History of the term earth sphere

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The term earth sphere has been used regularly in scientific publications since the nineteenth century. From the 1970s onwards, it is used more and more, displacing a certain geosphere term that is synonymous with it in terms of content. Since it was first coined, the term earth sphere has seen a single change in meaning. The change took place in the early years of the twentieth century. Since then, the term has remained stable and clear in terms of content.

Beginnings

In scientific literature, the earth sphere was only increasingly used from the middle of the 19th century. Even older uses are very rare. In the 19th century, the earth sphere was still synonymous with terms such as earth globe or planet earth :

"After the earth's sphere had formed, our moon, too, detached itself from it as a ring and rolled out of the ring into a ball."

- Hugo Reinsch : Knowledge of nature: 27

"The year of Neptune is 164 years the same as ours, the seasons on it last longer than 40 years, its density is almost the same as that of beech wood, its volume is 100 times that of the earth's sphere."

- Camille Flammarion : The majority of inhabited worlds: 40–41

Change of meaning

Originally the earth sphere referred to the whole planet earth in its spherical shape. As seen here on a photo of the Apollo 8 moon mission .

However, by the middle of the 19th century, a certain further concept of sphere had long been known, namely the concept of atmosphere. In addition, the term pyrosphere developed into a geoscientific technical term by the 1860s and 1870s at the latest . Furthermore, the British doctor and polymath Hugh Doherty presented his system of spheric realms in 1864 . Doherty's publication in 1871 proved to be the direct groundwork for the coining of the term geosphere . Only four years later, other sphere terms were introduced - barysphere , lithosphere , hydrosphere and biosphere . They were followed in 1899 by the tectosphere , in 1901 by the centrosphere and finally in 1905 by the pedosphere as the tenth term of the sphere.

Each of the spheres just mentioned described a certain, envelope-like part of the planet earth . As a result of this semantic development, the planet as a whole could no longer be addressed as a single earth sphere. Because in the imagination the celestial body was now made up of several earth spheres. That is why the earth sphere lost its meaning as an earth globe synonym. The word changed to a generic term under which atmosphere, geosphere, lithosphere and many other sphere terms were grouped.

The change between two earthly sphere-terms - from continuing globe -Synonym, towards the Erdsphären-preamble - took place smoothly at the beginning of the twentieth century. On the one hand, the older term "earth sphere" was used for a few decades. A late example can be found in the textbook of the Austrian geologist Franz Toula (1845–1920). On the other hand, the era of the new concept of the earth sphere had already begun, coined by the German geographer Alfred Hettner :

"With regard to its constituent masses and their arrangement on a large scale, the earth appears to us to be composed of three main parts, which show the three states of aggregation of the substance and appear generally concentric arranged according to their density from the outside to the inside: 1. the air envelope or the atmosphere, 2. the shell of water or the hydrosphere, 3. the solid earth crust or the lithosphere. In addition, there is another member of the earth that is not accessible to direct observation: 4. The interior of the earth or the earth's core, the pyrosphere or the barysphere. It should already be mentioned here that the average density of the minerals that make up the only outer earth sphere known to us can be assumed to be at most 2 · 8. "

- Franz Toula : Textbook of Geology: A Guide for Students: 11

“The concept of the earth's surface is not easy to grasp. It is by no means given solely in the form of the solid surface of the earth or in any single series of facts, but includes all kingdoms of nature: the earth, water, air, the world of plants and animals, man and his works, and speaks itself in each one Nature abounds in the most diverse relationships. We must attribute to it all phenomena on the surface of the earth which are expressed in the external picture of the landscape or which, through the influence they exert on other phenomena of this earth location, prove to be essential properties of the same. ... It is the task of the whole physical geography to follow the way in which the energies mentioned [in the text immediately before] come into their own in the geographical appearances of the different kingdoms of nature or earth spheres. "

- Alfred Hettner : Basic concepts and principles of physical geography: 23, 132

Developments in the English and Russian language areas

In the English-speaking world, the new term "earth sphere" initially received little attention. This was due to another term which was coined around the same time and which was congruent in content with the new term `` earth sphere '': The Scottish marine researcher John Murray (1841-1914) coined his own geosphere in 1908 with the expression geospheres (in the plural!) Term. This particular geosphere term was picked up by the Russian geoscientist Vladimir Ivanovich Wernadski (1863–1945). In this way, Murray's geospheres came into the language of Russian geoscientists. Among them, the term was to be cultivated for many decades. Since then, Russian-speaking scientists have coined numerous names for various geospheres that can be addressed individually .

From geospheres to earth's spheres

However, the semantic predominance of Murray's geospheres was not exclusive even within the English-language geosciences. So in a few cases during the 1920s earth spheres was written. Even in later decades there are isolated examples of this expression.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Russian science publications were increasingly shifted to English. The term earth's spheres was occasionally used in these publications . This term was reminiscent of Alfred Hettner's concept of the earth sphere. Nevertheless earth's spheres was not a belated takeover from German geography. Instead, the term was an obvious translation option for geospheres. as introduced into Russian by Vernadski: Earth's spheres was a translation of Vernadski's geosphere term. Well, Wernadski had once adopted the term from the English-speaking marine researcher John Murray. As a result, the now emerging Earth's spheres. ultimately back translations from Murrays geospheres. back into English. There were Murrays geospheres. still synonymous with Hettner's earth spheres. That is why the earth's spheres , published since the 1960s, had . has the same meaning as the spheres of the earth, which were coined in 1903 .

Own Anglo-American authors used earth's spheres for the first time probably in 1972. The older expression earth spheres was also revived a little earlier .

Current situation

The composite of the earth spheres.

Since the early 1970s, both earth's spheres and earth spheres have been used more frequently in scientific publications. Their content is interchangeable and corresponds to Alfred Hettner's earth spheres . Further, closely related expressions for the same term content are spheres of the earth system , earth layers or spheres of the earth .

"In the main landscape floor, the earth spheres interpenetrate: atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, pedosphere, lithosphere and sociosphere."

- Uta Steinhardt, Oswald Blumenstein, Heiner Barsch : Textbook of Landscape Ecology: 152

However, none of the terms just presented was able to completely displace the synonymous geosphere term according to John Murray - although at least nine other geosphere terms exist in addition to Murrays and therefore the use of geosphere harbors great potential for misunderstanding.

See also

literature

  • H. Carol: For the discussion of landscape and geography. In: Geographica Helvetica. 11, 1956, pp. 111-132.
  • E. Winkler: On two more recent geographical "basic concepts". In: Geographica Helvetica. 15, 1960, pp. 47-49.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ P. Shaw: The Philosophical Works of the Honorable Robert Boyle . London 1738, p. 11.
  2. ↑ H. Reinsch: Knowledge of nature. Speyer 1856.
  3. ↑ C. Flammarion : The Majority of Inhabited Worlds . Dresden 1864.
  4. ^ J. Wilkins: A Discovery of a New World . London 1638, p. 103.
  5. ↑ JC Wagner: Atmosphaera Sublunaris . Augsburg 1682
  6. ↑ Arthur Mangin: Les mystères de l'océan . Paris 1864, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Charles Conte Jean: Eléments De Géologie Et De Paléontologie . Paris, 1874. Quoted from FW Rudler: CONTEJEAN, CH. In: The Geological Record for 1874. London 1875, p. 353.
  8. ↑ H. Doherty: Organic Philosophy or Man's True Place in Nature Volume I - Epicosmology. London 1864.
  9. ^ SP Andrews: The Primary Synopsis of Universology and Alwato . New York 1871, p. 105.
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  11. ^ J. Murray: Address to the Geographical Section of the British Association, 1899. In: Scottish Geographical Magazine. 15, 1899, pp. 505-522 or in J. Murray: Oceanography. In: The Geographical Journal. 14, 1899, pp. 426-441.
  12. ^ CR Dryer: Lessons in physical geography . New York 1901, p. 27.
  13. ↑ AA Ярилов: Педология, как самостоятельная естественнонаучная дисциплина о земле . Рьев 1905.
  14. ^ F. Toula: Textbook of Geology: A Guide for Students . Vienna 1900 or 1906 or 1918.
  15. ^ F. Toula: Textbook of Geology: A Guide for Students . Vienna 1906.
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  17. ^ J. Murray: The Deep Sea. In: Scottish Geographical Magazine. 26, 1910, pp. 617-624.
  18. ^ VI Vernadsky: Geochemistry in selected chapters . Leipzig 1930, p. 51.
  19. ^ V. Vernadsky: The Biosphere . New York 1998, p. 91.
  20. ^ E. Winkler: On two newer geographical "basic concepts". In: Geographica Helvetica. 15, 1960, p. 48 Link
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  29. ↑ А. Г. Исаченко: Основы ландшафтоведения и и физико-географическое районирование. Москва́ 1965.
  30. ^ VV Beloussov: Some Problems of Development of the Earth's Crust and Upper Mantle of Oceans. In: L. Knopoff, CL Drake, PJ Hart (Eds.): The Crust and Upper Mantle of the Pacific Area. Richmond 1968, p. 449.
  31. ↑ VM Zhmakin: Evolution of gas in the Protoplanetary Cloud and the Interior Planets Subsurface. UDC identifier 523,4: 550.43: 552.112 / .3, 2010, p. 2.
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  34. ^ FE Lumley: Principles of Sociology. New York 1935.
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  50. ^ E. Winkler: On two newer geographical "basic concepts". In: Geographica Helvetica. 15, 1960, pp. 47-49.