - Marattian, 4 - Catium during the warm half-periods of galactic years:

lamitic, 5 - polypodial.

1 - arberium, 2 - cordaite, 3 - trigonocarp, 4 - coniferous.

oddities in summer (C1-C2). By the end of the summer period, their prevalence decreased significantly, and by the beginning of autumn (P1) they had already completely died out.

The history of the order of Botryopterian ferns is characterized almost in the same way. They appeared at the end of the galactic spring ^3), reached their maximum distribution in summer (C2-C3) and completely died out in autumn (T1).

Thus the Zygopterian and Bothryopterian ferns in the galactic sense were, so to speak, annual plants that appeared in late spring, blossomed in summer, and died out in autumn.

Ferns of the order Marattiaceae (Fig. 4) appeared in late galactic spring - early summer, reached their maximum development in summer (C3), in autumn (P2-T1) their prevalence in plant communities decreased, and in winter (T3-12) reached a critical minimum. They were not reborn later either in the spring or in the summer (K1-K2) of the next galactic year, and in this state they have survived to the present. Ferns of the Calamitaceae order behaved in exactly the same way.

Rice. 3 and 4 clearly illustrate that among the spore plants, the classes of lycopods and arthropods and several orders of the class of ferns reached their maximum development in the summer galactic period, when the Sun was in orbit from the side of apogalactia, and in winter they were characterized by a minimum abundance or died out completely.

However, there is an exception. Ferns of the polypodia order developed in a fundamentally different way. They first appeared at the end of the summer season (P1), in autumn their prevalence began to increase, then gradually and continuously increased in the winter (T3-12) and spring (13) periods. They reached their maximum distribution in the summer season.

of the next galactic year (K1-K2) and in such a state of wide distribution in plant communities have survived to the present, related to the winter galactic season.

The order of polypodial ferns, unlike others, turned out to be practically independent of the galactic climatic seasonality. Currently, about 300 genera of ferns are known.

Rice. 5 illustrates the prevalence, depending on the galactic season, of several major orders of the division of gymnosperms.

Arberiaceae appeared in the history of the Earth at the beginning of the summer season (C1), then they reached their greatest abundance in the second half of the summer season (C3-P1). In autumn (P2-T1), their prevalence decreased, and at the beginning of the winter season (T3), they had already completely died out.

Cordaite vegetation behaved almost in the same way. It appeared for the first time at the beginning of summer (C1), reached its maximum distribution and development in the second half of summer (C3-P1), and completely died out in autumn.

The same is true for the order of trigonocarp plants. They first appeared at the beginning of summer (C1), reaching their maximum distribution and flourishing at the height of the galactic summer (C2-C3). But already by the end of the summer period (P1), their prevalence decreased significantly, and in early autumn (P2) they completely died out.

Thus, all these three large orders of gymnosperms are annuals in the galactic sense - they appear at the beginning of summer, reach their peak at the height of summer, and completely die out in autumn (or at the beginning of winter).

More cold-loving coniferous plants behaved significantly differently. They appeared for the first time in the second half of the summer of the second galactic year (C2). In autumn (P2), their prevalence reached

1 - Chekanovskian, 2 - ginkgo, 3 - bennetite, 4 - Keytonium.

Rice. 7. History of some groups of the animal world: 1 - trilobites, 2 - bone and cartilage fish, 3 - amphibians.

maximum, then somewhat decreased in winter and remained almost the same during the third galactic year (K1-K).

As we can see, many representatives of gymnosperms, as well as spores, were widely distributed in the summer, "warm" half of the Sun's orbit from the apogalactic side and completely absent, or significantly less common, in the winter half of the orbit.

However, both polypodial ferns and some orders of gymnosperms are characterized by a fundamentally different logic of development (Fig. 6).

The order of Czekanowskie plants appeared at the end of the summer galactic season (C3-P1). Their prevalence gradually increased in late summer and autumn (P2-T1), reached a maximum in winter (11-12) and remained almost the same until spring (13). In the summer of the next galactic year (K1-K2), the abundance of Chekanovskaya gradually decreased, and, finally, in the Late Cretaceous near apogalactia, they completely died out and disappeared from the geological record, having existed for almost a whole galactic year - they appeared at the end of the summer of the second galactic year and died out at the end of summer next, third galactic year.

The order Ginkgoaceae appeared for the first time almost simultaneously with the Czekanowskiaceae at the end of the summer season (C3-P1). Their prevalence increased in autumn and early winter, and then remained almost constant until the end of the galactic year. In the summer of the next galactic year (K1-K2), the abundance of Gingaceae gradually decreased, reached a minimum by the end of summer (P1) and remained almost the same in autumn (P2) and at the beginning of winter - up to the present time.

The order of bennetite plants first appeared in the winter of the second galactic year (T2-T3). The prevalence of bennetite vegetation reached its maximum in winter and spring (11-13), and in the summer of the third galactic year they had already become extinct (K2). Order

Caytonian plants also appeared for the first time in winter (T3-11), in winter and spring their abundance reached a maximum, and at the beginning of the summer of the next galactic year (K1) they had already completely died out (Fig. 6).

Only the youngest and most perfect angiosperms demonstrate independence from the galactic seasons. It appeared at the beginning of the third galactic year, i.e. at the beginning of summer (K1), and then its prevalence and diversity consistently increased throughout the summer (K1-P1), autumn (-P2-P3) and early winter (N-Q).

The animal world, especially water, to a much lesser extent than terrestrial vegetation, is dependent on galactic seasonal climate changes. And yet, for a number of groups of fauna, the dependence on the galactic seasons manifests itself (Fig. 7).

Trilobites, for example, appeared in the first Phanerozoic galactic year at the beginning of summer (€1) and reached their maximum development in the second half of summer (C3-O1). In autumn (O2), their prevalence decreased markedly, and in winter (8^2) it reached a critical minimum. They did not revive either in the spring (^3) or in the summer of the next galactic year, and finally died out in the second half of the summer (C3-P1).

The bony and cartilaginous fish appeared at the end of the winter season of the first galactic year. In the spring, their abundance and diversity increased, and in the middle of the summer of the second galactic year (C1-C2) they reached their maximum development. Thereafter, their prevalence decreased in late summer and autumn and reached a minimum in the middle of winter (11). In spring, the prevalence of bony and cartilaginous fish again gradually increases, reaches a second maximum in the summer of the third galactic year (K2-P1) and has not decreased to this day.

Amphibians first appeared at the end of the galactic spring and developed to the maximum in summer (C3-P1).

In autumn (P2-T1), their prevalence decreased, and in winter (T3-11) it reached a minimum, and such an insignificant

Rice. 8. Manifestations of geobiological events in the orbit of the Solar System around the center of the Galaxy: H11 - galactic years, - crisis events.

remained positive throughout the entire third galactic year (13-Y) (Fig. 7).

The most varied data used and generalizations of many independent researchers working in various fields of paleontology and climatology, being tied to the orbital geochronological scale, are in good agreement with each other and acquire an additional new meaning that was unknown to their authors.

The problem of the 30-million-year periodicity of biospheric crises

Against the background of long climatic periods caused by the revolution of the Sun around the center of the Galaxy and significantly affecting the Earth's biosphere, I have identified a smaller 30-million-year periodicity of intense manifestation of a number of geological processes and simultaneously manifested with them crisis biospheric events - seven events during the galactic year.

In relatively short periods (from 1–2 to 3–4 Ma), rifting intensified every 30–32 Ma, deep faults were left, intense basaltic volcanism manifested itself, accompanied by the removal of uranium, phosphorus, and a number of heavy metals (Mo , V, Cu, Zn, N1, Cr, Ag, Au, nb), rare earth elements (Na, Ce, Pr, Nd, Bsh, V, and sometimes Ir).

In the same short periods in the seas, and sometimes in the continental basins, sediments accumulated with an anomalously high (up to 10-20-30%) concentration of planktonogenic organic matter enriched in uranium, phosphorus and a number of heavy metals. The biosphere reacted to the contamination of the habitat with uranium by global outbreaks of the bioproductivity of primitive unicellular algae and cyanobacteria, by the intensive extinction of existing organisms and the emergence of many new species of organisms. The relationship of these short-term events with

space is confirmed by the fact that they occurred every galactic year every 30-32 million years in the same parts of the solar orbit (Fig. 8).

Later, the work of M.Ya. Yaashrto and Ya.B. , in which they came to the same periodicity: according to their data, the periodicity of basalt eruptions is 32 ± 1 Ma, the periodicity of carbonatite intrusions is 34 ± 2 Ma; periodicity of spreading of lithospheric plates - 34 ± 2 Ma; the formation of impact craters due to impacts of asteroids on the Earth - 32 ± 1 million years; manifestations of mass extinctions caused by these impacts - 24-33 million years.

The reason for these events, according to M.R. Rampino and R.B. Stothers, is the regular crossing of the galactic plane by the Sun with clumps of matter, which occurs during the vertical oscillation of the Sun during its orbit around the center of the Galaxy.

With different understandings of the essence of these crisis biospheric events, it is positive that we have independently come to a 30-million-year periodicity of biospheric crises that occurred as a result of the influence of space on the Earth and its biosphere.

During two and a half galactic years of the Phanerozoic (about 600 million years), according to my data, 17 crisis biospheric events manifested themselves. Most of them appeared near or directly at the boundaries of geological systems or their divisions, which is quite understandable - these boundaries were established by significant changes in fauna and flora.

With a Clarke concentration of uranium in sedimentary rocks of 3.240-4%, in sediments enriched with organic matter of these epochs, the concentration of uranium often exceeds it by 30-50-250 times, and the concentration of uranium in organic matter exceeds the normal for the modern era by 300-700-1600 times.

According to my calculations, the concentration of uranium in the waters of the seas and in continental basins, in comparison with the modern one (2.8-340-7%), during these epochs increased by tens, hundreds, and sometimes even a thousand times.

Not without reason at the first stage of creation atomic bomb, when rich uranium deposits had not yet been explored, sediments enriched in planktonic organic matter and uranium at the border of the Cambrian and Ordovician were developed in the Baltic as a source for obtaining uranium, and then "fish layers" were also developed - accumulations of uranium-enriched skeletons of fish that experienced mass extinction.

Consider typical examples manifestations of crisis biospheric events characterized by intense uranium accumulation and an increase in the radioactivity of the environment.

In the Late Devonian, in the eastern part of the Russian Platform up to the Urals, marine sediments of the Domanik Formation accumulated. The marine shallow-water basin in all respects was favorable for the habitat of fauna, with normal water salinity, with a normal oxygen regime, with a predominance of depths up to 100 m. But if in older and younger sediments the concentration of organic matter did not exceed 0.3-0.4 %, then in Domaniks it reached 10-20%, which clearly indicates the manifestation of an outbreak of phytoplankton bioproductivity. The abundance of food, it would seem, favored the wide distribution of marine fauna, but this was

Brachiopods

Stratigraphy

Fort Payne Formation

Mauri Formation

Lithology

Conodonts

Ammonites, number of genera

Foraminifera, number of genera

Disputes, number of births 13 14 10

Pollen, 10 9 5 8

3 £1 A b ^ ^ w 1

Rice. Fig. 9. Dependence of the change of fauna and flora in the Late Devonian epoch on the Russian platform on the intensity of uranium accumulation.

Rice. Fig. 10. Dependence of the change of the fauna of conodonts in the sediments of the Late Devonian Chattanooga Formation North America on the intensity of uranium accumulation according to .

Rice. 11. Dependence of the change of fauna and flora in the Upper Jurassic deposits of Western Siberia on the intensity of uranium accumulation.

not this way. In sediments, together with the bioproduction of phytoplankton, uranium, as well as Cu, V, Mo, Pb, and Zn accumulated. Judging by the u/Corg ratio, the U concentration in the waters exceeded the normal value by at least 20 times. As a result, at the peak of U accumulation (Fig. 9), the species composition of phytoplankton significantly decreased, although it provided a huge bioproduction.

The species composition of Forami-nifers significantly decreased, and after the end of the radioactive era it increased again. The species of brachoipods that existed before died out, several new species arose in the radioactive era, but they also quickly died out. Several new species that appeared at the end of the radioactive epoch are traced in younger sediments. Corals, crinoids, bryozoans, and sponges completely disappeared during the radioactive era, and reappeared only after it ended. As for pteriopods and nautilids, their species diversity increased significantly during the radioactive era, and then decreased again.

Judging by the spores and pollen of land plants, they also experienced a crisis on land adjacent to the sea during the radioactive era.

Approximately the same thing happened at that time in America, judging by the data of American researchers. W.H. Hass studied fauna, and L.C. Conant and V.E. Swan-son - distribution of uranium in precipitation. It remains for me to add the results of their research together. Sediments of the Late Devonian Chattanooga Formation, rich in planktonogenic OM, were deposited in shallow marine conditions with a normal oxygen regime. Flash-

The bioproductivity of phytoplankton determined the accumulation of up to 10–20% of organic matter in sediments. The concentration of uranium accumulated together with OM was up to 20-10-3%, i.e., 60-70 times higher than the normal one. According to the ratio u / Corg, it should be considered that the concentration of u in the waters of the basin was hundreds of times higher than the normal one. This allows us to think that the impact of uranium and radioactivity on organisms in the Chattanooga Sea was even more intense than in the Domanic Sea.

Gotiatids and pteropods, which are widespread in Domanik sediments, are completely absent. From planktonic organisms, radiolarians are occasionally found, from nekton - rare remains of fish. Rarely are remains of floating algae Poerzna and Protossomana, sometimes remains of terrestrial plants Ca1-Hxylon.

With a huge primary bioproduction and an abundance of food, the almost complete absence of fauna, with the exception of linguls and conodonts, seems incomprehensible, unless, of course, the uranium contamination of the basin is taken into account.

A detailed study of the sediment section makes it possible to trace the influence of the intensity of uranium accumulation on the change of species of the only widespread fauna, conodonts (Fig. 10).

In the lower layer of sediments with a still low concentration of uranium, 12 species of conodonts were identified, seven of which instantly die out at the beginning of the radioactive era. At the same time, at the beginning of it, four more new species appear, which then die out during the deposition of black

shales with the maximum concentration of uranium. But not only extinction occurs: at the same time, at the peak of uranium accumulation, 12 new types of conodonts appear, 10 of which die out at the end of the radioactive era. At the same time, four new types of conodonts appear, which are also traced in younger sediments with a low concentration of uranium.

The development of the conodont fauna during the manifestation of the radioactive epoch did not occur gradually, but with the manifestation of outbreaks of speciation and extinction of organisms, which were completely controlled by changes in the level of contamination of the basin with uranium.

The synchronous accumulation of radioactive fallout at the end of the Devonian in different parts of the world indicates that radioactive epochs manifested themselves globally.

Another example of a crisis bioevent is during the accumulation of Late Jurassic sediments with anomalously high concentrations of uranium and planktonic organic matter. It manifested itself in Western Siberia in an area of ​​about 1 million square kilometers. km, in the eastern part of the Russian Platform, in the Kara, Barents and North Seas up to England, in some areas Western Europe, in the South Atlantic.

In Western Siberia, this is the Late Jurassic Bazhenov Formation. The presence of relatively rare and uniform benthic fauna in it suggests that the oxygen regime in the Bazhenov Sea was normal. The huge bioproduction of phytoplankton determined the accumulation of 10-20% of organic matter enriched in uranium in sediments. The simplest algae, which gave this bioproduct, have a rounded shape without any sculpture, their size is up to 20 microns.

Ammonites (Fig. 11) are characterized by a rapid change of forms at the genus level. At the beginning of the radioactive era, seven new genera of ammonites appear, but they die out almost immediately. At the peak of uranium accumulation, two more new genera appear, but immediately die out. At the end of the radioactive era, several more new genera of ammonites appear.

In foraminifera, out of 26 genera that existed before the beginning of the radioactive epoch, only six remained at the peak of uranium accumulation. At the beginning, in the midst of and during the end of the epoch of uranium accumulation, five short-lived genera appear and immediately die out.

The fact that the radioactivity of the environment increased not only in the sea basin, but also on the land adjacent to it, is evidenced by a significant depletion of the complex of spores and pollen of terrestrial plants.

On the Volga, it was possible to carry out a layer-by-layer study of Late Jurassic sediments (Fig. 12). The accumulation of clayey sediments and shale rich in organic matter (up to 30-34%) with a high concentration of uranium occurred at the end jurassic(Volga Age) to the beginning of the Cretaceous period. Before the beginning of the radioactive epoch, the ammonite complex was represented by nine genera, five of which immediately died out as soon as the intensity of uranium accumulation increased, the remaining four died out later, synchronously with one of the most powerful peaks of uranium accumulation. The final stage of the era of uranium accumulation is characterized by the rapid appearance and equally rapid extinction of 19 genera of ammonites. And only one genus of ammonites, which appeared at the end of the radioactive era, passed

Rice. 12. Dependence of the change of ammonite and foraminiferal fauna in the Upper Jurassic deposits on the intensity of uranium accumulation.

into Cretaceous deposits, which were already formed at a low radioactivity of the environment.

Changes in the benthic fauna of foraminifera began somewhat earlier than in the pelagic fauna of ammonites, at the end of the Early Volgian. Apparently, the increase in the concentration of uranium at the bottom of the pool began to be felt earlier than in surface waters. The five species of foraminifera that existed simultaneously became extinct at the boundary of the lower and middle sections of the Volgian Stage. However, at the same time, seven new species appeared. They were widespread until the manifestation of the first peak of uranium accumulation, and then periodically appeared, then completely disappeared during the accumulation of oil shale layers with a high concentration of uranium. All of them died out simultaneously with ammonites at one of the most powerful peaks of uranium accumulation. The end of the radioactive era, like that of ammonites, is characterized by the rapid appearance and rapid extinction of 10 new species of foraminifera. More details can be found in .

Approximately the same biospheric events occurred during the manifestation of other epochs of intensive accumulation of uranium and high radioactivity of the environment. The variability of fauna and flora increased significantly, which was realized both in the extinction of pre-existing species and in the appearance of new species of organisms.

During these epochs, not only pre-existing groups of organisms experienced intense variability, but fundamentally new types of plants and animals repeatedly appeared. For example, zygopterian, botryopterian, marattian and calamitic

ferns first appeared during the radioactive epoch at the end of the Late Devonian. Chekanovsky and Ginkgo plants first appeared in the radioactive epoch at the boundary of the Carboniferous and Permian. Trilobites, like other skeletal fauna, first suddenly appeared in the radioactive era on the border of the Vendian and Cambrian. Cartilaginous and bony fish first appeared in the radioactive epoch at the end of the Silurian - the beginning of the Devonian, and amphibians - in the late Jurassic radioactive epoch.

The first terrestrial four-legged animals Chtyostega were found in deposits of the radioactive epoch at the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary. They occupy an intermediate position between the lobe-finned fish of the rhenidist group and the labyrinthodonts. They have a tail fin and limbs of real tetrapods, probably resulting from large mutations due to a significant change in fins.

In the next radioactive epoch, on the border of the Permian and Triassic, four-legged reptiles give rise to the first flying animals - pterosaurs. Their only difference from ordinary reptiles lies only in the fact that the extreme fourth fingers of their forelimbs (“little fingers”), with the same number of phalanges, acquired a size twice the length of the animal’s body, and the skin membranes hanging from them formed wings.

The first archaic birds were found in sediments of the late Jurassic radioactive epoch. They almost did not differ from small dinosaurs, except for the greatly changed forelimbs and feathers instead of horn plates.

The third successful attempt to fly, this time in mammals, took place during the Eocene era of radioactivity. The skeleton of a bat differs from an ordinary insectivorous mammal mainly only in that the four fingers of its forelimbs, with a normal number of phalanges, became abnormally long as a result of a mutation, reaching the length of the animal's body, and the skin between them formed a "wing".

Another typical form of mutations, especially strong in the limbs with their significant reduction, led to the emergence of “returning” fish-like forms in reptiles and mammals: at the end of the Late Permian radioactive epoch, ichthyosaurs, and in the Eocene radioactive epoch, ancient whales.

After the end of the late Jurassic radioactive era, the first snakes appeared, the youngest, but at the same time the most degraded group of reptiles. They differ from the original reptiles in the elongation of the body (the number of vertebrae up to several hundred), the reduction of the limbs, the loss of one lung, the absence of the external ear and tympanic membrane, and eyes with a fixed transparent eyelid.

In some radioactive eras, downright “incredible” mutations appeared, leading to the emergence of organisms of a completely absurd structure. Examples of them can be found in the works of L.B. Yahosheg.

Conclusion

The considered materials allow us to conclude that the history of the Earth and its biosphere should be considered not only in terms of geological periods identified on an empirical basis, but also taking into account natural galactic periods. Long-term periods (216-217 million

years) - galactic years - correspond in time to the revolutions of the Sun together with the Earth around the center of the Galaxy. As has been shown, they determine the successive change of galactic climatic seasons. Many large groups of plants and animals of the biosphere reached their maximum flourishing in the warm summer seasons of galactic years, and in winter, the diversity and abundance of many of them reached a critical minimum, many completely died out.

During the Galactic summer periods, the bioproductivity of the biosphere undoubtedly also increased, as evidenced by the formation of the predominant part of the world's coal and oil reserves (> 80%) in these time intervals.

Against the background of a long-term periodicity, a shorter-term periodicity of no less important biospheric events also manifested itself, also due to the influence of changing cosmic conditions on the Earth and its biosphere.

During each galactic year, seven such events occurred, dividing it into seven 30-32-million-year stages ("months") - 31 million years x 7 = 217 million years - and constituting the galactic year.

After the publication of L.M. Alvares about the mass extinction of the fauna, including the famous dinosaurs, at the end of the Cretaceous as a result of an impact on the Earth and the explosion of a large asteroid, this point of view in the West has become popular, and it is this that is shared by M.R. Rampino and R.B. Stoers.

My studies show that the manifestation of these biospheric crises with a periodicity of about 30 million years occurred much more complex and not instantaneously, but over several million years. In addition, during their manifestation, there was not only an intensive extinction of fauna and flora, but also the rapid emergence of many new types of organisms, including a completely new type.

Of course, the extinction of fauna can be explained by the impact and explosion of a cosmic body, but the appearance of many new species and fundamentally new types of animals and plants cannot be explained by the impact and explosion of a cosmic body, no matter how powerful it may be.

The future will show who is right, but in any case, the manifestation of these space-driven periodic biospheric crises must be taken into account when analyzing the development of the biosphere.

The phenomena considered make us think about the general concepts of the development of the organic world of the Earth. Evolution, due to the small random variability of organisms and natural selection according to Darwin, reflects only one side of the process.

The periodic manifestation of biospheric crises, during which both intense extinction and the intensive formation of new species and even fundamentally new types of organisms, makes us recall the earlier concept of the development of the organic world with the manifestation of short-term revolutionary epochs that caused a change in fauna and flora (J. Cuvier, 1812).

The biosphere has existed on Earth for 3.5 billion years, that is, 16 galactic years, and has survived them by progressive evolution, despite significant periodic changes in cosmic conditions.

As for man, even if we do not mean

the modern species of Homo sapiens, and its predecessor Homo habilis, it appeared on Earth only 3 million years ago, that is, it lived only 0.01 fraction of the last galactic year. Against this background, for the time being, despite his mind, he seems to be something like a one-day moth.

Now humanity is concerned about the possibility of a global

warming by 1-2 °С as a result of immoderate combustion of fuel. And this is a really serious problem.

But it should be borne in mind that in the long term, humanity will have to experience even more significant difficulties due to climate and habitat changes under the influence of changing cosmic conditions.

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In the system of the modern scientific worldview, the concept of the biosphere occupies a key place in many sciences. The development of the doctrine of the biosphere is inextricably linked with the name of V. I. Vernadsky, although it has a rather long background, which began with the book of J.-B. Lamarck "Hydrogeology" (1802), which contains one of the first substantiations of the idea of ​​the influence of living organisms on geological processes. Then there was the grandiose multi-volume work of A. Humboldt "Cosmos" (the first book was published in 1845), in which a lot of facts were collected confirming the thesis about the interaction of living organisms with those earthly shells into which they penetrate. The term "biosphere" was first introduced into science by the German geologist and paleontologist E. Suess, who meant by it an independent sphere intersecting with others in which life exists on Earth. He defined the biosphere as a collection of organisms limited in space and time and living on the surface of the Earth.

For the first time, the idea of ​​the geological functions of living matter, the idea of ​​the totality of the entire organic world as a single indivisible whole, was expressed by V. I. Vernadsky. His concept developed gradually, from the first student work "On the change in the soil of the steppes by rodents" (1884) to "Living Matter" (manuscript at the turn of the 1920s), "Biosphere" (1926), "Biogeochemical Essays" (1940), as well as "Chemical Structure of the Earth's Biosphere" and "Philosophical Thoughts of a Naturalist", on which he worked in the last decades of his life.

By introducing the concept of living matter as the totality of all living organisms on the planet, including humans, Vernadsky thus reached a qualitatively new level of understanding of life - the biospheric one. This made it possible to understand life as a powerful geological force of our planet, shaping the face of the Earth. The introduction of this concept also made it possible to raise and resolve the issue of the mechanisms of the geological activity of living matter, the sources of energy for this.

The geological role of living matter is based on its geochemical functions, which modern science classifies into five categories:

1...energy,

2... concentration,

3... destructive,

4 ... environment-forming,

5 ... transport.

They are based on the fact that living organisms, by their breathing, their nutrition, their metabolism, the continuous change of generations, give rise to a grandiose planetary phenomenon - the migration of chemical elements in the biosphere. This predetermined the decisive role of living matter and the biosphere in the formation of the modern appearance of the Earth, its atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere.

The biosphere is the living substance of the planet and the inert substance transformed by it (formed without the participation of life). This is a fundamental concept of biogeochemistry, one of the main structural components of the organization of our planet and near-Earth outer space, the sphere in which bioenergetic processes and metabolism are carried out as a result of the activity of life.

Today, it is customary to consider the boundaries of the biosphere as follows: in the atmosphere, microbial life occurs up to about 20-22 km above the earth's surface, and the presence of life in deep oceanic depressions - up to 8-11 km below sea level. The penetration of life into the earth's crust is much less, and microorganisms were found during deep drilling and in formation waters no deeper than 2-3 km. But this thinnest film covers absolutely the entire Earth, leaving not a single place on our planet (including deserts and ice expanses of the Arctic and Antarctic), where there would be no life. The amount of living matter in different areas of the biosphere is different. Its largest content is in the upper layers of the lithosphere (soil), hydrosphere and lower layers of the atmosphere. As one goes deeper into the earth's crust, the ocean, higher into the atmosphere, the amount of living matter decreases, but there is no sharp boundary between the biosphere and the earth's shells surrounding it.

The biosphere is open to space, receiving streams of cosmic energy from it. Using it, living matter will transform our planet. The very formation of the biosphere, including the origin of life on Earth, is the result of the action of these cosmic forces, the most important factor in the functioning of the biosphere.

Cosmic radiation and, above all, the energy of the Sun have a constant effect on all phenomena on Earth. The founder of heliobiology, A. L. Chizhevsky, was especially interested in the study of solar-terrestrial relations. He noted that the most diverse processes and phenomena on Earth proceed under the direct influence of the Sun. The sun is the main (along with cosmic radiation and the energy of radioactive decay in the Earth's interior) source of energy, the cause of everything on Earth from atmospheric phenomena, plant growth to human mental activity.

The connection between solar activity cycles and processes in the biosphere was noticed as early as the 18th century. Then the English astronomer W. Herschel drew attention to the relationship between wheat yields and the number of sunspots. At the end of the 19th century, Professor of Odessa University F. N. Shvedov, studying a section of the trunk of a hundred-year-old acacia, discovered that the thickness of annual rings changes every 11 years, as if repeating the cyclical nature of solar activity.

Summarizing the experience of his predecessors, A. L. Chizhevsky summed up the scientific basis for these empirical data. In his opinion, the Sun determines the rhythm of most biological processes on Earth. When many spots form on it, chromospheric flashes appear and the brightness of the corona increases, epidemics develop on our planet, tree growth increases, agricultural pests and microorganisms multiply especially strongly.

All wildlife is sensitive to seasonal changes in ambient temperature, the intensity of solar radiation - trees are covered with leaves in spring, leaves fall in autumn, metabolic processes fade, many animals hibernate, etc. Man is no exception. Throughout the year, he changes the intensity of metabolism, the composition of cells and tissues.

The state of solar activity affects the spread of many diseases. So, in 1957, despite the vaccination of the population, which was carried out, as in previous years, the number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis and tularemia unexpectedly increased. In the 30s of our century, Chizhevsky predicted that in 1960-1962 there would be an epidemic outbreak of cholera, which actually happened in the countries of Southeast Asia. All life cycles: diseases, mass migrations, periods of rapid reproduction of mammals, insects, viruses - proceed synchronously with 11-year cycles of solar activity.

People are also exposed to cosmic energies and solar radiation. Thus, the human body, like the organisms of other animals, adapts to the rhythms of the biogeosphere, primarily daily (circadian) and seasonal, associated with the change of seasons.

Human metabolism proceeds in a circadian rhythm inherited from generation to generation. It is currently believed that about forty processes in the human body are subject to a strict circadian rhythm. For example, back in 1931, a cyclicity was established in the functioning of the human liver, the content of hemoglobin, potassium, sodium, and calcium in the blood. The autonomic nervous system also works according to the daily schedule. Statistics say that even birth and death occur more often in the dark part of the day, around midnight.

Hematologists came to the conclusion that during the years of maximum solar activity, the rate of blood clotting in healthy people doubles, therefore, with an increase in sunspots, heart attacks and strokes become more frequent.

Chizhevsky tried to establish the relationship of eleven-year solar cycles with the saturation of historical events in different periods of human history. As a result of his analysis, he concluded that the maximum of social activity coincides with the maximum of solar activity. The middle points of the course of the cycle give the maximum mass activity of mankind, expressed in revolutions, uprisings, wars, campaigns, migrations, they are the beginnings of new historical epochs in the history of mankind. At the extreme points of the course of the cycle, the tension of the general human activity of a military or political nature drops to the minimum limit, giving way to creative activity and accompanied by a general decline in political and military enthusiasm, peace and calm creative work in the field of state building, science and art.

Social conflicts (wars, riots, revolutions), according to Chizhevsky, are largely determined by the behavior and activity of the Sun. According to the scientist, during the minimum solar activity, there is a minimum of mass active social manifestations in society (about 5%). During the peak of solar activity, their number reaches 60%. Chizhevsky's conclusions confirm the inseparable unity of man and the cosmos, point to their close mutual influence.

These ideas about the connection between the cosmos, man and the biosphere, presented by the concepts of Vernadsky and Chizhevsky, formed the basis of L.N. Gumilyov about the passionary impetus that gives birth to new ethnic groups. The key concept of Gumilyov's concept of ethnogenesis is the concept of passionarity, which he defines as an increased desire for action. The appearance of this trait in an individual is a mutation that affects the energy mechanisms of the human body. A passionary (carrier of passionarity) becomes able to absorb more energy from the environment than is necessary for his normal life. The excess of the received energy is directed by him to any area of ​​human activity, the choice of which is determined by the specific historical conditions and inclinations of the person himself. A passionary can become a great conqueror (for example, Alexander the Great, Napoleon) or a traveler (Marco Polo, A. Przhevalsky), a great scientist (A. Einstein, I. Goethe) or a religious figure (Buddha, Christ). The appearance of the property of passionarity is initiated by some specific rare cosmic radiation (passionate shocks occur 2-3 times per millennium). Carriers of passionarity appear in the zone of the trace from this radiation - bands 200 - 300 km wide, but up to half the planet's circumference. If several peoples living in different landscapes find themselves in the zone of this radiation, they can become the embryo of a new ethnic group. The change of ethnic groups is the process of world history, the cause of progressive changes in it.

Gradually, ideas about the connection between the biosphere and space, man and space, society and space entered the scientific circulation, becoming an important part of the modern scientific worldview, a characteristic feature of modern culture. These views are usually called cosmism, and the very process of forming such a worldview is called the cosmization of science and philosophy. The main features of the cosmic worldview are:

·... the introduction into the mass consciousness of ideas about the connection of the Earth and Space;

·...the transition from anthropocentrism to biospherocentrism, which makes the interests of man and humanity dependent on the needs of the entire planet and all living things on it.

Part of the new cosmic worldview is the expansion of the subject of many old classical sciences, taking them beyond the study of purely terrestrial phenomena and processes, the appearance of a cosmic aspect in scientific research(astrochemistry, ecobiology, radiation genetics, etc.). In connection with the exit of man into space, astronautics appeared as a response to the theoretical and practical problems of this step. At the same time, people are increasingly putting the natural forces of the cosmic order at their service (for example, the use of nuclear energy).

A new worldview requires the introduction of a new system of values, a new solution to the "eternal" human questions about the meaning of life, death and immortality, good and evil, which should be oriented towards a person's awareness of the cosmic significance of his activity.

The formation of a new worldview has been especially active in recent decades, although the first ideas of cosmism arose at the dawn of human history. It can be defined as a peculiar direction of thinking, a state of mind in the atmosphere of which new approaches to the development of a holistic concept of the universe, ideas about the organic unity of the whole world and its closest connection with the Universe, with the cosmos were formed. Cosmism understood in this way was originally inherent in the cultural self-consciousness of mankind - the mythological consciousness of our ancestors was completely based on the paradigm of cosmism. This is evidenced by their intuitive ideas about the close connection between the world and man, the revitalization of the world, as well as attempts to discover some universal laws behind the formidable natural elements that harmonize these relationships, which was reflected in the cosmological myths of different peoples. Then there was the Platonic picture of the world based on the recognition of the primacy of the world of ideas inherent in material existence. Periodically, cosmism also came to life in Christianized Platonism, in the natural-philosophical developments of the Renaissance.

Cosmism experienced a serious crisis in modern times in connection with the development of science, which schematized reality and consigned to oblivion the ideas of integral knowledge. And, although the ideas of the unity of the world, man and space (D. Bruno, G. Galileo, N. Copernicus, etc.) were periodically revived in the natural science of modern times, they could not reverse the prevailing trends in the development of European science, its desire for strict rationalism and analyticism .

Only in the second half of the 19th century did European science and philosophy show a tendency towards the synthesis of knowledge, although they were perceived by European culture with great difficulty.

Russia was in a completely different situation in the second half of the 19th century. Our country was somewhat isolated from the ideas that dominated Europe. Russian science, born in the 18th century, and Russian philosophy, existing since the 11th century, were based on the deep archetypes of Russian consciousness, among which was cosmism. This is due to the fact that in Russia the pagan holistic worldview was not destroyed by Christianity. Moreover, Russian Orthodoxy also represented the cosmos as a living organism in constant interaction with the Creator.

These ideas, implicitly stored in the Russian mind, combined with the realization of the crisis of the scientific worldview at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century and gave the world the phenomenon of Russian cosmism - a characteristic feature of Russian culture in the second half of the 19th century - the first half of the 20th century. In Russia, it has become a whole layer of culture, represented in the work of a remarkable constellation of scientists, philosophers and artists. The ideas of cosmism in Russia found their expression in the works of V. V. Dokuchaev, V. I. Vernadsky, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, A. L. Chizhevsky, L. N. Gumilyov, N. G. Kholodny, S. P. Korolev , N. A. Morozova, N. F. Fedorova, V. S. Solovyov, A. Bely, A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, etc.

Of particular interest today are the ideas of N. F. Fedorov, who was one of the first to create his concept of cosmism. He believed that the growth of the population on Earth would lead to the development of other planets on which people would be settled. In this regard, he proposed his own version of the movement of people in outer space. To do this, in his opinion, it will be necessary to master the electromagnetic energy of the globe, which will allow to regulate its movement in world space and turn the Earth into a kind of spaceship. In the future, a person, according to Fedorov, will unite all the worlds and become a "planetary engineer".

Fedorov's ideas about the resettlement of people on other planets were supported by his student, one of the founders of rocket science and the theory of space flight, K. E. Tsiolkovsky. Based on his idea of ​​the universality of life, existing everywhere in the form of eternally living atoms, Tsiolkovsky built his "cosmic philosophy".

He believed that life and intelligence on earth are not the only ones in the universe. Space inhabited by intelligent beings of various levels of development. There are planets in the Universe that have reached the highest level in the development of intelligence and power and are ahead of others. These "perfect" planets have the moral right to regulate life on other, yet more primitive planets.

Tsiolkovsky believed that our planet in the universe has a special role. Earth belongs to the category of young planets, "promising". Only a small number of such planets will be given the right to independent development. Earth is one of them. In the evolution of the planets, a union of all intelligent higher beings of the cosmos will gradually be formed. The task of the Earth in this union is to contribute to the improvement of space. To do this, earthlings need to start space flights and start settling on other planets of the Universe. This is the main idea of ​​his "cosmic philosophy": migration from the Earth and the settlement of the Cosmos.

This is a new understanding of the place and role of man in the world. From now on, it began to be understood as the pinnacle of the development of matter on Earth, in the solar system, and perhaps in the universe. It becomes a force capable of mastering and transforming nature on a cosmic scale in the future. The result of these reflections on the role of man was the formulation of the anthropic principle in modern science.

Science has come across a large group of facts, the separate consideration of which creates the impression of inexplicable coincidences bordering on a miracle. The probability of each such coincidence is very small, and even their joint existence is completely unbelievable. Then it seems quite reasonable to raise the question of the existence of yet unknown regularities that are able to organize the Universe in a certain way and the consequences of which we have encountered.

In this situation, the anthropic principle was put forward and is currently being widely discussed. In the 1970s, it was formulated in two versions by the English scientist Carter. The first of these was called the weak anthropic principle: "What we intend to observe must satisfy the conditions necessary for the presence of a person as an observer." The second option is called the strong anthropic principle: "The universe must be such that an observer could exist in it at some stage of evolution."

The weak anthropic principle is interpreted in such a way that during the evolution of the Universe a variety of conditions could exist, but a human observer sees the world only at the stage at which the conditions necessary for its existence were realized. In particular, for the appearance of man, it was necessary that the Universe pass through all the necessary stages during the expansion of matter. It is clear that a person could not observe them, since the physical conditions then did not ensure its appearance. Since there is a person, he will see the world arranged in a quite definite way, because he is not given to see anything else.

A more serious content lies in the strong anthropic principle. In essence, we are talking about the random or regular origin of the “fine tuning” of the Universe. Recognition of the natural structure of the Universe entails the recognition of the principle that organizes it. If we consider “fine tuning” to be random, then we have to postulate multiple birth of universes, in each of which random values ​​of physical constants are randomly realized. In some of them, a “fine adjustment” will randomly occur, ensuring the appearance of an observer at a certain stage of development, and he will see a completely comfortable world, of which he will initially not be aware of the accidental occurrence. True, the probability of this is very small.

If we recognize the “fine tuning” as originally incorporated in the Universe, then the line of its subsequent development is predetermined, and the appearance of an observer at the corresponding stage is inevitable. From this it follows that in the Universe that was born, its future was potentially laid, and the development process acquires a purposeful character. The appearance of the mind is not only “planned” in advance, but also has a certain purpose, which will manifest itself in the subsequent development process.

So far, we still know too little about the Universe, because earthly life is only a small part of a gigantic whole. But we can build any guesses, if they do not contradict the known laws of nature. And it is quite possible that if humanity continues to exist, if its ability to know itself and the world persists, then one of the main tasks of the future scientific search of mankind will be the realization of its destiny in the Universe.

1. Introduction.

2. Living matter-component of the biosphere.

3. Abiotic (non-living) components of the biosphere.

4. Soil is a unique component of the biosphere.

5. Biosphere and space.

6. Ecological interactions of living matter: who eats how.

7. Biogenic migration of atoms is an ecosystem property of the biosphere.

8. How the biosphere developed: five ecological catastrophes.

9. Sustainability of the biosphere.

10. Biosphere and man: ecological danger.

11. Man must preserve the diversity of the biosphere.

12. Conclusion.

1. Introduction

Today, one of the most difficult problems rises to its full height before people, regardless of whether they live in Africa or in Europe, in big cities or in the jungle. It affects each of us, and no one can avoid it. This is the problem of preserving life on the planet, the survival of man, as one of the unique species of living beings.

The solution to this problem depends on how each of us and all of humanity together are aware of the "forbidden line" that humanity should not cross under any circumstances. Such a "forbidden feature" are the laws of life on the planet.

Man is an inhabitant of the biosphere. It is the biospherate that is the shell of the Earth, within which the life of mankind as a whole and of each of us proceeds.

The term biosphere was introduced by the Australian geologist Eduard Suess (1881-1914). Modern concept biosphere is associated with the name of Academician V.I. Vernadsky.

Biosphere - the area where living organisms live; the shell of the Earth, the composition, structure and energy of which is determined by the combined activity of living organisms. The upper limit extends to the height of the ozone screen (20-25 km), the lower one descends 1-2 km below the ocean floor and, on average, 2-3 km on land. The biosphere includes the lower part of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the pedosphere (soil), and the upper part of the lithosphere (rocks). ).

2. Living matter is a component of the biosphere

The biosphere includes all parts of the planet that are inhabited by life. This is the atmosphere, and the ocean, and all parts of the earth's surface, where life has established itself in any of its forms. The main component of the biosphere is its living matter.

“... On the earth's surface there is no chemical force more constantly acting, and therefore more powerful in its final consequences, than living organisms taken as a whole” (V.I. Vernadsky).

In what form is living matter present in the biosphere? Living matter in the biosphere is presented in the form of separate bodies - individual organisms.

Living matter is represented by organisms of various sizes. The largest of them are whales. The body length of modern whales is from 1.1 to 33 m, weight is from 30 kg to 150 tons. Evergreen sequoia belongs to the highest trees, which reaches a height of 110-112 m and has a diameter of 6-10 m.

According to a rough estimate, over a billion species have existed in the biosphere during the existence of life on Earth.

Insects predominate among living beings (there are about a million species of them). Vertebrates make up only 2%. . The world of life known to us consists of more than 70% of animals, 225 are plants and fungi, 5% are single-celled organisms.

Living matter is unevenly distributed in the biosphere, it forms clumps at the lithosphere-hydrosphere-atmosphere interface: in water bodies near the surface, at the bottom of the seas and oceans, on the land surface. Coastal, floodplain, lacustrine, tropical and subtropical concentrations of life are observed on the continents. Plants predominate on land, while animals predominate in the ocean.

The mass of living matter is called biomass. It is expressed in units of mass of dry or wet matter, referred to units of area or volume of habitat. It is known that the lifespan of each individual organism has limits, it is mortal. How is the continuity of life maintained in the biosphere? Continuously multiplying, living organisms form a stream of alternating generations: new creatures appear to replace the dying. Thus, the modern living being is by origin connected with the living matter of past geological epochs.

Myriads of living beings inhabit the biosphere, constitute the living substance of the biosphere. The chemical composition of living matter is similar to the composition of stars and the Sun, which confirms the unity of nature. In living matter modern methods mass, the amount of energy contained in it, the nature of the space corresponding to it can be measured. Modern living matter is characterized by great chemical diversity.

3. Abiotic (non-living) components of the biosphere

Water, air, soils, their chemical composition, physical properties, primarily temperature, cosmic radiation, gravity, magnetism - these are the abiotic components of the biosphere.

The biosphere includes, first of all, those parts of the planet where there are conditions not only for survival, but also for the reproduction of living beings - this is the field of existence of life. Adjacent to it are territories in which living beings suffer and only survive, but cannot reproduce - a field of life stability.

Terrestrial abiotic conditions that determine the field of existence of life:

- enough oxygen and carbon dioxide,

- a sufficient amount of liquid water, not ice or steam,

- favorable temperatures: not too high, so that the protein does not coagulate, and not too low, so that enzymes-accelerators of biochemical reactions work normally,

- a living being needs a living wage of minerals.

The biosphere is a global ecosystem, a special shell of the Earth, a sphere of life distribution, the boundaries of which are determined by the presence of abiotic conditions suitable for organisms: temperature, liquid water, gas composition, mineral nutrition elements.

4. Soil is a unique component of the biosphere

At the end of the XIX century. the great Russian naturalist V.V. Dokuchaev, by his studies of chernozem and other soils of the Russian Valley and the Caucasus, established that soils are features and properties are very different from the rocks on which they were formed. Their distribution on the Earth's surface is subject to strict geographical patterns.

The variety of soils is enormous. This is due to the variety of combinations of soil formation factors: rocks, surface age, plant and animal populations, and relief.

Soil is a special natural body and living environment resulting from the transformation of rocks on the land surface by the joint activity of living organisms, water and air.

Soil-forming processes on Earth are grandiose in their planetary scale and duration, the processes of creating soil organic matter, their biological accumulation and the emergence of fertility.

5. Biosphere and space

The Earth is a unique planet, it is located at the only possible distance from the Sun, which determines the temperature of the Earth's surface at which water can be in a liquid state.

The earth receives a huge amount of energy from the sun and at the same time maintains a roughly constant temperature. This means that our planet radiates almost the same amount of energy into space as it receives from space: income and expenditure must be balanced, otherwise the system will one day lose stability. The earth will either heat up or freeze and turn into a lifeless body.

The biosphere is closely connected with space. The flows of energy coming to the Earth create the conditions that ensure life. The magnetic field and the ozone shield protect the planet from excessive cosmic radiation and intense solar radiation. Cosmic radiation reaching the biosphere provides photosynthesis and influences the activity of living beings.

6. Ecological interactions of living matter: who eats how

Planet Earth differs from other planets in that its biosphere contains a substance that is sensitive to the flow of solar radiation - chlorophyll. It is chlorophyll that provides the conversion of the electromagnetic energy of solar radiation into chemical energy, with the help of which the process of reduction of carbon and nitrogen oxides occurs in biosynthesis reactions.

In a green plant, photosynthesis occurs - the process of forming carbohydrates from water and oxygen dioxide (which is in the air or water). In this case, oxygen is released as a by-product. Green plants are classified as autotrophs - organisms that take all the chemical elements they need for life from the inert matter surrounding them and do not require ready-made organic compounds of another organism to build their body. The main source of energy used by autotrophs is the sun. Heterotrophs are organisms that need organic matter formed by other organisms for their nutrition. Heterotrophs gradually transform the organic matter formed by autotrophs, bringing it to its original mineral state.

The destructive (destructive) function is performed by representatives of each of the kingdoms of living matter. Decay, decomposition is an essential property of the metabolism of every living organism. Plants form organic matter and are the largest producers of carbohydrates on Earth; but they also release the oxygen necessary for life as a by-product of photosynthesis.

In the process of respiration in the bodies of all living species, carbon dioxide is formed, which plants again use for photosynthesis. There are also such types of living things for which the destruction of dead organic matter is a way of feeding. There are organisms with a mixed type of nutrition, they are called mixotrophs.

In the biosphere, the processes of transformation of inorganic, inert matter into organic matter and the reverse transformation of organic matter into mineral matter take place. The movement and transformation of substances in the biosphere is carried out with the direct participation of living matter, all types of which specialized in various ways of nutrition.

7. Biogenic migration of atoms -ecosystem property of the biosphere

The finite amount of matter that exists in the biosphere has acquired the property of infinity through the circulation of substances.

The image of the circulation of matter in the biosphere is created by the wheel of a water mill. However, in order for the wheel to turn, a constant flow of water is needed. Similarly, the flow of solar energy coming from space turns the "wheel of life" on our planet. How fast is the wheel spinning? In the course of biogeochemical cycles, the atoms of most chemical elements passed countless times through a living being. For example, all the oxygen in the atmosphere "turns around" through living matter in 2000 years, carbon dioxide- for 200-300 years, and all the water of the biosphere - for 2 million years.

Living matter is a perfect receiver of solar energy.

The energy absorbed and used in the photosynthesis reaction, and then stored in the form of the chemical energy of carbohydrates, is very large, there is evidence that it is comparable to the energy consumed by 100,000 large cities for 100 years. Heterotrophs use the organic matter of plants as food: organic matter is oxidized by oxygen, which is delivered to the body by the respiratory organs, with the formation of carbon dioxide - the reaction goes in the opposite direction. Thus, "eternal" makes life the simultaneous existence of autotrophs and heterotrophs.

Facts and arguments about the "wheel of life" in the biosphere give the right to speak about the law of biogenic migration of atoms, which was formulated by V.I. Vernadsky: the migration of chemical elements on the earth's surface and in the biosphere as a whole is carried out either with the direct participation of living matter, or it proceeds in an environment whose geochemical features are determined by living matter, both the one that now inhabits the biosphere and the one that acted on Earth throughout geological history.