The leap in the dark: Geological thoughts about an unpredictable planet

Abstract

We live on a dynamic planet that changes continuously. Most of the times, we are unaware of its restless motion, so slow that only satellites capture it. But the calm is only apparent, and we appreciate the entire magnitude of the forces at play when natural disasters strike. Earth Science explores how and when the quiet breaks, but we do not have access to the interior of the planet. We rely on indirect information to constrain complex processes that we cannot observe or reproduce in our laboratories. As a result, our knowledge is incomplete and our assessments are burden with unavoidable uncertainty. Should we not talk about it?