Sejarah evolusi Bumi: Mengisahkan kembali asal usul terbentuknya planet kita | DW Dokumenter

Rock.

They existed long before oceans,

forests,

and plants formed.

Even before the oxygen we breathe.

Rocks have existed since the beginning of time.

They are not just hard surfaces on which we stand,

but also the main figures

and silent witnesses of

Earth's long history. The

stunning rock formations

hold tales of rebirth,

violent upheaval,

and miracles.

Its existence is often misunderstood,

even though it is very essential.

Because it is in this mineral material that the

origin of life begins. The

coevolution of rocks and life is

one of the most fascinating aspects of Earth's history. There

can be no life without minerals.

Without rocks, there

would be no oxygen,

continents,

landforms,

plants, or

even animals.

For billions of years,

minerals and life have been interconnected.

The relationship developed slowly and steadily. It is

very important for the survival of the Earth.

Until one day,

one species started to interfere.

At first it didn't feel like it,

then it developed so quickly.

Since the beginning,

humans have needed minerals.

Over time,

the relationship became more complicated.

Within the rocks of the Earth,

hidden stories of the beginning of life, the

complex structure of the world,

and the balance of forces

that have long shaped life.

This is the history of Earth.

Our history.

One thing we know is that

our Earth formed about

4.5 billion years ago.

Formed from material that previously came from

exploded stars.

Throwing minerals,

ice,

and other materials into space.

Earth, the

solar system,

did not exist in the beginning.

What exists is a cloud of dust and gas.

Mainly hydrogen and helium,

which combined to form the Sun.

Stardust is a small mineral particle

that, due to gravity,

turns into a larger clump.

From the size of a fist, a

basketball, a

room,

to hundreds of kilometers.

And when the rocky planet began to form,

all of those dust particles

became the minerals that formed

planet Earth. The

early Earth

formed from an accumulation of small, mineral-rich dust particles,

all of which originated from stars.

So fundamentally,

we are all made of stardust.

We are all made of stardust.

This means that

everything on Earth

is a legacy of the stars.

However,

in its early days, the

blue planet was very different

from what it is today.

Once the Earth

was a burning ball of fire.

Molten mass exposed to solar wind

and meteorite impacts.

The surface is covered in a sea of

boiling magma.

When the Earth was born, it was

incredibly hot.

It is estimated that within 30 or 40 million years after it formed, the

Earth melted.

In geology,

the history of the Earth is divided into several eras.

The first is the Hadean Era,

inspired by the name Hades.

At that time the Earth was very hot, with

almost no crust. It has

little solid surface

and a very thin atmosphere.

The Earth is also covered in magma

like a mineral hell,

very uninhabitable.

Amidst the turmoil of this ancient era,

a cosmic event occurred,

which ultimately transformed the Earth.

The Moon almost certainly

formed early in Earth's history,

when a

Mars-sized planet collided with Earth. The

material thrown out by the massive collision

then solidified to form the Moon

that now orbits us.

In the beginning,

the Moon was also a ball of fire like the Earth.

Shining like a second sun.

Its existence gradually influenced the development of the Earth,

until billions of years later,

creating conditions conducive

to life.

This is the

beginning of a big change.

As the Earth slowly cooled, its

elements began to form.

Gravity pulls heavier materials

such as iron and nickel toward the center

to form the Earth's core,

while lighter materials

form its mantle.

In this fragile balance,

magma solidifies on the surface

into a dense,

dark rock called basalt.

Basalt became the Earth's first crust.

On top of this crust,

another process

that was equally important

to the Earth's development began to take shape: the

water cycle.

As the atmosphere,

which is filled with a number of gases, begins to cool,

water vapor begins to condense

and falls as rain.

Over time,

rain formed puddles on the Earth's surface

and that was the beginning of the formation of the oceans.

So, in its first 100 million years or so,

Earth went from something alien

to something that

started to look like our home.

One major difference between early Earth

and present-day Earth

is the absence of life.

With the formation of the Earth's crust and oceans,

some of the familiar features of Earth

began to emerge.

However,

volcanoes still spew

lava flows and gas clouds,

filling the atmosphere

with carbon dioxide,

methane,

and ammonia.

At the beginning of the Archean Era,

the water in the oceans may have been green

due to its high iron content. It is

in this turmoil of fire,

water,

and gas that

an important chemical process begins.

The emergence of life on Earth

remains one of the greatest mysteries.

However, it is certain that

the process involves water and rocks.

There are several theories.

Life could have arisen on the seabed,

near hydrothermal vents

that release hot water

with a distinctive chemical environment.

Life could also arise

on land,

from small lakes

or hot springs,

as Darwin once suggested.

Life emerged due to the creation of conducive conditions

involving water,

temperature,

and minerals.

Once life begins,

it continues to strive to

maintain its continuity.

The formation of life

and how it maintains its continuity

are two different things.

Life may have begun many times on the ancient Earth,

but it did not last long

and eventually became extinct.

However,

at one point,

life arose.

Rising from failure over and over again,

but with enough elements to survive.

Until one time in the ancient ocean,

life forms began to develop,

diversify,

and slowly adapt.

They are simple microorganisms

that are invisible to the naked eye.

Some of them

began to harness the Sun's energy

by capturing light

and eventually producing oxygen, an

element that was previously almost insignificant.

There was a major change on the Earth's surface at that time

because the oxygen content in the atmosphere, which was initially non-existent,

increased slightly,

from 0% to 2%.

Currently we have 15%.

This moment is believed to be a

pivotal point in geological history

that allowed life to evolve

and become increasingly diverse

throughout the rest of Earth's history. The

Great Oxygenation Event was a

crucial time when Earth and life interacted in a way that

transformed both.

For more than a billion years,

oxygen produced by photosynthetic bacteria

was absorbed by the oceans

and bound in rocks.

When these natural reservoirs are full,

oxygen begins to accumulate in the atmosphere

and slowly changes its composition.

Over time, the

ozone layer formed,

protecting the planet from ultraviolet radiation

and allowing

more complex life to emerge,

including early forms of plankton

as we know them today.

To this day,

this microscopic world

still provides insights into

how increasing marine biodiversity is slowly

changing not only the atmosphere,

but also the rocks.

Marine life is the

focus of this marine biologist's research.

An ecosystem

that still plays an important role in

maintaining the balance of the Earth.

Amazingly,

in one liter of seawater,

there are 10 to 100 billion plankton organisms.

That far exceeds the human population on Earth.

Each liter of seawater

contains up to ten times the Earth's population.

Plankton,

ancient Greek for "wanderers",

live in water and are estimated to make up 98% of marine life.

However,

as a research subject,

plankton is rarely studied. It was

only in 2009 that the

Tara Oceans foundation

launched a four-year study

specifically to collect data

on plankton.

This is the fresh plankton

we just collected

with a large net.

In this invisible world,

there are many tiny organisms.

There are viruses,

which are already quite eccentric in shape,

like miniature spaceships,

there are bacteria,

which are starting to form filaments

that sometimes gather into colonies,

and there are more complex cells

like protists.

There are also layers of other small animals

such as jellyfish and the like.

All these organisms interact in one ecosystem.

That's what we need to learn today.

During the expedition,

researchers identified

more than 250,000 species of plankton,

some of which are

capable of photosynthesis.

By absorbing carbon dioxide in the ocean,

plankton help balance the atmosphere

and form many of the cliffs

we see today.

Phytoplankton includes a group called coccolithophores.

These tiny cells are able to produce tiny calcium discs

and attach them to the cell membrane.

This phenomenon is very special.

Each of these single-celled organisms

forms a calcium plate

that looks like a floating rock.

The function of these plates is very important

because when they die,

these organisms sink to the bottom of the sea.

Over time,

this process forms deposits that rise out of the water,

as seen in the English Channel

and elsewhere.

Remarkably,

this simple process changed Earth's history.

It is amazing

that many organisms are able to form minerals

that remain intact when they die.

Paleontologists

quickly realized

that many rocks were made

from the remains of life.

Many limestone rocks are formed

from skeletons that accumulate

to a thickness of several kilometers.

Only about 10 or 15% of

animals have mineralized skeletons,

but their impact

on Earth

and life on it is enormous. The

limestone here was formed between 180 million years ago.

This area was once a 300 meter deep sea,

filled with coccolithophores.

Their calcium skeletons accumulated over 20 million years.

So two centimeters every thousand years,

shaping this landscape.

This was once the seabed, which was then exposed

when the strait separating England

and France was formed.

Single-celled organisms

can form mountains.

It's a testament to how amazing life is

and how it impacts geology.

For a long time, the

ancient oceans were the

only habitat for bacteria,

single-celled algae,

and the first multicellular organisms.

The emergence of more complex life forms was just

beginning.

Conditions for the next phase of evolution

are formed in shallower,

light-filled water zones.

Life has not yet reached land.

Imagine a time

500 million years ago

when there were no plants on land.

There are only barren rocks.

It's like heaven for geologists.

The entire Earth is

still covered with raw rocks.

A fact that many people may not

know is

that for 90% of Earth's history, there was very

little land

covering the surface. It was

n't until the last 10% of Earth's history that

deep soil

developed.

However,

there is also much evidence that

there are diverse species of microbes

such as bacteria,

fungi,

algae,

and possibly lichens.

Lichens are the

result of symbiosis between algae and fungi.

They are unique

because they are mini ecosystems.

Before vascular plants appeared,

they covered

much of the Earth's surface.

Lichens are

little known

because their fossil traces are almost non-existent

due to their fine structure.

Researchers believe

they paved the way

for life on land.

These tiny organisms

trigger huge transformations.

By dissolving rock minerals,

they promote biological weathering

and then create soil.

This marked the beginning of a new phase

when living organisms

began to shape the Earth's surface.

Until now,

lichens continue to work

consistently.

An organism.

What fascinated this biologist

I worked as a geologist for 20 years

studying ancient rocks.

What caught my attention was the

lichen growing on it.

That's what prompted me to switch

from a geologist to a biologist.

This granite is mostly

made of silica,

visible from the small,

clear grains here.

Around it,

there are large pale white grains

and a few pink grains.

It is feldspar,

which has a high mineral content.

They contain potassium,

possibly calcium as well.

These nutrients are used by lichens

to help their growth.

Lichens also dissolve rocks,

crystals

and granules,

then reabsorb nutrients from them.

They opened this granite.

They physically weather rocks

and chemically dissolve them.

All of these colors are often associated with acids.

When these acids are released from lichens,

they can break down

and dissolve mineral grains.

Through this process,

they turn rocks into clay particles.

These particles can then be carried by wind or rain.

From there,

the particles begin to form soil,

paving the way for other ecosystems to develop.

Weathering is the most important process on the Earth's surface.

Lichens

can be likened to agents,

although they are small,

limited,

and grow very slowly.

Although it may be underestimated, I

think

the role of lichens is very important

in the history of life on Earth.

When I saw these rocks and lichens,

I was amazed that with their size and speed,

they could break such hard solid objects into particles.

It's amazing

that they were able to do that

so slowly.

On a scale of millimeters to microns

over hundreds to thousands of years.

Those are spatial scale

and temporal scale.

Something different

from everyday human life

.

By settling on rocks,

lichens prepare the ground

for the emergence of land plants.

However,

without the Moon and its gravitational force,

these plants

might never have emerged.

Most life arises from the waters of unstable coastal zones

and tidal areas. The

ebb and flow of the ocean

creates

alternating wet and dry environments.

This condition

requires significant biological adaptation

.

It can be assumed

that creatures living

in the tidal zone

must be accustomed to being wet and dry.

It may be an important factor

for survival. It was

in this tidal zone that the

first aquatic algae, the

ancestors of land plants,

began to settle on land.

To survive here,

they must be able to adapt

and protect themselves.

450 million years ago,

when land plants began to appear,

there was a population of algae

that produced a kind of

clear coating on their bodies

to keep them from drying out.

That was the first step

in the formation of the forests,

woodlands,

and grasslands

around us today.

These early primitive plants

created the conditions

for life on land.

They form a cuticle, a

clear layer

that helps them

retain moisture.

They also have rhizoids,

which allow them to

anchor themselves underground.

They were the

beginnings of rooted plants

that forever changed the biosphere

and the development of ecosystems on Earth.

It is amazing

because many plants

at that time were small in size.

All these plants

require nutrients from minerals

on the Earth's surface.

So they

need to interact with the surface

they grow on.

The roots penetrate into the soil,

forming increasingly complex structures.

They bring new minerals,

change the soil

and its movement.

So,

this was a very important moment

when the first land plants appeared

and began to form their own habitats.

The evolution of land plants

changed our planet.

They transform rocky landscapes

into green ecosystems.

Millions of years later,

animals followed the same evolutionary path.

From water to land.

Like plants,

animals also have to adapt to a completely different world.

Their bodies are

no longer supported by water,

their skin

dries out from the air,

and they have to adapt

to gravity.

What needs to be known is that

animal life thrives in the sea.

All the types of animals we see on land today

evolved from water.

To do so,

they needed to establish a new structure.

For example, vertebrates.

All vertebrates that have legs

like tetrapods that live on land,

their ancestors were fish.

Fish have gills,

not lungs.

So,

in order for vertebrates to live on land,

they had to develop lungs

and they succeeded.

Fins also function well in the sea,

but to walk

and support oneself on land, a

complete change in the

structure of the

body's skeleton and muscles is required.

That also happened successfully.

The interaction between minerals

and life is

most clearly seen

in the way skeletons are formed.

Minerals are essential

for life to

move onto land.

Without minerals, there

would be no skeleton

or shell.

In tetrapods,

these changes occur inside the body.

Their bones,

which are composed of calcium phosphate

and carbonate, become denser

to support their body weight outside the water.

On the other hand,

arthropods developed a kind of armor, an

organic exoskeleton

that protected them from dehydration and predators,

while also giving them a strong shell.

Without these skeletons and armor, the

first land animals

would not have been able to explore

and create new habitats

by digging

and breaking down the soil.

Burrowing animals

play an important role in

life activities on Earth.

They are often overlooked

because their activities occur underground.

Such as termites,

millipedes,

ants,

spiders,

and others.

Chemically,

many burrowing animals eat the soil

which then

changes the mineral composition.

Physically,

burrowing animals have a big impact on the soil

because they create many interconnected tunnels in the soil

.

This pathway allows the soil

to contain more oxygen

and water to move more effectively.

This encourages the creation of new systems in the soil.

As a result,

various types of organisms and species are

encouraged to thrive

in these new conditions.

Throughout the history of the Earth it

can be seen that after the arrival of arthropods on the surface,

quite a lot of changes occurred.

The Earth has long been shaped by powerful geological forces:

volcanism,

plate tectonics,

and continental drift.

However, the emergence of plants and animals,

now added a new force:

Life.

In the intertidal zone,

species such as sea urchins or sea urchins

still shape and alter rocks

and coral reefs to this day.

For more than 40 years, the

marine biologist

has studied the animal's relationship with rocks.

I see the interaction with the substrate.

I saw them eroding sandstone

which produces millions of tons of sediment

every year.

I see a long history,

ecologically and evolutionary.

Sea urchins have lived in the sea for 450 million years.

They have extraordinary abilities.

Slowly and consistently,

they use their teeth and spines

to erode the limestone,

changing the geological dynamics of the seabed.

When sea urchins settle, they are

very small in size. The

spines are small, the

tube feet are small,

and the body is small.

As they grow,

they develop a structure for feeding

called Aristotle's Lantern.

This organ has five teeth that are used

to scrape small stones when they eat.

So they scrape off the algae

with their teeth

and they swallow it.

Their spines also shift sand grains

as they touch the rock surface. This

combination of teeth scraping the surface

and spines raking the surface

continues to wear away at the rock.

When that happens,

they create a small hole.

This process is called bio-erosion.

In essence,

sea urchins have a very big role.

Through bio-erosion,

they are included in a geological cycle

that has been going on for thousands of years.

The sediments they produce are carried deep

into the ocean and returned to the surface,

piling up to form the seabed

and coastlines. This

slow,

but crucial, transformation process

contributed to the formation of continents.

What amazes me is that the

sea urchins, which can number in the thousands

in these niches,

act like sculptors.

They are the ones who do bio-erosion.

And over the years, the

sheer number of

bio-erosion-induced coastal sculpting they have created is

truly remarkable.

Animals are very active on the Earth's surface.

They play a role in the formation

and erosion of rocks in strange,

but fascinating ways.

Erosion by animals can be divided into two,

namely physical erosion and chemical erosion.

Rockhopper penguins for example.

They can cause physical erosion

to the rock surfaces where they nest.

They can also undergo chemical erosion

through urine and other forms of interaction

with surfaces.

So, animals are really creative

and destructive towards rocks.

If there were no sea urchins,

these rocks would have no shape.

They are the ones who make those curves,

gaps,

and cracks.

They are such

fundamental organisms to this system

that the absence of sea urchins is simply

unimaginable to me.

However,

sea urchins are only a small part of a larger cycle.

All over the planet,

there are various invisible forces

that help turn rocks to dust.

Not only living things,

but also wind and water.

All of this contributes

to the slow process of erosion,

which shapes the landscape

and nourishes the oceans.

The earth uses everything.

Rocks that are detached from cliffs,

destroyed by tides or organisms,

will become rocks again.

It is an eternal cycle

where every grain of sand

holds the history of the Earth.

Humans assume the Earth's surface has always been like this

because we have only seen it during our lifetime. The

Alps, for example,

will remain as they are.

However,

geologically,

tens of millions of years ago,

there was an ocean here.

Currently there are mountains four thousand meters high

and in tens of millions of years there will be

new hills or even plains.

In other parts of the Earth,

new mountains or new oceans

will also appear.

It is difficult to understand

that there is a much larger

and longer cycle that occurred before our lives.

All these processes

will continue

after we are gone.

Every mineral grain eroded from a mountain

holds a story of how mountains were formed,

eroded,

and buried deep within the Earth,

only to be replaced by new mountains.

That is the story of Earth.

Imagine rock being exposed,

and then rain,

wind,

and ice releasing tiny fragments.

The mineral grains were washed away by the river to the bottom of the sea.

The grains then become a thick layer of sediment.

The pressure there is quite high.

When buried deeper and piled up with other sediments,

the pressure and temperature are high enough

to change the sediment

into new rock.

The rock will probably remain on the seabed

for tens of millions of years.

Until finally,

mountains are formed from crushed rocks.

The sediment rises again,

lifted by tectonic forces,

and becomes part of a new mountain.

They will erode,

weather,

enter rivers,

and start the cycle again over and over again

for hundreds of millions of years. The

rock cycle

has shaped the Earth

for billions of years.

Driven by three main factors:

Water,

life,

and plate tectonics, the interactions of which,

as far as we know,

only exist on Earth. It

all started with magma,

which formed rock,

which then became the foundation of the Earth.

Wind and weather cause rocks to erode,

dissolve,

break down into small particles,

and change shape.

This is the beginning of a long cycle.

Rivers carry these particles to the ocean,

where they settle layer by layer.

Over time,

these rocks

solidified into sandstone,

limestone,

and other sedimentary rocks

that formed cliffs,

plateaus,

and seabeds.

Under the pressure of the Earth's crust,

these rocks change.

Limestone turns into marble

and clay into slate.

Sometimes the changes are more spectacular.

In the slow movement of tectonic plates,

sedimentary rocks are also carried deeper

until they melt and turn back

into magma.

This magma fills the volcano

and starts this eternal cycle all over again

.

However,

this cycle would not be possible

without water.

Water seeps deep beneath the Earth's surface,

hydrating the oceanic crust

and aiding the sinking of plates into the Earth's mantle.

This process

creates mountains and continents,

while also supplying nutrients

to the land and oceans.

This is essential

for life on Earth.

This process has existed since the beginning of Earth's history.

Without the rock cycle,

Earth would be a different place

and life would cease to evolve.

This is what happens on Mars. There

may have been life there,

but it could not have survived

because there was no dynamic rock cycle. The

rock cycle and the cycle of life are

interrelated.

Both have influenced each other

for billions of years.

This is an ongoing process that we are not aware of

and continues to this day.

Seen from a dust storm in the Namib Desert

in Namibia.

There is an amazing process here. This

process has been observed

by sedimentologists

for many years.

These dust plumes indicate that the

Earth is alive and functioning well.

There are geological processes taking place. The

Namib Desert

acts as the setting and main character

of a phenomenon

that originally originated in the mountains.

There,

rain and wind slowly erode the rocks

into fine dust.

The dust is then carried by rivers,

which only appear during the rainy season

and then dry up again,

into the desert sand dunes.

Seasonal rivers

only flow during the rainy season after heavy storms. The

river flowed very fast,

bringing sand and mud with it.

The mud eventually reaches the dune area

where the river can no longer flow as fast.

The river has difficulty flowing fast in this area

so the mud stops and settles into clay deposits.

Once the water is gone,

the wind comes into play.

The wind pushes the particles

and carries them across the desert.

Some of them

cover very long distances.

These minerals are flat

so that when carried by the wind,

they can be carried for hundreds of kilometers.

Wind is very important in helping

clay particles move far out

to sea,

where they settle. It

contains minerals such as iron,

nitrogen

and phosphorus.

So, these clay particles are important

because they carry energy and nutrients to the ocean.

If it weren't for the rock cycle,

Earth would stagnate and die.

This cycle continuously brings nutrients to the Earth's surface

and provides new energy reserves

for life to survive.

So, the

rock cycle is an important part

of Earth and human history.

Dust storms that carry nutrients to the oceans are important

because the oceans are iron deficient.

This iron is

carried from the continents

to stimulate microorganisms in the oceans,

especially plankton and algae such as diatoms.

They are the basis of the food chain

around us today.

Minerals are the source of life.

Gradually, the

first organisms

began to change their environment.

The emergence of hominins in Africa around seven million years ago

marked a significant moment.

Our ancestors

were tree dwellers

who ate leaves

and fruit.

At one time,

they left the trees and lived on the ground.

The move marked the beginning

of a unique relationship

with the rock.

For most of human history,

we were creatures that walked

on all fours.

This is related to our ancestors

who used to live in trees.

Occasionally,

we would stand on our hind legs

to spot predators further out on the savannah.

Then, return to stepping on all four feet.

Over time,

we become more adept at balancing ourselves

and begin to learn to walk

on two legs.

This allows our hands

to move more freely,

both to pick up,

hold,

and play

with the mineral structure

so that we can make various tools.

Imagine that first primate

taking a stone in his hand

and realizing that

he could use it.

Maybe not consciously,

but it becomes an instinctive action,

something the hands can do.

There are tools that can be used to survive.

In my opinion,

discovery is an important part

of primate and human evolution.

You learn to do something

that allows you

to live life more efficiently, be

safer

or be able to hunt prey.

All the benefits of using this stone

are an advantage. I

think

that's how the coevolution between primates and rocks happened.

From walking upright,

using tools to discovering fire,

minerals have always been the foundation of

human development.

For millions of years,

our ancestors explored the world,

observing

and conducting various experiments.

Initially,

they used unprocessed stones.

After that,

they selected certain stones

and processed them into simple tools.

Slowly,

these tools became more and more sophisticated.

This is the beginning of the Stone Age.

Another important step was the use of fire,

which began about 1.5 million years ago.

These skills changed the

relationship between early humans and the Earth,

as new strategies developed

to maintain their existence.

The use of fire by humans is

closely related to stones

because one way to light it is

by rubbing two stones together.

This

shows the relationship and importance of rocks

and minerals for humans.

Flint and pyrite are commonly used to

produce sparks,

which fall, for example, on soft mushrooms,

and then catch fire.

Once blown out,

the fire can be easily fanned

using fine grass.

The development of the use of fire

brought enormous changes

to human history.

The use of fire

allowed us to cook

and paved the way for us

to consume calories more efficiently.

Some anthropologists argue that

brain size also increased.

In other words,

the ability to think and reason

and perhaps the ability to speak

may emerge from this process.

So, it can be said that the use of fire

not only brought benefits such as

providing security through lighting,

but also the foundation for the development of

more complex civilizations,

including communication and organization.

The warmth and light of the fire

transformed the cave into a place where humans took shelter,

gathered,

and shared stories.

Under the glow of firelight, the

same movements are repeated,

tools are refined,

and knowledge is passed down.

Closer cultural ties are also developing.

Much later, the

same rock walls

were used as canvas

for the first cave paintings.

This is a witness to the beginning of human art.

Through simple figures

and animal forms,

humans tried to describe the world

and immortalize memories

for the first time.

When I look at the pictures on this wall,

it feels like looking at a book left behind by our ancestors.

Various ethnic groups

have lived in southern Africa

for more than 40,000 years.

As traditional hunters and gatherers,

they have a unique understanding of nature.

This is thanks to their ancestors

who immortalized knowledge in the rocks.

This stone tells how my ancestors lived.

What animals they hunted

and how they used them.

They ate their meat,

warmed themselves with their skin and fur,

and made tools from their bones.

Large animals signify potential danger.

Jumping antelopes and bulls

indicate there is food in the area.

This stone tells it all.

They seem to leave messages and instructions

for future generations.

My ancestors couldn't write,

but they could paint on rocks.

That's how I understand my origins.

The stones are like alive.

They witnessed all the changes

that

human culture and history underwent.

Since the first cave paintings,

stone has been a medium for conveying thoughts,

memories,

and traditions.

People immortalized beliefs,

stories

and ways of seeing the world in stone.

Thousands of years later,

Neolithic peoples continued their

special relationship with stone.

The evidence is not only visible on the cave walls.

They also made the landscape a sacred site.

In Carnac, France,

for example.

Large stones were erected

and arranged in rows. It was as if

humans at that time

wanted to tell something through stone.

To this day,

researchers are still trying to solve the

mystery of these stones.

One of them is this archaeologist.

I sometimes just sit looking at the stones

and try to understand them.

I was attracted to them

and felt comfortable.

At Carnac,

more than 3,000 menhirs line

several kilometers,

forming one of the largest megalithic sites

in the world.

People in the Neolithic period probably

chose these stones

because of their durability.

They wanted to leave something lasting

and have a special purpose.

As one walks among these monoliths,

the question arises:

Are these markers of territory,

power,

eternity,

or permanence?

Unfortunately, there is

no inscription to answer that.

Only a few carvings,

pictures

and symbols are indecipherable.

That's probably the hardest part.

Identifying how much symbolism is

hidden here.

Humans have an almost sacred relationship

with the mineral world.

Maybe because our life is so short.

We think in terms of days,

weeks,

months,

and years.

However, rocks and minerals

can last for millions of years.

So,

when humans build sacred monuments,

they become symbols of eternity

because the lifespan of rocks and minerals is

much longer than is known. Their

beauty and durability

make the stones sacred.

Ancient beliefs say that

stones protect us from disaster

or connect us with a

higher power.

During the Neolithic Revolution,

humans demonstrated their dominance over the world.

Hunters and gatherers

settled as farmers

changing the landscape.

Meadows and fields were formed,

villages were built,

and roads were constructed.

The development of metallurgy

around 5,000 BC

changed everything.

Humans were no longer satisfied with stones

so they began mining mineral ores

and extracting raw materials

such as copper,

bronze,

and iron.

This activity revolutionized society.

In the late 18th century,

this trend accelerated: the

Industrial Revolution.

Mined minerals are not only processed,

but their energy is also extracted.

Coal,

followed by oil afterward,

became the foundation of this revolution

that pushed society

into an era of uncontrolled consumption.

Over the centuries,

humanity's relationship with rocks changed drastically.

From what was initially only used as a tool, it is

now extracted from the bowels of the Earth.

Humans evolved into an extractive society

in which Earth's resources were

exploited at an alarming rate

to satisfy material and energy needs.

Extractivism

means mining,

taking

and extracting limited natural resources

.

This happens because the practice

has become the foundation of society. The

luxuries we enjoy,

mobility,

electric lights,

cars,

and plumbing.

All of them originate from extractive societies

and this has various consequences

for the morphology of the planet.

Humans are altering the planet's carbon cycle

with impacts that will be felt

for thousands of years.

Don't think that

the process of taking and burning plant fossils

that have been stored underground

for hundreds of millions of years

has no impact.

The impacts are global warming,

storms and tornadoes.

Droughts may also occur in some areas,

and floods in others.

When the environment changes, the

Earth's reaction also changes.

This will continue to get worse

unless we change the way we treat the Earth.

Humans have become a force in their own right,

shaping a new geological epoch:

the Anthropocene.

For the first time in Earth's history,

humans are interfering with natural cycles,

changing climate,

erosion,

ocean chemistry, and

even rock structure.

We are not only consuming natural resources

at an incredible rate,

but we are also producing new materials

that are buried in geological layers.

Concrete is one of them.

Made from heated lime,

clay

and sand.

Concrete has become the artificial building material of our civilization

that covers the entire world.

Concrete is more efficient,

smoother,

and has less resistance

for humans to walk on,

compared to dirt,

large rocks,

and grass. The

Earth's natural surface

seems to ask us

to continue adapting

to the surrounding conditions.

However,

we lost that

when we covered the Earth with smooth concrete.

In the last 70 years,

humans have produced more than half a trillion tons of concrete.

The equivalent of one kilogram of concrete

for every square meter of the Earth's surface. The

main ingredients of concrete,

sand and gravel,

are made from highly durable minerals.

Minerals that can last

for billions of years.

If humans disappeared,

cities,

highways,

even jet traffic would cease to exist, what would

remain would be a

very unique mineralogical legacy.

In this new geological layer, the

soil layers will completely change.

Concrete will be seen covering the surface of the Earth.

Encrusted with steel,

glass,

ceramics,

and semiconductors.

However, the

most distinctive geological trace of our era

is plastic.

From discarded goods

to invisible nanoplastics,

plastic waste

is everywhere.

These tiny plastic particles

have polluted the soil,

oceans, and

even rainwater.

In some places,

these particles

even blend with natural sediments

due to the hot temperatures.

This new structure is called a

plastiglomerate.

This phenomenon is the

focus of research by

the founder of the

MARE-Madeira research institute.

I think the

plastic crust around the world

is giving us a warning

that we all need to be vigilant.

This global phenomenon

shows how big our footprint on Earth is.

Plastiglomerate was

first discovered in Madeira, Portugal

in 2016

and can now be found in many places:

the Mediterranean,

Peru,

Brazil

and even Japan.

Water currents,

storms,

and waves carry plastic particles

to beaches around the world,

where they become

entangled with rocks. The

first factor is

the waves throwing the plastic

towards the rocks.

Second, we

think it's because the rocks have a specific texture,

and third,

because the temperature of the rocks is very hot.

This can be seen through the melted plastic crust that

sticks to the rock texture. It is

now known that the surface temperature of these rocks

sometimes reaches over 60°C in summer.

We believe that a

combination of three things is the cause: the

mechanical action of the waves,

the temperature,

and the texture of the rocks.

Microplastics are

everywhere.

Whether it's plastic bags

or children's toys, they

all break down

and enter the ecosystem due to ocean waves. The

microplastics are

then eaten by sea creatures.

Often when humans

eat these sea creatures,

microplastics end up in our bodies.

This can be interpreted as

resistance from the mineral world.

Many plastics are carcinogenic,

have chemical effects,

and can disrupt the endocrine system,

altering hormone levels.

Humans have not yet understood all of this well.

So,

it's kind of a big experiment

that we're doing on ourselves,

where we're the guinea pigs

and we don't know what the consequences are.

Plastiglomerate

reflects how aggressive the

profit-oriented petrochemical industry is in the rock cycle.

Leaving traces

down to the deep layers of the Earth's crust.

Rocks that were once formed from cooled lava

or deposited sediment are

now formed by human waste.

We used to believe that

plastic and concrete represented human progress.

In fact,

we leave a questionable trail.

Some might argue that

societies with modern technology

are evidence of progress

from previous societies

that used stone tools.

Actually,

we are not that different.

We still depend on rocks and minerals.

Our technology remains dependent on geology.

In this room alone,

I am surrounded by various minerals that would have been impossible to gather

in one room 100 years ago.

There is lithium in the camera battery.

There is copper on the wall.

Aluminum on this chair. There

may be rare earth metals in computers and cameras.

They come from all over the world,

many of them

from remote mines.

This is a remarkable technological innovation,

but it also demonstrates our

increasing dependence on the material world.

Science shows

that ancient humans had

more respect for the mineral world.

They view minerals in a more animistic way.

They see and recognize

how minerals have life

and play an important role in life on Earth. I

think

we need to go back to that perspective.

Earth has its own history.

Long before our era, the

Earth experienced heat and cold.

Earth also witnessed the formation of oceans and continents.

Over billions of years,

geological forces have shaped the face of the Earth.

Every rock,

mountain,

and valley is the result of a very slow process of change,

which is clearly engraved in the rocks.

However, in

just a moment in history,

everything changed.

A new development is

disrupting the order that has evolved

over billions of years

and shaking Earth's geological balance

at an unprecedented rate.

In just a few centuries,

humanity has exploited its

ancestral heritage from the land.

Now,

in a short time,

we are burning what has been petrified on Earth

for millions of years.

We cover the planet with plastic,

concrete,

and metal.

Creating geological layers

that mark our era as an anomaly

in Earth's history.

If the Anthropocene is called the era of humanity,

then it can also be called the era of consciousness.

Since Homo habilis made tools from stone,

mankind has been inseparable from rocks

to support its life

and make it the foundation of civilization.

Indeed, many members of society

now live in a world of abundance.

Making it difficult for them to imagine scarcity

and only focus on exploiting it.

However,

there is Earth that is telling of its suffering.

We just need to listen.

For those who have been listening to Earth know full well

that our time is running out.

The earth whispers to us.

However,

sometimes we have difficulty hearing it.

It's not about how loud the Earth whispers,

but how quietly. It

took the Earth millions of years

to speak to us.

Therefore,

we must slow down our steps.

We must listen carefully.

The stories that the Earth tries to tell

us through rocks.