CREATION OF CONTINENTS : PART 1

Early Earth

How can we define our existence ? How can we explain why we exist in this infinitely expanding cosmos ? Well, yeah its really hard to define it, and reach the conclusion. To understand this universe better we first need to understand ourselves better. As Neil deGrasse Tyson said “ we are in this universe but most importantly the universe is within us ". We are basically made of star dust. It’s weird right and at the same time its mind boggling. Life is very mesmerising if we have the lenses to see it. Our existence on this tiny wet rock floating in its designated position of endless nothing is very unusual and horrifying at the same time. This rock we are on, its tiny and we are tiny compared to this rock. Unusual because if I talk about the chances of us being here in this moment, is so tiny that its kind of special that we are here right now, breathing and experiencing the wonders around us. If we look at life in a scientific manner, it will loss its significance. Because I believe science  reveals the true nature of life, but there is one thing that nature had given us humans, that is we can see and percieve things in lot of different ways. The point is every single human ever lived on this tiny rock had perceived, gave meaning to life in their own way. I believe this ability to percieve life is special and lets us cherish each and every moment of our life.

The rock which we are in right now had gone through lot of hard phases that allowed life to originate in it. Okay, lets dive into the amazing story of this tiny rock and creation the 7 land masses. A long time ago, how long ? Around 4.5 billion years ago, formation of our solar system got a kick start. It came into existence from the left over solar dust from supernova which settled down and in technical term we call it decrease in entropy. There is this idea that entropy increases all the time. Things tend to go from orderly to disorderly just because there are many more ways to be disorderly. And this is a deep down law of nature. All the stuff we see the mechanical engine, the burning stars, the living beings, these all represents systems that are increasing the overall entropy of the universe. And if you think, which is probably true that there’s a maximum entropy you can reach, a maximum level of disorderliness and chaos, eventually we will get there and all the interestingness in the universe will be gone. The universe will reach what we call an “Equilibrium”. It’s really interesting to think that we exist because of a deviation in one of the most fundamantal and strongly held theories in all of science, that the overall entropy of this universe tends to increase. So how did all of these interestingness come about in the first place ? If the whole thing that reality does is just move closer and closer to complete disorder, then how did something as exquisitely organised as a human being come about ? Stars formed because of decrease in entropy and as a result we came into existence. It’s astounding right !!!. My mind gets baffled every time when I think about it. The transition from hot ball of matter to a wet thriveable planet is really amazing. Apparently, things might have went wrong at any moment. What i mean is the existence of environmental conditions which we have right now because of which we are able to operate is really special and it’s really hard for me to comprehend this fact that we are so closely bonded to nature that it will be impossible to detach ourselves. What I mean is that the existence of environmental conditions due to which we exist right now is really special.

Across the ages

Tectonic plates are the large pieces of the Earth's crust that make up the planet's surface. These plates move and interact with one another, giving rise to a range of geological phenomena such as mountain formation, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. The process of plate tectonics has been ongoing for billions of years, and its effects have helped shape the world as we know it.

The formation of tectonic plates began around 3 billion years ago as the Earth's crust cooled and solidified. This solidification was not uniform, and as the crust cooled, it broke apart into a series of large plates. Over time, these plates grew in size and number as they continued to move and interact with one another. The movement of tectonic plates is driven by convection currents in the underlying mantle. As heat is generated from the core of the Earth, it causes the mantle to convect, creating areas of upwelling and downwelling currents. This movement of the mantle material causes the plates to move, either toward or away from each other.

There are three types of plate boundaries where the plates interact with each other: divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries. At divergent boundaries, the plates are moving away from each other, creating new crust as magma rises to fill the gap. Convergent boundaries occur when two plates are moving towards each other, and one is forced under the other, known as subduction. This can lead to the formation of mountains or volcanic activity. Finally, at transform boundaries, the plates are sliding past each other horizontally, creating fault lines and causing earthquakes.

The movement of tectonic plates has had a significant impact on the Earth's surface over millions of years. For example, the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates led to the formation of the Himalayan mountain range, which is still rising today. Similarly, the movement of the Pacific Plate has led to the formation of the "Ring of Fire," a region of intense volcanic activity and earthquakes around the Pacific Ocean.

The formation and movement of tectonic plates is a complex process that has been ongoing for billions of years. This process has helped shape the Earth's surface and continues to do so today. Understanding plate tectonics is crucial to our understanding of the geology of our planet and the natural disasters that can occur as a result of plate movement.