Tela
From Paragon
Tela (sometimes also known as Gea or Heimur) is the third closest planet to the Sun and the fifth largest in the solar system. It is orbited by one satellite. Tela is the home planet of the human race and the only known host of sentient life.
| The following section is Out of Character. |
Tela is the game world. It is the only inhabited world in the game universe. Much of the following article plagiarises work from the Wikipedia article, Earth.
Contents |
Characteristics
Shape
Tela's shape is very close to an oblate spheroid, although the precise shape (the geoid) varies from this by up to 100 meters. The average diameter of the reference spheroid is approximately 12,742 km. The rotation of Tela causes the equator to bulge out slightly so that the equatorial diameter is 43 km larger than the pole to pole diameter. Compared to a perfect ellipsoid, Tela has a tolerance of about one part in about 584, or 0.17%. For comparison, this is less than the 0.22% tolerance allowed in billiard balls.
Internals
The mass of Tela is approximately 5980 yottagrams (5.98 ×10^24 kg). It is composed mostly of iron (35.0%), oxygen (28.0%), silicon (17.0%), magnesium (15.7%), nickel (1.5%), calcium (1.4%) and aluminium (1.4%). The interior of Tela, like that of the other terrestrial planets, is chemically divided into layers. The planet has an outer silicate solid crust, a highly viscous mantle, a liquid outer core that is much less viscous than the mantle, and a solid inner core.
According to plate tectonics theory currently accepted by the vast majority of scientists working in this area, the outermost part of Tela's interior is made up of two layers: the lithosphere comprising the crust, and the solidified uppermost part of the mantle. Below the lithosphere lies the asthenosphere, which comprises the inner, viscous part of the mantle. The lithosphere essentially floats on the asthenosphere and is broken up into what are called tectonic plates. These plates move in relation to one another at one of three types of plate boundaries and cause major geological features; earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries.
The main plates are:
- Akatosican plate - Continental plate that lies under Islonia, northern Furoric Ocean, northern North Alondia and Akatosica.
- Eirnikic plate - Oceanic plate that lies under the Eirnikic, South Alondia, Outer Hydrosia and parts of Antakatosica.
- Eloro-Nafrean plate - Continental plate that lies under western Elora and Nafrea.
- Estterre plate - Continental plate that sits under Estterre.
- Kozak plate - Continential plate that lies under eastern Qia.
- Olanderrean plate - Continental plate that lies under Antaria.
- Shix plate - Continental plate that lies under western Qia.
- Voertuss plate - Oceanic plate that lies under the Voertuss, Near Hydrosia, Kanelara and parts of Antakatosica.
- Zomet plate - Continental plate that lies under southern North Alondia.
Externals
The abundance of water on Tela is a unique feature that distinguishes the "Blue Planet" from others in the solar system. Tela's hydrosphere consists chiefly of the oceans, but technically includes all water surfaces in the world, including inland seas, lakes, rivers, and underground waters. The average depth of the oceans is 3,794 m (12,447 ft), more than five times the average height of the continents. The mass of the oceans is approximately 1.35 × 10^18 tonnes, or about 1/4400 of the total mass of Tela.
Tela's atmosphere has no definite boundary, slowly becoming thinner and fading into outer space. Three-quarters of the atmosphere's mass is contained within the first 11 km of the planet's surface. This lowest layer is called the troposphere. Further up, the atmosphere is usually divided into the stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. Beyond these, the exosphere thins out into the magnetosphere (where Tela's magnetic fields interact with the solar wind). An important part of the atmosphere for life on Tela is the ozone layer.
The atmospheric pressure on the surface of Tela averages 101.325 kPa, with a scale height of about 6 km. It is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with trace amounts of other gaseous molecules such as water vapour. The atmosphere protects Tela's life forms by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, moderating temperature, transporting water vapour, and providing useful gases. The atmosphere is one of the principal components in determining weather and climate.
Biosphere
The planet's life forms are sometimes said to form a biosphere. This biosphere is generally believed to have begun evolving about 3.5 billion (3.5 × 10^9) years ago. Tela is the only place in the universe officially recognized by the communities of Tela where life is absolutely known to exist, and some scientists believe that biospheres might be rare.
The biosphere is divided into a number of biomes, inhabited by broadly similar flora and fauna. On land primarily latitude and height above the sea level separates biomes. Terrestrial biomes lying within the Akatosic, Antakatosic Circle or in high altitudes are relatively barren of plant and animal life, while most of the more populous biomes lie near the Equator.
Climate
- See main article: Climate of Tela
The most prominent features of Tela's climate are its two large polar regions, two narrow temperate zones, and a wide equatorial tropical region. Precipitation patterns vary widely, ranging from several metres of water per year to less than a millimetre.
Ocean currents are important factors in determining climate, particularly the spectacular thermohaline circulation which distributes heat energy from the equatorial oceans to the polar regions.
History
- See main article: History of Tela
Based on the available evidence, current scientists have been able to reconstruct detailed information about the planet's past. Tela is believed to have formed around 4.57 billion years ago out of the solar nebula, along with the Sun and the other planets. Initially molten, the outer layer of the planet cooled when water began accumulating in the atmosphere when the planet was about half its current radius, resulting in the solid crust. The moon formed soon afterwards, possibly as the result of a large impact. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere; condensing water vapour, augmented by ice delivered by comets, produced the oceans. The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago, and half a billion years later, the last common ancestor of all life lived.
The development of photosynthesis allowed the Sun's energy to be harvested directly; the resultant oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere and gave rise to the ozone layer. The incorporation of smaller cells within larger ones resulted in the development of complex cells called eukaryotes. Cells within colonies became increasingly specialized, resulting in true multicellular organisms. Aided by the absorption of harmful ultraviolet radiation by the ozone layer, life colonized the surface of Tela.
Over hundreds of millions of years, continents formed and broke up as the surface continually reshaped itself. The continents have migrated across the surface of the Tela, occasionally combining to form a supercontinent. Since the 1960s, it has been hypothesized that severe glacial action between 750 and 580 mya, during the Neoproterozoic, covered much of the planet in a sheet of ice. This hypothesis has been termed "Snowball Tela", and is of particular interest because it preceded the Cambrian explosion, when multicellular life forms began to proliferate.
Since the Cambrian explosion, about 535 MYA, there were five mass extinctions. The last occurred 65 mya, when a meteorite collision probably triggered the extinction of the (non-avian) dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals, which then resembled shrews. Over the past 65 million years, mammalian life has diversified, and several million years ago, a small Nafrean ape gained the ability to stand upright. This enabled tool use and encouraged communication that provided the nutrition and stimulation needed for a larger brain. The development of agriculture, and then civilization, allowed humans to influence Tela in a short timespan as no other life form had, affecting both the nature and quantity of other life forms, and the global climate.
