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The necessity of eliminating the possibility of a large-scale
nuclear conflict from the future of mankind is the most important
problem of our times. There is no doubt that the probable
aftereffects of such a conflict would by many times exceed the
damage caused by the First and Second World Wars, the greatest in
history. The question of the scale of the damage that would be
inflicted upon liv ing nature by nuclear weapons has, however, not
yet been fully clarified. It is clear that this damage would not be
local, i.e., restricted to destruction in only the places of
nuclear explosion. As a result of nuclear detonations, the
atmosphere and hydrosphere would receive many harmful substances,
including the radioactive waste products of nuclear reactions.
These substances can be transferred by air flows and water currents
over long distances, thus considerably increasing the area of
harmful influence of nuclear bursts. There is no doubt that the
indirect effects of nuclear warfare would inflict enor mous damage
on mankind, since the present human society can only exist by a
complicated system involving the production of foodstuffs,
manufactured goods, medical supplies, etc. The destruction of even
separate but important links of this system would bring about
starvation, epidemics, and other calamities, which would spread to
areas not directly involved in the nuclear conflict."
The authors of this book have studied the changes in the chemi cal
composition of the atmosphere during geological history with regard
to its close relationship to the evolution of the Earth's
sedimentary shell. Beginning in 1977, the initial results of this
study have been published as articles and parts of several
monographs. Since new material clarifying atmospheric evolution
have been obtained recently, the necessity has arisen to write a
book treating the major results of investigations of the history of
the atmosphere. In this book much consideration is given to the
interrelation between the evolution of animate nature and changes
in atmospheric composition. It proved be necessary to study the
history of the two components of atmospheric air: carbon dioxide
and oxygen. Attempts have been made to repre sent quantitatively
the conclusions drawn here, i. e. to determine by calculation the
changes in the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen over much of the
history of the atmosphere. These calculations, performed in most
detail for the Phanerozoic and to a lesser degree for the Late
Precambrian, are supplemented with estimates of changes in the
chemical composition of the atmosphere in the Early Precambrian.
Comparisons have been drawn between the changes in the chemical
composition of the atmosphere and the development of animate
nature, a close relationship being found to exist between the
stages of the evolution of organisms and variations in the chemical
composition of the atmosphere."
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