Month: May 2019

Ethiopian Volcano Bacteria Are Analogues For Early Mars Life, Researchers Say

The discovery of living bacteria embedded in salt deposited in super-saturated and acidic hot water inside an Ethiopian volcano offers a viable analogue for possible life on Mars, researchers suggest.

The bacteria – spherical, ultra-small members of the order Nanohaloarchaeles – were found buried near a hydro-thermal vent inside the crater of the still-active Dallol volcano in Ethiopia, by researchers led by Felipe Gómez from Spanish Astrobiology Centre in Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain.

The environment, which features a water temperature of 89 degrees Celsius, an air temperature average of 38 degrees Celsius, and a highly acidic pH reading of 0.25, is recognised as one of the most life-unfriendly places on Earth.

It is also thought to be rather similar to conditions that existed early in the life of Mars, when it was geologically more active: notably in the Gusev Crater, where NASA’s Spirit Mars Exploration Rover landed. It was a comparison that Gómez and colleagues made recently, in a paper published in the journal Astrobiology.

“The Dallol area represents an excellent Mars analogue environment given that the active volcanic environment, the associated diffuse hydrothermalism and hydrothermal alteration, and the vast acidic sulfate deposits are reminiscent of past hydrothermal activity on Mars,” they conclude.

The latest work, describing the bacteria, appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

The harsh conditions in the Dallol volcano, which lies in an area known as the Danakil Depression, 125 metres below sea level, arise because it sits at the intersection of three lithospheric plates, which are moving apart.

The activity allows for precipitation by superheated water saturated with various salts, including silver chloride, zinc iron sulphide, manganese dioxide and normal rock-salt – creating an environment, it was thought, that was as barren as it is colourful.

During a two-year investigation, however, Gómez and colleagues discovered the existence of ultra-small microbes – some 20 times smaller than normal bacteria – inside salt deposits on a yellow “chimney stack”, and in magma-heated blue water adjacent.

“This is an exotic, multi-extreme environment, with organisms that need to love high temperature, high salt content and very low pH in order to survive,” says Gómez.

The nanobacteria, in situ, were surrounded by small needle-like crystals, leading the scientists to suggest that they may be an active catalyst in the biomineralisation process that creates the salt deposits.

And, given that nanohaloarchaeles are definitively living on Earth, might something similar once have inhabited the hydrothermal vents of Mars? The researchers certainly don’t rule the possibility out.

“The results from this study suggest the microorganisms can survive, and potentially live, within this extreme environment, which has implications for understanding the limits of habitability on Earth and on (early) Mars,” the conclude.

Part IV – Cycles Within Cycles, Within Cycles and ‘Science Of Cycles’

Here I am writing, then re-writing and then re-writing again. Partly because I find this exploratory research exhilarating, partly because it affirms the direction I chose to follow beginning mostly in 2012. And of course new information which was not available just a few years ago, and then formulating these strings of thought which has brought on a few spattering of “You’re kidding, no way, I thought so, and just plain wow”. Once again, as in my research of the Sun-Earth connection, but to a less noticeable degree, the right hand was not quite sure what the left hand was doing or aware of.

Those of you familiar with my first book “Solar Rain” will remember how I conveyed my unexpected surprise, when I realized how two of our greatest scientific bodies – NASA and NOAA, simply did not communicate with each other leaving me with no choice but to run back and forth as I pieced together NASA’s knowledge of space, and NOAA’s knowledge weather. When you put the two together you have “space-weather”.

A recent study published in the science journal ‘Nature’, indicates a direct connection between the acceleration of charged particles such as galactic cosmic rays and its effect on humans and animals. Charged particles come in many forms. From the Sun, they come in the form of solar flares, CMEs (coronal mass ejections), coronal holes, filament, and gamma ray burst. The more powerful and damaging particles are the galactic cosmic rays which comes from outside our solar system. These subatomic particles, made up of around ninety percent protons move through space at close to the speed of light. Magnetic fields deflect and distort the path of the particles, making it near impossible to determine their point of origin. Collision of stars, supernovae, even dark matter have all been named as a possible source.

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As mentioned previously, during times of high solar activity (expansion), cosmic rays are better reflected from entering Earth’s atmosphere. However, during times of low solar activity (contraction), cosmic rays are far more abundant therefore have the potential to cause significant damage to our planet and all those living on it. Moreover, when you factor in the two current events happening concurrently, the scenario adds anecdotal averment of how far along this cycle we reside. First) A weakening magnetic field diminishing 10x faster than original estimates. Second) Evidence of an extended solar minimum which is going beyond one, two, three, or possibly more cycles allowing a profusion of galactic cosmic rays entering our atmosphere, with the higher energy particles penetrating deep into the Lithosphere, Mantle, and some research says right through the other side.

When scenario’s such as this occur, one must go beyond the better known short-term cycles comprised of averaging 11 yr. and 22 yr-cyl; while looking deeper into the less known medium ‘extended cycles’ such as the Milankovitch Cycle, the Laschamp Event, and the Maunder Minimum indicating that some cycles commingle while others supplant with periodicities ranging from Maunder’s 60-70 yr-cyl, to Laschamp’s 40,000 and 60,000 yr-cyl, to Milankovitch’s 23,000, 41,000, and 100,000 yr-cyl.

Then we have long-term cycles which can be traced back 550 million years.

*My eyes hurt, I have to stop here. I will pick it up tomorrow with “long-term cycles”

 

Did Ancient Supernovae Prompt Human Ancestors To Walk Upright?

Did ancient supernovae induce proto-humans to walk on two legs, eventually resulting in Homo sapiens with hands free to build cathedrals, design rockets and snap iPhone selfies?

A paper published today in the Journal of Geology makes the case: Supernovae bombarded Earth with cosmic energy starting as many as 8 million years ago, with a peak some 2.6 million years ago, initiating an avalanche of electrons in the lower atmosphere and setting off a chain of events that feasibly ended with bipedal hominins such as Homo habilis, dubbed “handy man.”

The authors believe atmospheric ionization probably triggered an enormous upsurge in cloud-to-ground lightning strikes that ignited forest fires around the globe. These infernos could be one reason ancestors of Homo sapiens developed bipedalism — to adapt in savannas that replaced torched forests in northeast Africa.

“It is thought there was already some tendency for hominins to walk on two legs, even before this event,” said lead author Adrian Melott, professor emeritus of physics & astronomy at the University of Kansas. “But they were mainly adapted for climbing around in trees. After this conversion to savanna, they would much more often have to walk from one tree to another across the grassland, and so they become better at walking upright. They could see over the tops of grass and watch for predators. It’s thought this conversion to savanna contributed to bipedalism as it became more and more dominant in human ancestors.”

Based on a “telltale” layer of iron-60 deposits lining the world’s sea beds, astronomers have high confidence supernovae exploded in Earth’s immediate cosmic neighborhood — between 100 and only 50 parsecs (163 light years) away — during the transition from the Pliocene Epoch to the Ice Age.

“We calculated the ionization of the atmosphere from cosmic rays which would come from a supernova about as far away as the iron-60 deposits indicate,” Melott said. “It appears that this was the closest one in a much longer series. We contend it would increase the ionization of the lower atmosphere by 50-fold. Usually, you don’t get lower-atmosphere ionization because cosmic rays don’t penetrate that far, but the more energetic ones from supernovae come right down to the surface — so there would be a lot of electrons being knocked out of the atmosphere.”

According to Melott and co-author Brian Thomas of Washburn University, ionization in the lower atmosphere meant an abundance of electrons would form more pathways for lightning strikes.

“The bottom mile or so of atmosphere gets affected in ways it normally never does,” Melott said. “When high-energy cosmic rays hit atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they knock electrons out of them — so these electrons are running around loose instead of bound to atoms. Ordinarily, in the lightning process, there’s a buildup of voltage between clouds or the clouds and the ground — but current can’t flow because not enough electrons are around to carry it. So, it has to build up high voltage before electrons start moving. Once they’re moving, electrons knock more electrons out of more atoms, and it builds to a lightning bolt. But with this ionization, that process can get started a lot more easily, so there would be a lot more lightning bolts.”

The KU researcher said the probability that this lightning spike touched off a worldwide upsurge in wildfires is supported by the discovery of carbon deposits found in soils that correspond with the timing of the cosmic-ray bombardment.

“The observation is that there’s a lot more charcoal and soot in the world starting a few million years ago,” Melott said. “It’s all over the place, and nobody has any explanation for why it would have happened all over the world in different climate zones. This could be an explanation. That increase in fires is thought to have stimulated the transition from woodland to savanna in a lot of places — where you had forests, now you had mostly open grassland with shrubby things here and there. That’s thought to be related to human evolution in northeast Africa. Specifically, in the Great Rift Valley where you get all these hominin fossils.”

Melott said no such event is likely to occur again anytime soon. The nearest star capable of exploding into a supernova in the next million years is Betelgeuse, some 200 parsecs (652 light years) from Earth.

“Betelgeuse is too far away to have effects anywhere near this strong,” Melott said. “So, don’t worry about this. Worry about solar proton events. That’s the danger for us with our technology — a solar flare that knocks out electrical power. Just imagine months without electricity.”

Peru Earthquake Leaves One Dead And Several Injured

One person was killed and at least 11 people have been injured in Peru, with a further seven injuries in neighboring Ecuador, after an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck northern Peru on Sunday morning.

Graphic shows large earthquake logo over broken earth and Richter scale reading

Peru’s National Emergency Operations Center reported the death of a 48-year-old man from the Cajamarca region in northwestern Peru following an earthquake in the country’s Amazon region.

The earthquake’s epicenter was at an approximate depth of 115 km, according to preliminary readings from the United States Geological Survey, and it was felt as far afield as Lima, Peru; Caracas, Venezuela; and Quito, Ecuador.

Ricardo Seijas, head of the emergency operations center, said the number of injured had risen to at least 11 people.

The emergency operations center reported numerous damages to buildings including five schools; two religious temples; and four health centers. Two additional health centers collapsed, said Seijas.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra has traveled to Yurimaguas, a city in the Peruvian Amazon that was among the hardest hit by the earthquake.

Vizcarra arrived with other top government officials, and said they are coordinating with local leaders to evaluate the damage.

The president said he himself, along with his transportation minister, will evaluate damage to roadways.

Other officials will evaluate damages to structures and any effect on a nearby reservoir, Vizcarra said.

Earlier in the day Vizcarra reported injuries as well as damages to homes and roadways, in a statement on state TV.

“We already have reports of injuries, of affected homes, collapsed highways and a bridge that connects Yurimaguas with Tarapoto has also collapsed,” Vizcarra said.

The country’s civil protection agency is sending teams to the affected areas, he added.

Five injuries were confirmed by the country’s health ministry on Twitter.

Two of the injured are from the city of Yurimaguas, and the other injuries were from other provinces in the Amazon region, the ministry said.

Ecuador’s Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner confirmed at least 7 injuries in the country as a result of the earthquake.

There are no immediate reports of infrastructure damage, he added.

Landslides have been reported in various parts of the country, according to Ecuador’s emergency management agency.

“The strong earthquake that occurred early this morning was felt in several regions of the country,” Peru’s Vizcarra tweeted earlier Sunday.

“We are evaluating the affected areas. I ask all of our citizens to remain calm.”

The earthquake was the strongest in Peru in 12 years, Vizcarra said.

Peru’s National Emergency Operations Center tweeted that the earthquake was felt in several regions of the country, and monitoring continues.

The country’s interior ministry tweeted photos of damaged houses in the northern Amazonas region, adding that police were on site to protect affected areas.

Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno also tweeted: “I am awaiting of the information about the strong earthquake recorded this morning.”

In January 2018 a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit southern Peru, killing two people.

At least 65 people were injured in the cities of Arequipa, Ica and Ayacucho in southern Peru, the National Civil Defense Institute reported.

On August 15, 2007 a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck about 100 miles south of the Peruvian capital of Lima, killing approximately 514 people.

Part-III Addendum to (First Will Come Reversal Excursions Then the Flip)

The episodic nature of the Earth’s glacial and interglacial periods within the present Ice Age (the last couple of million years) have been caused primarily by cyclical changes in the Earth’s circumnavigation of the Sun. Variations in the Earth’s eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession comprise the three dominant cycles, collectively known as the Milankovitch Cycles for Milutin Milankovitch, the Serbian astronomer and mathematician who is generally credited with calculating their magnitude. Taken in unison, variations in these three cycles creates alterations in the seasonality of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface. These times of increased or decreased solar radiation directly influence the Earth’s climate system, thus impacting the advance and retreat of Earth’s glaciers.

Note: If you find this information of interest and useful, please consider supporting us with your donations. I am also looking for a sponsors that would help caring this important research forward. Go to the click here button to support this work.    CLICK HERE

The first of the three Milankovitch Cycles is Earth’s axial tilt. It is the inclination of the Earth’s axis in relation to its plane of orbit around the Sun. Oscillations in the degree of Earth’s axial tilt occur on a periodicity of 41,000 years from 21.5 to 24.5 degrees. Today the Earth’s axial tilt is about 23.5 degrees, which largely accounts for our seasons.  Because of the periodic variations of this angle the severity of the Earth’s seasons changes. With less axial tilt the Sun’s solar radiation is more evenly distributed between winter and summer. However, less tilt also increases the difference in radiation receipts between the equatorial and Polar Regions.

The second principle of the Milankovitch Cycle is Earth’s precession. Precession is the Earth’s slow wobble as it spins on axis. This wobbling of the Earth on its axis can be likened to a top running down, and beginning to wobble back and forth on its axis. The precession of Earth wobbles from pointing at Polaris (North Star) to pointing at the star Vega. When this shift to the axis pointing at Vega occurs, Vega would then be considered the North Star. This top-like wobble, or precession, has a periodicity of 23,000 years.

The third principle of the Milankovitch Cycles is the Earth’s eccentricity. Eccentricity is, simply, the shape of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. This constantly fluctuating, orbital shape ranges between more and less elliptical (0 to 5% ellipticity) on a cycle of about 100,000 years. These oscillations, from more elliptic to less elliptic, are of prime importance to glaciation in that it alters the distance from the Earth to the Sun, thus changing the distance the Sun’s short wave radiation must travel to reach Earth, subsequently reducing or increasing the amount of radiation received at the Earth’s surface in different seasons.

Meteor Magnets In Outer Space: Finding Elusive Giant Planets

Astronomers believe planets like Jupiter shield us from space objects that would otherwise slam into Earth. Now they’re closer to learning whether giant planets act as guardians of solar systems elsewhere in the galaxy.

A UCR-led team has discovered two Jupiter-sized planets about 150 light years away from Earth that could reveal whether life is likely on the smaller planets in other solar systems.

“We believe planets like Jupiter have profoundly impacted the progression of life on Earth. Without them, humans might not be here to have this conversation,” said Stephen Kane, lead study author and UCR associate professor of planetary astrophysics. “Understanding how many other stars have planets like Jupiter could be very important for learning about the habitability of planets in those systems.”

Along with liquid water oceans, Kane said astronomers believe such planets have the ability to act as ‘slingshots,’ pulling objects like meteors, comets, and asteroids out of their trajectories en route to impact with small, rocky planets.

Many larger planets have been found close to their stars. However, those aren’t as useful for learning about the architecture of our own solar system, where the giant planets including Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are all farther from the Sun. Big planets far from their stars have, until now, been harder to find.

A study recently accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal details how Kane’s team found success in a novel approach combining traditional detection methods with the latest technologies.

One popular method of searching for exoplanets — planets in other solar systems — involves monitoring stars for “wobble,” in which a star moves toward and away from Earth. The wobble is likely caused by the gravitational pull a nearby planet is exerting on it. When a star wobbles, it’s a clue there may be an exoplanet nearby.

When the planet is far from its star, the gravitational pull is weaker, making the wobble smaller and harder to detect. The other problem with using the wobble detection method, Kane said, is that it just takes a long time. Earth only takes a year to orbit the sun. Jupiter takes 12, Saturn takes 30, and Neptune takes an astonishing 164 years.

The larger exoplanets also take many years to circle their stars, which means observing a complete orbit could engulf an astronomer’s entire career. To accelerate the process, Kane and his team combined the wobble method with direct imaging. This way, if the team thought a planet might be causing wobble, they could confirm it by sight.

Obtaining a direct image of a planet quadrillions of miles away is no simple task. It requires the largest possible telescope, one that is at least 32 feet long and highly sensitive. Even from this distance, the light of the stars can overexpose the image, obscuring the target planets.

The team overcame this challenge by learning to recognize and eliminate the patterns in their images created by starlight. Removing the starlight allowed Kane’s team to see what remained.

“Direct imaging has come a long way both in terms of understanding the patterns we find, and in terms of the instruments used to create the images, which are much higher resolution than they’ve ever been,” Kane said. “You see this every time a new smartphone is released — the camera detectors are always being improved and that’s true in astronomy as well.”

In this project, the team applied the combination of wobble and imaging method to 20 stars. In addition to the two being orbited by giant Jupiter-like planets that had not been previously discovered, the team also detected a third, previously observed star with a giant planet in its system.

Going forward, the team will continue to monitor 10 of the stars where planetary companions could not be ruled out. In addition, Kane is planning a new project to measure how long it takes these exoplanets to complete rotations toward and away from their stars, which cannot currently be measured.

Kane’s team is international, with members at the Australian Astronomical Observatory, University of Southern Queensland, University of New South Wales and Macquarie University in Australia, as well as at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. They are also spread across the U.S. at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, AZ, Southern Connecticut State University, NASA Ames Research Center and Stanford University in California and the Carnegie Institution of Washington in D.C.

“This discovery is an important piece of the puzzle because it helps us understand the factors that make a planet habitable and whether that’s common or not,” said Kane. “We are converging rapidly on answers to this question that the past 3,000 recorded years of history could only wish they had available to them.”

Part III – First Will Come Reversal Excursions Then the Flip

A geomagnetic excursion, like a geomagnetic reversal, is a significant change in the Earth’s magnetic field. However, excursions are not strong enough to permanently change the large-scale orientation of the field, but rather hopscotch back and forth northern latitudes. They are usually short-lived decreasing in field intensity, with a variation in pole orientation of up to 45 degrees from the previous position. These events often involve declines in field strength to between 5% and 20% of normal.

Excursions, unlike reversals, are generally not recorded across the entire globe. This is partially due to them not being recorded well within the sedimentary record, but also because they likely do not extend through the entire geomagnetic field. One of the first excursions to be studied was the Laschamp event, dated at around 40,000 years ago. Since this event has also been seen in sites across the globe, it is suggested as one of the few examples of a truly global excursion.

Excursions are less likely to leave evidence that is identifiable in geological records – they can easily be too small to be noticed. Consequently scientists are unsure how frequently they occur. So far 12 have been documented as occurring in the last 780,000 years, which means they happen (on average) at least every 65,000 years.

The Laschamp event was a short reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field. It occurred 41,400 (±2,000) years ago during the last ice age and was first recognized in the late 1960s as a geomagnetic reversal recorded in the Laschamp lava flows in the Clermont-Ferrand district of France. The magnetic excursion has since been demonstrated in geological archives from many parts of the world.

The period of reversed magnetic field was approximately 440 years, with the transition from the normal field lasting approximately 250 years. The reversed field was 75% weaker, whereas the strength dropped to only 5% of the current strength during the transition. This reduction in geomagnetic field strength resulted in more cosmic rays reaching the Earth, causing greater production of the cosmogenic isotopes beryllium 10 and carbon 14. The Laschamp event was the first known geomagnetic excursion and remains the most thoroughly studied among the known geomagnetic excursions.

Coming Next: Part IV – How Geomagnetic Expansion or Contraction Effects Animals and Humans