IT’S THE SYSTEM! YES. BUT, WHAT KIND OF SYSTEM?

The term “system” has become a buzz word in our society. It’s the system; You can’t beat the system; You hav’ta play the system; the Earth is a system. One dictionary lists 9 definitions of “system” most of which have little to do with any Earth System. For example, a computer operating “system”, or the global positioning “system”, or a school “system” are nothing like an Earth “system”. Earth systems are non-equilibrium systems that are inherently and necessarily open, unstable, and evolutionary. It is these properties that make them interesting, and different from the way other systems are defined.

We are obliged to define “system” precisely, regardless of how we choose to define it, so there is no ambiguity. Better would be to understand and discuss them as Complex Earth Systems - in the technical sense of complex systems theory - since all natural systems are in fact complex systems of this nature.

A complex Earth system must possess specific universality properties (those found in all complex systems), such as sensitive dependence, fractal organization and time scales, avalanche behavior that follows a power-law distribution, behave as strange attractors, are organized as scale free networks, and/or exhibit bistable behavior, etc. All Earth systems whether geologic, atmospheric, oceanographic, paleontologic, etc. possess these properties. Complex systems theory provides a common language and set of concepts to understand, compare, and discuss the structure and behavior of all these systems.

We introduce complex systems theory in 3-4 historical geology class sessions, including applications to Earth Systems. Emphasis is on the universality properties and the 3 complex system evolutionary mechanisms: elaborating, fractionating, and self-organizing (esp. Self Organized Criticality). Then, in later classes Earth systems are modeled where ever possible in terms of these universality properties and evolutionary mechanisms. Thinking about, comparing, and discussing Earth systems in terms of the universality properties is then straight forward.

A source list for exploring and teaching complex systems theory, and applying it to Earth systems is linked here: http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/Fichter/transfer/complexsystems/ Included are links to power point lectures.