Between the two great "Mass Extinction Events" and Serendipity !

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

The Three Princes of Serendip and their gift of making fortunate discoveries!

 

I was brought up in Devon . England . I could never understand as a boy , why the countryside around Torquay, Dawlish, Totnes, and the Coast to Budleigh Salterton, and beyond was so red, when I was taught as a child in school ,to draw the soil as brown.

. Now I know. ,!

I was seeing and standing in and on some of the land between the two greatest mass extinction events of all time !

 

The great Permian Extinction event, several hundred million years ago before the rise of the Dinosaurs, and much later in time , some 65 million years ago , the mass extinction event, to end of the age of the Dinosaurs . It is no wonder that bones of dinosaurs , wash out of the cliffs along the Jurassic Coast , after the horrific battering seas of recent weeks !

 

It is as if the film 'Jurassic Park' is being re-enacted

 

Wow!

Edited February 28, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Essay]

Hi Mike,

In non-scientific terms, only mammalian soils are going to be rich and brown. Reptilian soils are red or white (or yellow)... It makes sense ...when you think about the quality of reptilian, compared with mammalian, dungs.

 

~

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

The Permian Mass Extinction event was likely a phased set of events. Starting with the Sea . The land animal extinction was likely to include an asteroid/ comet ,/ meteor / event , as part of the extinction process. link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event
Lystrosaurus was by far the most abundant early Triassic land vertebrate
Artist's impression of a major impact event: A collision between Earth and an asteroid a few kilometres in diameter would release as much energy as several million nuclear weapons detonating. Approx 250 million Years ago





The end of the Dinosaurs( K-T Boundary [ Cretaceous-Tertiary Periods] boundary ) is equally likely to have an asteroid as a trigger to that extinction .

link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_dinosaurs#Extinction_of_major_groups

Approx 65 million years ago

The small Dinosaur was heard to say to the big Dinosaur " Can ' you,' get the next one ? "

Mike



[Comment Courtesy Arc]

WHY Serendipity ?

Edited March 1, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

A whole series of coincidental events have made this current stage of events very enlightening.

 

My recent learning in Geology , has led me to understand that ,things were not always this way in Devon/Somerset/Dorset ( the Jurasic Coast ) . In the days of the first super continents Gwanda and Laurasia before they ended up as Pangea . This coastal remnant was deep within a vast continent , where rivers, the size of the Mediterranean and English Channel . Rock would break off and roll down thousands of miles of river bed leaving the pebble beds and eroded sand of inland desserts . Shallow warm seas would deposit there own load of eroded red sand .clay and critter derived chalk in addition to the pebbles . The ammonites, Dinosaurs lived their lives on these lands now only a fossil remains. The mighty meteor crashing into the Yucatan left its radioactive iridium to spread worldwide , only to be discovered first by the Italian Alverese who made his descovery not 5 miles from where I spend the Mediterranean part of my life, out in Italy . While researching the cosmos I find the latitude to see clearly the constellation of Saggitarius Is 40 degrees north. Which goes strait through where I live in ITALY. Which when seen has the configuration of THE TEAPOT . Following up the spout and just beyond can be found saggitarius a* which is the centre of our galaxy .

 

All this is a set of happy coincidents , but many fortuitous co incidents which is ........Serendipity.

Or so the story goes.

 

Mike

Edited March 1, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Ophiolite]

I trust you have no antipathy towards Cornwall, though you did omit it above. The same Variscan (or Hercynian) mountain building that accompanied the closure of the Rheic ocean, also melded oceanic crust onto the continent. It remains now as part of the Lizard peninsula. It is an ophiolite. Recognise the name?

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

I trust you have no antipathy towards Cornwall, though you did omit it above. The same Variscan (or Hercynian) mountain building that accompanied the closure of the Rheic ocean, also melded oceanic crust onto the continent. It remains now as part of the Lizard peninsula. It is an ophiolite. Recognise the name?

Oh dear, I have not done that bit yet . Sounds quite dramatic though. Cornwall I mean ! Eek !

I think the last time I looked up what your name meant ,it sounded appropriate. ( crusty chunk of land or something , hard and knurled ! . .? )

Will re google it

 

Ah yes I remember " a piece of ocean crust that has been uplifted to be exposed. " do you feel exposed" ?http://en.wikipehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gros_Morne_moho.jpgdia.org/wiki/Ophiolite

 

So how does that figure with Cornwall . Was it squished and it uplifted and stuck on at the Lizard ?

 

Mike

Edited March 1, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Moontanman]

A whole series of coincidental events have made this current stage of events very enlightening.

 

My recent learning in Geology , has led me to understand that ,things were not always this way in Devon/Somerset/Dorset ( the Jurasic Coast ) . In the days of the first super continents Gwanda and Laurasia before they ended up as Pangea . This coastal remnant was deep within a vast continent , where rivers, the size of the Mediterranean and English Channel . Rock would break off and roll down thousands of miles of river bed leaving the pebble beds and eroded sand of inland desserts . Shallow warm seas would deposit there own load of eroded red sand .clay and critter derived chalk in addition to the pebbles . The ammonites, Dinosaurs lived their lives on these lands now only a fossil remains. The mighty meteor crashing into the Yucatan left its radioactive iridium to spread worldwide , only to be discovered first by the Italian Alverese who made his descovery not 5 miles from where I spend the Mediterranean part of my life, out in Italy . While researching the cosmos I find the latitude to see clearly the constellation of Saggitarius Is 40 degrees north. Which goes strait through where I live in ITALY. Which when seen has the configuration of THE TEAPOT . Following up the spout and just beyond can be found saggitarius a* which is the centre of our galaxy .

 

All this is a set of happy coincidents , but many fortuitous co incidents which is ........Serendipity.

Or so the story goes.

 

Mike

 

 

Radioactive?

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

 

 

Radioactive?

well yes, iridium was/is radio active , which is why is works. It all started from the same time,[the impact] same source for all places where it fell.

 

Not sure if that applied to Permian extinction event. I suppose it could for the same reason. I will need to look that up .

 

mike

Edited March 1, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Johnny Electriglide]

Over the past 50 years I have studied the Earth in an educated manner. We are in the 6th Great Extinction Event, according to Prof. Leakey from 1996.

Nemesis, or Niburu, 26.2 Million year cycles, for many from the rain of comets hitting the asteroid belt. This one is from a supposedly intelligent species.

I think back when the cyanobacteria exploded and created our oxygen atmosphere, killing many with their waste product but opening it up for animals. They remind me of yeast, killing themselves off with their own waste products, just like humans are doing.

This ELE, geologically, probably started with the tech of the Folsom Point and will end with AETM and finish at worse than the KT-Event. With us, unfortunately.

I calculated the Resequestration time of 230K years and 3 million years for the return of the same bio-diversity as at the beginning of theis interglacial epoch. Of course the Malenkovich/axis tilt wobble induced ice age cycle will be disrupted for probably two cycles.

[Moontanman]

well yes, iridium was/is radio active , which is why is works. It all started from the same time,[the impact] same source for all places where it fell.

 

Not sure if that applied to Permian extinction event. I suppose it could for the same reason. I will need to look that up .

 

mike

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium

 

Iridium has two naturally occurring, stable isotopes, ¹⁹¹Ir and ¹⁹³Ir, with natural abundances of 37.3% and 62.7%

 

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium

 

I need to clear up what could be interpreted as a wrong proposal.

 

I was not suggesting that the iridium was in itself responsible for any mass extermination.

I should have made clear the iridium was merely a marker. It was a world wide marker. Hence whatever happened was a world wide event. We know it was the asteroid that was involved , as the type of iridium ( particular isotope ) , that appears worldwide is the type of the asteroid , not the naturally occurring earth bound iridium ( different isotope of iridium ) .

 

Also it was not the dust that killed directly, it is likely the cutting out of the light of the sun that stunted photosynthesis in edible vegetation that caused the extermination. Much of this dust could have been by much increased volcanic activity at the time.

 

Mike

[Moontanman]

I need to clear up what could be interpreted as a wrong proposal.

 

I was not suggesting that the iridium was in itself responsible for any mass extermination.

I should have made clear the iridium was merely a marker. It was a world wide marker. Hence whatever happened was a world wide event. We know it was the asteroid that was involved , as the type of iridium ( particular isotope ) , that appears worldwide is the type of the asteroid , not the naturally occurring earth bound iridium ( different isotope of iridium ) .

 

Also it was not the dust that killed directly, it is likely the cutting out of the light of the sun that stunted photosynthesis in edible vegetation that caused the extermination. Much of this dust could have been by much increased volcanic activity at the time.

 

Mike

 

 

Can you support the assertion of space iridium being a different isotope than earth bound iridium?

[studiot]

 

Can you support the assertion of space iridium being a different isotope than earth bound iridium?

 

 

Don't think it is a different isotope, just a variation in the relative abundance, since irridium is a vary rare element on the Earth's surface.

 

It is called the irridium spike or irridium anomaly.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=alvarez+iridium+anomaly

Edited March 2, 2014 by studiot

[Moontanman]

The iridium could have been volcanic as well, personally i think it was a synergy of both, a triple whammy of multiple impacts and flood lava...

 

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/extinctheory.html

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

I have a few supportive Pictures of the iridium layer as found by Alveres the Italian.

It is just down from my house, behind Gubbio Italy . Took these Pictures last year.

 

This is the valley

 

This is the K-T boundry where the iridium was/is found . I have a bit at home somewhere .

 

This says its the place

 

This describes the K-T boundry speaks of 65 million years

 

This points to which is K and which is T Tersery T at Top K cretateous at Bottom

 

This mentions Alveres and 65 million years

 

Mike

Edited March 2, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Moontanman]

I have a few supportive Pictures of the iridium layer as found by Alveres the Italian.

It is just down from my house, behind Gubbio Italy .

 

This is the valley

DSCF3424.JPG

 

This is the K-T boundry where the iridium was/is found . I have a bit at home somewhere .

DSCF3455.JPG

 

This says its the place

DSCF3457.JPG

 

This describes the K-T boundry speaks of 65 million years

DSCF3459.JPG

 

This points to which is K and which is T

 

 

 

 

yes, but iridium come from mantle lava floods as well...

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

 

 

yes, but iridium come from mantle lava floods as well...

Yes well Deccan traps were pouring out bassalt by the gigga ton at this time .

[studiot]

 

The iridium could have been volcanic as well, personally i think it was a synergy of both, a triple whammy of multiple impacts and flood lava...

 

Thank you for your link.

 

Did you follow up the references I gave?

 

Those who believe that the irridium came from the interior of the earth have to explain how it appears in non igneous rocks, in particularly high concentrations, around the perimeter of impact craters. The concentration decreases rapidly with distance from the epicentre of the impact.

 

This is one of the distinguishing tests to try to determine whether a 'crater' (filled in or otherwise) was meteoric in orign or otherwise.

[Moontanman]

 

Thank you for your link.

 

Did you follow up the references I gave?

 

Those who believe that the irridium came from the interior of the earth have to explain how it appears in non igneous rocks, in particularly high concentrations, around the perimeter of impact craters. The concentration decreases rapidly with distance from the epicentre of the impact.

 

This is one of the distinguishing tests to try to determine whether a 'crater' (filled in or otherwise) was meteoric in orign or otherwise.

 

 

Volcanoes often explode, thereby distributing the iridium but the impact almost certainly happened as well, quite possibly more than one, it was bad million years or so to be on the earth... I've read the possibility the impacts triggered flood basalts as well but i am not sure how much evidence there is to support that, something about the opposite side of the world from an impact being messed up as well...

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

 

 

Volcanoes often explode, thereby distributing the iridium but the impact almost certainly happened as well, quite possibly more than one, it was bad million years or so to be on the earth... I've read the possibility the impacts triggered flood basalts as well but i am not sure how much evidence there is to support that, something about the opposite side of the world from an impact being messed up as well...

 

Yes well I am sure that is the Deccan Traps that you are speaking about . The Green Bits

The Deccan basalts may have played a role in the extinction of the dinosaurs. Most of the basalt was erupted between 65 and 60 million years ago. Gases released by the eruption may have changed the global climate and lead to the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. This photo shows the Deccan Tarps between Mambai and Mahabaleshwar. Photograph by Lazlo Keszthelyi, January 27, 1996.

Vocanologists are also trying to understand how such great volumes of lava are erupted. Early models proposed that lava flooded across large areas at extremely rapid rates. Recently proposed models suggested that at least some of the flows are emplaced at gradual rates, lasting months to years. This photo shows the Ajunta Caves, temples carved into the basalts. Note the school group for scale. Photograph by Lazlo Keszthelyi, January 31, 1996.

More information on the Deccan

Mike

Edited March 2, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Moontanman]

I would be willing to bet the extinction of the dinosaurs was quick in geologic terms but lasted a few hundred thousand years at least.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110127141707.htm

 

But other schools of thought have lend more credence to the sudden event...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

I would be willing to bet the extinction of the dinosaurs was quick in geologic terms but lasted a few hundred thousand years at least.

 

 

Yes well you probably have read this quote below : I am not sure there is anything definite YET . However it is as well it happened or we would be being flattened by various massive beasts or running away from T Rex , rather than just Crocodiles and Box Jelly Fish , which are bad enough.

 

Deccan Traps

Main article: Deccan Traps

Before 2000, arguments that the Deccan Traps flood basalts caused the extinction were usually linked to the view that the extinction was gradual, as the flood basalt events were thought to have started around 68 million years ago and lasted for over 2 million years. However, there is evidence that two thirds of the Deccan Traps were created in only 1 million years about 66 million years ago, and so these eruptions would have caused a fairly rapid extinction, possibly over a period of thousands of years, but still longer than would be expected from a single impact event.^[1

^mike

Edited March 3, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Acme]

The iridium could have been volcanic as well, personally i think it was a synergy of both, a triple whammy of multiple impacts and flood lava...

 

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/extinctheory.html

As I see no other point to this thread other than sharing cool cataclysmic-y stuff, I'll join in for a go. There is research that suggests suitably large impacts may trigger volcanic activity -flood or otherwise- at the antipode to the impact.

http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/10197028

Axial focusing of impact energy in the earth`s interior: A possible link to flood basalts and hotspots

We present the results of shock physics and seismological computational simulations that show how energy from a large impact can be coupled to the interior of the Earth. The radially-diverging shock wave generated by the impact decays to linearly elastic seismic waves. These waves reconverge (minus attenuation) along the axis of symmetry between the impact and its antipode. The locations that experience the most strain cycles with the largest amplitudes will dissipate the most energy and have the largest increases in temperature (for a given attenuation efficiency). We have shown that the locus of maximum energy deposition in the mantle lies along the impact axis. Moreover, the most intense focusing is within the asthenosphere at the antipode, within the range of depths where mechanical energy is most readily converted to heat. We propose that if large impacts on the Earth leave geological evidence anywhere other than the impact site itself, it will be at the antipode. We suggest that the most likely result of the focusing for a sufficiently large impact, consistent with features observed in the geological record, would be a flood basalt eruption at the antipode followed by hotspot volcanism. A direct prediction of this model would be more »

Here's a seemingly well-writ and researched page on impacts, volcanism, and extinctions: >>

Asteroid/Comet Impact Craters and Mass Extinctions and Shiva Hypothesis of Periodic Mass Extinctions. by Michael Paine

 

Craters by age

Since writing my Space.com/Explorezone article "How an asteroid impact causes extinction" in 1999, I have gathered some more information about the possible links between asteroid impacts and mass extinctions. There also appears to be a link between large impacts and volcanic eruptions.

The following graph shows impact craters on Earth by age and diameter. Also shown are the main geologic boundaries involving mass extinctions (tall, bold lines), minor boundaries (thin, short lines - fewer extinctions) and the approximate timing of "flood basalt eruptions". Originally the graph only showed craters which aligned with major extinction events but it was considered better to show all craters 20km diameter or more to avoid "counting the hits and ignoring the misses". Those which appear to align with a geologic boundary are shown as dark blue diamonds. The most notable is Chicxulub at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary - the event that saw the extinction of the dinosaurs. The concept of this graph was later used in a Scientific American article about mass extinctions. ...

If there is some other point here, by all means correct my error(s).

[Swedgen]

The Permian Mass Extinction event was likely a phased set of events. Starting with the Sea . The land animal extinction was likely to include an asteroid/ comet ,/ meteor / event , as part of the extinction process. link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event

Lystrosaurus was by far the most abundant early Triassic land vertebrate

Artist's impression of a major impact event: A collision between Earth and an asteroid a few kilometres in diameter would release as much energy as several million nuclear weapons detonating. Approx 250 million Years ago

DSCF4063.JPG

 

Hi Mike,

 

This is news to me. I hadn't heard that Permian was caused by any kind of asteroid impact, I thought the Siberian traps were a far more likely source?

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

 

Hi Mike,

 

This is news to me. I hadn't heard that Permian was caused by any kind of asteroid impact, I thought the Siberian traps were a far more likely source?

Well I think you are right , but there appears to be a bit of a theory about that , an impact by a, or a series of asteroids impacting even on the other side of the earth may have triggered the Siberian traps. I will try and find the quote. I think the thing lasted quite some time , dare I say 1000's even more years . I think .

 

 

Wiki pedia quote half way through article

[ " Possible impact sites" ]

link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event

 

 

The Araguainha crater has been most recently dated to 254.7 ± 2.5 million years ago, overlapping with estimates for the Permo-Triassic boundary.^[93] Much of the local rock was oil shale. The estimated energy released by the Araguainha impact is insufficient to be a direct cause of the global mass extinction, but the colossal local earth tremors would have released huge amounts of oil and gas from the shattered rock. The resulting sudden global warming might have precipitated the Permian–Triassic extinction event.^[94]

 

See also Studio links next post

 

Mike

Edited March 14, 2014 by Mike Smith Cosmos