Our Earth has existed for 4.6 billion years, although at the beginning of its formation, its surface structure was very different from that of today. However, it is undeniable that the Earth has stabilized in the course of billions of years of development, and both on the surface and in the core of the Earth, they are running smoothly like an orderly machine. With these facts, it’s easy to see why: the earth’s soil doesn’t seem to have changed in millions of years. After all, except for volcanic eruptions, it is very difficult for the material of the Earth’s crust to interact with the material of the mantle.
However, life on Earth will eventually die out. Even humans have been known to die tens of billions of deaths in their short history. Their bodies were usually buried underground. Isn’t it understandable that the earth today is made of corpses?
A Brief History of Life on Earth
To understand this concept, let’s first recognize the absolute magnitude of life that exists on Earth. The earliest forms of life appeared about 3.5 billion years ago, well before the appearance of humans. For millions of years, countless microorganisms, plants, and animals have existed on Earth, and many of these species became extinct before our human ancestors appeared.
However, humans represent only a small part of Earth’s biological timeline. Even with today’s population approaching 8 billion, the total number of humans that have ever lived is estimated to be between 110 and 120 billion. This number, while huge, is dwarfed by the number of other living things.
Before soil was formed, plants in the water generally died when the tide washed them ashore, with no chance of resurrection. But after the soil formed, some hardy plants found shelter in the crevices of the rocks and soil, eventually taking root in the soil and voraciously sucking up water. And when they die, the rich organic matter restores fertility to the soil, which in turn feeds more plants, creating a virtuous cycle.
Almost all the soil we can see today has gone through this stage. Over a long process of material exchange and evolution, soil gradually became loaded with minerals and air, and became the bedrock on which the vast majority of life depends.
When plants and animals die, they are usually buried in sand, stone or earth. While we know that animal remains will eventually decompose, the constant decomposition of soil over billions of years is truly amazing. It seems to be a bottomless pit. The constant carrying of pathways of decaying corpses makes one wonder if the soil is now dirt or carrion residue?
What Happens When an Organism Dies?
When an organism dies, its body decomposes. Bacteria, fungi, and scavengers break down these tissues and return nutrients to the soil. The process of decay recycles organic matter into its most basic chemical components: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements. These elements are then absorbed by plants and enter the food chain, becoming part of the biosphere once again.
On the geologic time scale, these remains can also be transformed into more permanent forms. Some organic matter becomes part of the fossil record, turning into rocks or sediments, while others may form fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, under certain conditions.
The soil beneath our feet is a complex mixture of minerals, organic matter, water and gases. Most of the organic matter comes from the remains of dead plants, animals and microorganisms. This rich and fertile stratum is the product of billions of years of life and death.
Fossil fuels, which provide much of the power for our modern civilization, are the ancient remains of prehistoric plants and microorganisms that have been compressed and transformed by millions of years of high temperatures and pressures. Limestone cliffs, chalk deposits, and even marble used in buildings are often made up of the shells and bones of ancient sea creatures.
A World of Recycled Elements
At the most basic level, all the atoms in our bodies and all living organisms are recycled from the earth. The carbon in your body may have once been a leaf, a dinosaur, or even part of the primordial soup of the ancient Earth. The water you drink today may have gone through countless biological cycles over millions of years.
Given that the Earth’s surface is constantly changing – being eroded by wind, reshaped by water, and altered by volcanic activity – the components of living and once-living things are constantly mixing back into the environment. The world is essentially material, and we can’t make any substances disappear; the most we can do is change their form. Even water, which “disappears into thin air,” simply becomes water molecules invisible to our eyes and floats off into the sky.
The cycle of matter and energy in nature, though invisible to us in most cases, is one of the most important links in the ecological balance. Without the cycle of matter, the earth would surely turn into an inferno: dead lives piled up in hordes, with only corpses and animal feces in sight, scavengers on a rampage, and only a few plants still able to sustain growth…
Under the influence of the material cycle, there is no such purgatory-like scene on Earth; all the matter on Earth is in a relatively stable state, and even after billions of years of existence, the average soil thickness of the entire planet is only about 50 centimeters. And those corpses have long since been transformed into nutrients for other life, glowing and shining in a new cycle of matter.
While the idea that the Earth is made of corpses may seem disturbing, it can also be comforting. It emphasizes our connection to the natural world and the continuity of life. When we die, our bodies return to Earth and become part of an ecosystem that nourishes new life.
In a way, the Earth is a giant, self-sustaining organism where life breeds life. Every atom in our bodies has probably gone through countless forms, from stardust to bacteria to plants to animals and back again. It’s a cycle that binds all living things together in a shared heritage .
