Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
4681560 Geoscience Frontiers 2015 7 Pages PDF
Abstract

•Habitable Trinity is a new concept of a “Habitable Planetary body”.•Co-existence of ocean, atmosphere, and landmass is the minimum requirement for life.•Material circulation in Habitable Trinity environment under the Sun is the key for life.•Habitable Trinity provides a new index to explore life-sustaining planets in the Universe.

Habitable Trinity is a newly proposed concept of a habitable environment. This concept indicates that the coexistence of an atmosphere (consisting largely of C and N), an ocean (H and O), and a landmass (supplier of nutrients) accompanying continuous material circulation between these three components driven by the Sun is one of the minimum requirements for life to emerge and evolve. The life body consists of C, O, H, N and other various nutrients, and therefore, the presence of water, only, is not a sufficient condition. Habitable Trinity environment must be maintained to supply necessary components for life body. Our Habitable Trinity concept can also be applied to other planets and moons such as Mars, Europa, Titan, and even exoplanets as a useful index in the quest for life-containing planetary bodies.

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Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (General)
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