I think you are right in everything you write. Life comes from water. The planet will change because the consciousness of humanity will also change - consciousness will be expanded.
The current earth is carbon based, in the past it was silicon based (fossilized forms of tall human beings and giant animals or trees). It was very fast and I think the change back - from carbon base to silicon base - will be just as fast.

Funny you should mention silica-based lifeforms as I've been researching it this week. It's a construction material found on coastal areas of UK Scotland and Wales that people use in their houses, and is calcium carbonite surrounding solidified globules of flint which is nearly 100% silica. I believe these deposits were placed during the Great Flood when sea life was thrown from the North Atlantic and deposited in mass layers onto land that then got buried under glaciers and fossilized since. But it is very interesting.

Have you researched Diatomaceous Earth? It is silica. There is Fresh water and salt water DE. The fossilized remains of diatoms.