The Geological Perspective of Climate Change: Ad Memoriam Prof. Claude Allègre

The environmental evidence regarding the present warming of the global climate is very strong, with convincing evidence of human contribution. However, the effect of the dynamic geology and plate tectonics on these variations is often overlooked. Earth global climate is primarily determined by the efficient ability of water to convert solar light into heat and store it. Plate tectonics, describing the shifting geography through geological history, highlights the mobility of the oceans and the continents on the surface of the planet and their impact on climate variability. Since it seems that global warming is a natural phenomenon, mitigating its effects should follow large-scale engineering solutions rather than amelioration of anthropogenic pollution.