Tafosfera: el registro de las relaciones biogeológicas

J. Morales; M. Nieto-Díaz

doi:10.3989/egeol.066214

Authors

J. Morales Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales
M. Nieto-Díaz Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, SESCAM.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/egeol.066214

Keywords:

Taphosphere, Biosphere, Geobiology, Fossil Record

Abstract

Life has deeply modified the Earth, making it to differ from any other planet of the Solar System. Biosphere and Lithosphere interaction has changed the surface of our planet leading to the formation of a layer different from any other of the Earth. We propose the term Taphosphere to name this layer, which emphasizes the process of burial responsible of the transference of biologically originated materials from the realm of the Biosphere to the Lithosphere. The Taphosphere aims to be a palaeontological and sedimentological concept establishing a framework for the comprehension of the taphonomical processes recorded throughout the history of the Earth. According to its definition, the Taphosphere is limited, on the one hand, by its interphase with the Biosphere, and, on the other hand, by those layers of the earth crust that have not suffer any direct biologically-mediated alteration. The concept of Taphosphere provides a more precise and coherent framework for the study of the interaction between Life and Lithosphere than previous terms like Fossil Record or Earth Crust. In fact, Taphosphere incorporates the whole Fossil Record plus all the Geological Record formed under the biological conditions of the earth surface. Taphosphere concept also allows distinguishing between two different geneses for the Earth Crust, an abiotic one, formed by basalts of Mantle origin, and a biotic crust including materials that have been part of the Biosphere in a given moment of their history.

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