Posted on 09/02/2006 11:15:06 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Two hundred and fifty million years ago, ninety percent of marine species disappeared and life on land suffered greatly during the world's largest mass extinction. The cause of this great dying has baffled scientists for decades, and recent speculations invoke asteroid impacts as a kill mechanism. Yet a new study published in the December issue of Geology provides strong indications that the extinction cause did not come from the heavens but from Earth itself.
An international team of scientists led by Christian Koeberl from the University of Vienna studied rock samples taken from deep in the Carnic Alps of southern Austria and the western Dolomites in northeast Italy. Their findings promise to fuel what is already one of the hottest debates in earth science.
"Our geochemical analyses of these two famous end-Permian sections in Austria and Italy reveal no tangible evidence of extraterrestrial impact," said Koeberl. "This suggests the mass extinction must have been home-grown."
Layers of rocks contain a chemical testimony of environmental change though time. Asteroids and comets are chemically different from the Earth and when these objects arrive they leave a tell-tale chemical fingerprint in the rocks.
With the help of colleagues from the USA and UK, Koeberl confirmed the presence of the element iridium in the samples. Iridium is abundant in asteroids, comets, and other extraterrestrial material.
However, the amounts found were very small compared to those associated with the asteroid impact that many scientists believe killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. At the same time, the team found no traces of the extraterrestrial isotopes helium-3 and osmium-187, commonly associated with impact events.
What the team did find, however, was evidence of purely terrestrial processes at work. According to Koeberl, "The slight concentrations of iridium may have been deposited by sluggish oceans when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were high and seawater oxygen levels were low. The source of the carbon dioxide was probably volcanic activity."
Large areas of Earth's crust can be split by volcanic activity to create space in which oceans form. When it comes to cracking continents, however, breaking up is very hard to do. At the close of the Permian, one such failed attempt at ocean forming led to massive volcanic activity in the heart of present day Siberia. Emissions flooded the atmosphere leading to changes in climate and patterns of oceanic circulation.
"Our findings support the view that evidence for an extraterrestrial impact event during this time period is weak and inconsistent," said Koeberl. "At the same time, they suggest that widespread volcanic activity may have been the 'smoking gun,' quite literally, that wiped out much of life on Earth."
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"Geochemistry of the end-Permian extinction event in Austria and Italy: No evidence for an extraterrestrial component," GEOLOGY, December 2004, v. 32, no. 12, p. 1053-1056.
*Christian Koeberl, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
*Kenneth A. Farley, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
*Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Dept. of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Wood Hole, MA, USA
*Mark A. Sephton, Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
GEOLOGY is a publication of the Geological Society of America.
From the report...
Their findings promise to fuel what is already one of the hottest debates in earth science.
And since I have taken a vow of nicetude, I won't tell you how you sound.
Re read the Bible and this time don't let your pre conceived children stories get in the way of reading what the text actually says. Also, as an aside, look up the name Peleg in Genesis ( I think it's in chpt 6) and it will talk about the continent's splitting. I believe science calls it Pangea or something like that. This explains the Mastodons freezing standing up with fresh buttercups in their bellies. Maybe the poles reversed in one day?
First of all, the "windows of heaven" are clearly a rainstorm. Second, the "fountains of the deep" simply refers to the oceans, as is quite clear in the other places where the Old Testament uses that phrase.
THANKS.
Science, philosophy and theology should not be mixed. Each has its own area where it is good.
Ge 10:25
Earth shattering!
Just out of idle curiosity, what exactly is it that you think explains the frozen mastodons? I'll grant you that the verse about Shem's heirs dividing up land somehow refers to plate tectonics. Sure, whatever. But what mental acrobatics take you from there to the frozen mastodons, and how does that segue in with magnetic pole reversals?
One of us needs reading glasses.
One of us needs to stop wasting his time with pointless nonsense. That one is me. See ya later. I'm done with this thread.
ma`yan {mah-yawn'} or ma`y@now (Ps. 114:8) {mah-yen-o'} Word Origin: from 5869 (as a denominative in the sense of a spring) TDNT: 1613a Part of Speech: noun masculine Usage in the KJV: fountain 16, well 5, springs 2 Total: 23 Definition: 1. spring TDNT - Theological Dictio
Please don't ping me here further.
You are done because you realize you are flat out wrong.
Here is another use of the Hebrew word used in the above text. In no way could it be interpreted to mean rain.
. Chapter 114 1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
3 The sea saw it , and fled: Jordan was driven back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
Life on this planet hangs by a thread.
I can see where the opening of heavens is a metaphor for rain but how in the world "all the fountains of the great deep were broken up" is a metaphor for rain is beyond me and further why the need for 2 metaphors in the same sentence is even more troublesome. No, the verse is describing separate things.
I'm sorry some wish to maintain ignorance in order to keep their view of a bible verse in accordance with their personal belief system rather than admit they are wrong.
The "SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY" has always had a large number of members willing to prostitute themselves to the majority or to those in government who offer virtually unlimited funding, perks and prestige. Just look at the global warming debate today, and the shunning of those down through history who challenged the accepted wisdom of their time.
The Siberia event was big. Not only were many species extinguished, but entire families. Is this post off topic?
The "SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY" are pikers compared to the number of people in the "RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY" willing to prostitute themselves to the majority or to those in government who offer virtually unlimited funding, perks and prestige.
The "RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY" has thousands of years of a head start. But their efforts in the last 2 centuries are pretty impressive, too.
They make scientist fakers look like armatures.
Never EVER deliver facts to sacntimony.
I am not intelligent enough to understand what you are trying to say.
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