Interesting article at spacedaily:
The Moon and Plate Tectonics: Why We Are Alone
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html
It discusses the fact that the glancing collision
that produced the moon, in removing a significant
fraction of the mantle & crust, may have served to enable
plate tectonics which in turn enables the CO2 recycling
that provides a stable environment for life to evolve.
If accurate, this tends to increase the number of
water worlds and decreases the locations where life
may evolve.
Robert
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