Title:
Feedback cycles and habitability of terrestrial planets

Abstract:
The surface habitability of terrestrial planets is strongly affected by interior processes. Water and CO2 are degassed into the atmosphere by volcanism and recycled back into the mantle at subduction zones. While the long-term carbon cycle regulates the surface temperature, the long-term water cycle determines the concentration of water into the mantle, affecting the mantle viscosity and the convection strength. Continents are produced in subduction zones and continuously eroded. For the present-day Earth, continental production and erosion are in equilibrium, resulting in a constant continental volume and in a balanced ocean-land fraction that is beneficial for the Earth's biosphere.