Science Week Presentation – By Dr Samuel Boone
How Earth’s Tectonic Past Cooled The Planet – And Could Do It Again!
Global warming. This is a phrase that I’m sure you’ve heard before, and for good reason. Ever since the Industrial Revolution transformed the world in the late 18th century, the average global temperature has been going up and up, while scientists desperately come up with strategies to slow it down. But have you ever wondered why this is such a problem? Throughout history, Earth has gone through multiple warm and cold periods, fluctuating within a five-degree range, so won’t it just fix itself like normal? Well, to answer this question, we have to delve a little deeper into the natural processes that rule the Earth and create this fluctuating cycle. This is exactly what I, along with the rest of Year 8, got to learn a little more about on Monday as a part of Science Week from the esteemed geoscientist Dr Samuel Boone, an expert in the field of tectonics and thermochronology. Along with topics like how to travel back in time (metaphorically) to locate copper deposits, Dr Boone talked about the cycle of carbon on Earth, which is actually what regulates Earth’s temperature. The reason Earth has been heating up so rapidly is that we are disrupting this cycle and overloading the carbon in our atmosphere, which effectively acts like a blanket and traps heat in. So, to answer the question “Will Earth just fix global warming by itself?” the answer is no. It’s up to us humans to try and reverse the catastrophic effects we’ve had because if we don’t act soon, there’s no magical process that can save us.
Sam Holt
(Year 8)