The indicated geological processes can be explained by assuming that explosions occur on celestial bodies. Such an assumption also makes it possible to recognize a periodicity in the origin and evolution of the solar system.
The possibility of outbursts and explosions on stars and planets has been noted by a number of scientists. For example, with respect to stars, variations of the stellar spectral characteristics indicate single /20/ or repeated /1/ stellar outbursts or even whole series of such outbursts /4/. Transformations of stars into gaseous nebulae /1/ are also noted. Here we should mention that, according to the opinion of Fesenkov, the Sun can also undergo analogous transformations /2/, and Ambartsumyan believes that there is no pronounced difference between the evolutions of stellar and planetary systems /2/. The possibility of explosive processes on the Sun is indicated by Stanyukovich /14/ and by Pikel'ner /10/. With respect to planets, on the other hand, the origin of the asteroid belt lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter can be explained /12/ by assuming that the formerly existing planet Phaethon disintegrated during a single explosion (Olbers, Fesenkov) or during a series of explosions (Putilin, Hirayama, Jung). This is an example of an explosion on a planet. The possibility of such processes on planets is also mentioned by Polak /11/ and by Vsekhsvyatskii /5/.
In this article, we shall not attempt to analyze in detail the nature and causes of the various explosions taking place on celestial bodies. It is important to note, however, that abrupt changes take place during the evolution of these bodies, and during the evolution of nature as a whole as well, and that in the given case explosions caused by various processes constitute such changes, Here it should be kept in mind that explosions of this type are not random catastrophic phenomena in nature, but rather represent logical necessary steps in the evolution of the material world. Such discontinuous steps are expressions of the laws of the ener getic redistribution of matter at certain stages in the evolution of the world. These processes may well be called universal, since they take place for such small objects as elementary particles and such large objects as gigantic celestial bodies or even systems of these.
Consequently, if we assume that the principle of the evolutionary development of nature with discontinuous steps applies to planetary evolution, then the origin and development of the entire solar system, and also the evolution of the Earth as an object of geological study, can be represented as follows.
In the remote past the Sun had a comparatively cold, heavy outer enve lope, which originated as a result of the condensation of a cold interstellar cloud rotating about its own axis. Beneath the external envelope of this primordial cold Sun, the heating of matter took place. The high internal pressure and the rising temperature created conditions favorable for the initiation of a chain thermonuclear reaction involving the atoms of certain elements situated in the regions deep beneath the envelope. This resulted in an explosion, in which the shattered masses of the solar envelope were scattered in all directions. Some of the mass fragments from the envelope fell back onto the surface of the Sun, either immediately or else after several rotations about the Sun. A pother part of the shattered mass, the particles of which had sufficiently high space velocities, formed into a swarm of meteoritic dust around the Sun. During the formation of the explosion-caused dust swarm, the dust particles became differentiated in space according to density. The particles from the shattered envelope which escaped from the Sun in the e•aatorial zone or near it possessed a maximum angular momentum, by virtue of the solar rotation (the central body thereby undergoing angular braking). These particles formed, in the region around the Sun, the basis for the swarm of meteoritic dust within which the planets of the solar system subsequently were to develop, in accordance with the cosmogonic theory of Shmidt /18/. Thus, it is our opinion that it is not necessary to assume that the Sun captured a swarm of meteoritic dust from outside.