"The Paleozoic period was very nice"
Posted on 03/07/2010 2:43:20 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Focusing on a controversial hypothesis that ice existed at the equator some 300 million years ago during the late Paleozoic Period, two University of Oklahoma researchers originated a project in search of clues to Earth's climate system.
"The Paleozoic Period was a rare time in history," says Gerilyn Soreghan, OU professor of geology. "Broadly speaking, it was the last time our planet experienced the type of climate system we have today and in the recent past." Soreghan believes comparing more modern systems in a range of different climates might help support her hypothesis.
Soreghan and Elwood Madden, assistant professor of geochemistry, want to search for answers in four distinct environments: the cold-dry environment found in Antarctica, the cold-wet environment found in Norway, the hot-wet environment found in Puerto Rico and the hot-dry environment found in the Mojave Desert.
A National Science Foundation project proposal was submitted and the NSF responded with its own proposal recommending a pilot project to the most extreme location proposed -- Antarctica. Soreghan was surprised and excited by the NSF proposal. She then began preparing for the journey of a lifetime.
The OU team flew to New Zealand at the end of December and promptly went to the clothing distribution center to be outfitted for the trip. Even though Soreghan and two graduate students would arrive in Antarctica during the summer season, the extremely cold weather proved challenging.
The trip to McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, took roughly 5 hours. Upon arrival, the team met with experienced University of Maine researcher Brenda Hall, who helped the team get ready for the next few weeks. They needed food, radios, tents and other essential equipment for the expedition.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Some real research going on...money well spent!
I have read and seend documentaries in a number of places that say the Earth was nearly all covered with ice 300M years ago. Pretty scarey stuff—hopefully it will never happen again while the human race is around.
"The Paleozoic period was very nice"
Common sense tells me that if there is proof that tropical zones now lay beneath the North and South Poles, it would only make sense that there were arctic conditions in the equator zone. Either the surface of the earth shifted or the tilt of 23 degrees was different millions of years ago.
This also could be interesting! Hope we hear about the results. Thanks E!
Why Dude????
From what I’ve read, ice existed at the equator and the poles were tropical due to system overloads. Ice reflects heat and there is a tipping point in which the earth froze completely. The ice unfroze with volcanic activity. Which leads to tropics at the poles. Sometimes the planet has enormous heat from an overactive volcanic cycle creating excessive heat trapped by the atmosphere of escaped gasses that act as a blanket. Another reason for radical changes in season is ice or lands opening up or cutting off ocean currents.
You had life on land 400 million years ago. Would this not have wiped it out? (You only see life in Antarctica at the edges!)
So at one time the earth was covered with ice and another it was a tropical greenhouse with ferns 50 feet tall, right?
And this was all long before man was on the scene, right?
So doesn’t this tell us that the only normality in client is change?
I’d imagine gettng smacked by an asteroid of sufficient scale to wipe out the predominant species on the planet and create the Gulf of Mexico, would be enough to set things reeling pretty well.
Sorry all the science on global climate change is settled.
What phenomenon could have frozen a wave as it rushed across the landscape and turned the dunes into frozen sand?
'Snowball Earth': Glaciers, ice packs once met at Equator
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American boffins say they have discovered evidence that almost the entire world was covered in sea ice and glaciers at certain points in the remote past, during so-called "snowball Earth" periods where the polar ice sheets met at the Equator.
It were grim in the old days.
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Source is a UK publication...boffins ...are Scientists....
...why cant some women just be content cooking another chicken pot pie for their hubby and wait patiently for his subtle gesture to “climb aboard”...
Holy...where is that?
I am ignoring that....
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