Geochemistry and the Biosphere. Vladimir I. Vernadsky
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ISBN 978–0–907791–36–2
© Copyright 2007 by Synergetic Press. All rights reserved.
One Bluebird Court, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vernadskii, V. I. (Vladimir Ivanovich), 1863–1945
[Biosfera. English]
Geochemistry and the biosphere/essays by Vladimir I. Vernadsky; translation from the 1967 third Russian edition by Olga Barash; edited by Frank B. Salisbury; introduction by Alexander Yanshin.
p. cm.
ISBN–13: 978–0–907791–36–2 (alk. paper)
ISBN–10: 0–907791–36–0 (alk. paper)
1. Geochemistry. 2. Biogeochemistry. 3. Biosphere. I. Salisbury, Frank
B. II. IAnshin, Aleksandr Leonidovich, 1911-III. Title.
QE515.V3913 2007
551.9–dc22
2005054713
Photos reproduced with permission of the Commission on Elaboration of Scientific Heritage of Academician V. I. Vernadsky, Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Cover image of Crab Nebula courtesy of NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The Biosphere by V. I. Vernadsky was first published in 1926 in Leningrad, USSR. Three years later it was published in France (La Biosphère, Paris Alkan, 1929, 232 pp.). The Biosphere was published in Russian for the fourth time as part of the selected works of V. I. Vernadsky, which included his publication Essays on Geochemistry, under the general title, Бчocфepa Biosféra; English: The Biosphere, edited by A. I. Perelman, (Mysl Publishers, Moscow, 1967, 373 pp.)
this book is dedicated to
The late Ganna Maleshka and the late Evgenii Shepelev whose lives were devoted to the study of the biosphere and the evolution of the noösphere.
Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863–1945)
acknowledgments
The publisher wishes to thank Academician Oleg Gazenko, and the late Drs. Evgenii Shepelev and Ganna Maleshka from the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow for their long-standing friendship and collaboration with Synergetic Press which has made it possible for us to make Vernadsky’s writings available in English. This collaboration began in 1986 with their support of our publication of the first English edition of The Biosphere, an abridged translation from the 1929 French edition. These visionaries of biosphere and noösphere, who pioneered closed system ecological research for improving life on Earth and extending it into space, continued their assistance in preparing this translation of Vernadsky’s selected writings.
I wish to thank the late Academician Alexander Yanshin, founder of the V. I. Vernadsky Foundation, for his thoughtful contribution to this volume, and the Yanshin family for their help in providing rare and beautiful archival images of Vernadsky and his life. Many thanks go to Academician Eric Galimov, Director of the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry for his help in locating historical information. I am also very grateful to my dear friend, Dr. Leonid Zhurnya, for his tremendous assistance in communicating with the many contributors to this book in Moscow.
Gratitude is due to Olga Barash, for the hundreds of hours she devoted to translating Vernadsky’s work into English. I am greatly in debt to Professor Frank Salisbury for his detailed editing and his scientific expertise that has enhanced the understanding of this complex work.
I gratefully acknowledge the help and support given by the Institute of Ecotechnics, most especially one of its directors, John Allen, who introduced me to the emerging field of biospherics and brought to my attention the important works of Vernadsky. It was John Allen who envisioned and co-founded the landmark Biosphere 2 experiment designed to test Vernadsky’s theories, and who continues to work on innovative projects devoted to better understanding the biosphere.
Other thanks are due to many people who have donated their time, energy, and skills to this book, including Eleanor Caponigro for design consultation, Robert Hutwohl of Spirit of the Sun Publications, Anne Visscher, Dr. Mark Nelson, and Linda Sperling for devoted editorial and production assistance.
Why is this book so important now? Vernadsky, who founded both biogeochemistry and biospheric science and has highly influenced Russian and European thought, is still barely known to the English-speaking world. His writings contain vast knowledge of the history of science, significant insights into the role of humans in the biosphere, and many other ideas vital to the future of life on Earth.
This collection of his writings includes the first unabridged third edition of The Biosphere (which he continued to revise until the end of his life), and, for the first time in English, selected essays from his seminal book Essays on Geochemistry. It has been both an honor and a privilege to publish the work of Vladimir Vernadsky, whose originality still inspires.
Deborah Parrish Snyder
May 2006
contents
Introduction by Academician Alexander Yanshin
1 Geochemistry as a Science of the Twentieth Century
2 Forms of Existence of Chemical Elements
chemical elements in the earth’s crust; their forms of existence and classification
1 Geochemistry Classification of Chemical Elements
2 Forms of Existence of Chemical Elements
3 Geochemistry of Iodine and Bromine
4 Living Organisms in the Earth’s Crust
7 Matter in a State of Dispersion
carbon and living matter in the earth’s crust
1 Carbon in Different Geospheres and Its Role
2 The Stability of Carbon Minerals
3 Dispersion of Carbides
4 Primary Carbides
5 Petroleum and Its Formation
6 The Primary Geochemical Carbon Cycle