HGSS
History of Geo- and Space Sciences
HGSSHist. Geo Space. Sci.
2190-5029
Copernicus Publications
Göttingen, Germany
10.5194/hgss-12-95-2021Book review: From Crust to Core – A Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science by Simon MittonBook review: From Crust to Core – A Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science
BouhifdMohamed Ali
ali.bouhifd@uca.fr
Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, CNRS & Université Clermont Auvergne
Campus universitaire des Cézeaux, 6 Avenue Blaise Pascal, 63170
Aubière, France
Mohamed Ali Bouhifd (ali.bouhifd@uca.fr)11May2021
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Copyright: © 2021 Mohamed Ali Bouhifd
2021
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is available from https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/12/95/2021/hgss-12-95-2021.htmlThe full text article is available as a PDF file from https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/12/95/2021/hgss-12-95-2021.pdf
Mitton, S.: From Crust to Core – A Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science, Cambridge University Press, University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, UK, 382 pp., ISBN: 9781316997475, EUR 44.99, 2020.
Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the solar system. Its presence
significantly affects chemical and physical processes in the Earth's
atmosphere, mantle and core. The importance of carbon also lies in the fact
that it has been essential for the origin and evolution of life, that it is
involved in an important fraction of the energy we use, and that it is
assumed to play a fundamental role in the Earth's climate system. In From Crust to Core – A Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science, Simon Mitton explores
several centuries of philosophical and scientific inquiry on the nature of
the Earth's interior, as based on the stories of over 100 scientists,
and sheds light on the particular roles of deep carbon. The author is a life
fellow at St Edmund's College at University of Cambridge. His current
research discipline is history of science, and his field of expertise is the
history of astronomy and planetary science in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. He is a member of the Deep Carbon Observatory (Carnegie
Institution for Science, Washington, DC) network of scientists whose mission
is to understand better the element carbon in Earth.
Composed of 15 chapters, the book starts with why carbon in Earth matters and
follows with the origin of carbon and its delivery to Earth. In chapters 4–7,
the author presents scientific adventures behind the determination of the
age and of the physical and chemical interior of the Earth. In chapters 8–10, the reader will meet a number of remarkable scientists whose
discoveries were to have major implications for understanding not only the
dynamics of the Earth's interiors, but also the genesis of a new
interdisciplinary field: oceanography. In chapters 12–14 the focus is on
the cycles, reservoirs and the fluxes of carbon between the main Earth
reservoirs and also on the history of high-pressure physics and chemistry
of carbon-bearing minerals under the Earth's mantle conditions. In the final
chapter, research on deep life is told from the studies by the pioneer
Alexander von Humboldt to our days. For every chapter, the author provides a
very interesting list of references reporting some remarkable discoveries
that changed our understanding of Earth-system science as a whole.
In summary, the book introduces the history of Earth's carbon all the way
from its synthesis in the first generation of stars in our universe, to its
incorporation in the solar nebula, where the Sun and planets formed nearly
4.5 billion years ago, to its final delivery to Earth with chondrites. The
book takes the reader on a captivating trip with an excellent narrative
style. Many discoveries, which led to enormous advances in broadening our
understanding of the history of science in general, are told, for example,
the discovery by Hans Bethe (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967), who made a
breakthrough regarding the synthesis of elements in stars, by showing the
carbon role in the astrophysical conversion of mass into energy, validating
Einstein's theory, E=mc2. The book also includes the history of the
discovery of radioactivity, a process for which Becquerel, Pierre and Marie
Curie were awarded the Noble Prize in Physics in 1903. This discovery would
have a huge impact on the Earth's internal dynamics over its 4.5 billion
years of history owing to the important amount of thermal energy produced by
radioactive elements present within the Earth. The discovery of
radioactivity provided a novel and robust way to measure the age of rock
samples that made most other geological dating methods obsolete. The book
includes the fascinating history of the theory of plate tectonics and a
history of research on deep diamonds, which can keep the chemical message of
their formation billions or millions of years ago. It also includes the
history of the pioneering research on deep life during the last half a
century of extraordinary progress on questions about the limits of life on
Earth and the nature of deep life. In a final note, the author reaches the
philosophical conclusion that there is a great deal still to be discovered
about the microbial environment of Earth's interiors that is highly relevant
to the search for life elsewhere. Therefore, it seems entirely plausible
that, right beneath our feet, deep carbon science could yet uncover
important clues on the origin of life in the universe.
This is an excellent book for everyone interested in knowing the stories
behind the key discoveries in deep carbon science that includes (but not
restricted to) the Big Bang, origin of carbon in the universe, formation of
rocky planets, diamonds in the Earth's mantle and the signs of deep life.
Additionally, From Crust to Core – A Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science is
well affordable for all “amateurs” and also professionals who are looking
for the fascinating story of the evolution of Earth system science in
general and deep carbon science in particular.