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BACK to 15,000,000,000 BC- 60,000,000 BC in Perspectives...: Page contents
Approximately 544,000,000 BC: Perhaps the last of three global glaciations extending even to the Earth's equator is realizedThe slow movement of tectonic plates may also be gathering continental masses around the southern pole, setting the stage for a righting of the axis tilt.
| -- One theory solves two ancient climate paradoxes, EurekAlert! ["http://www.eurekalert.org/"] 14 DECEMBER 1999, Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer aem1@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State |
Around 544 million BC the Cambrian period began with a ten million year explosion in life diversity and size (previous to this most life consisted of microbes). It may be that the Earth's mantle shifted, imbalancing the planet and causing it to tilt on its axis.
North America began the period near to the South Pole but ended up (540 million BC- 515 million BC) on the equator. Antarctica, South America, Australia, India, and Africa were all one body called Gondwanaland, and traveled all the way across the southern half of Earth during the time (finishing the trip around 535 million BC- 500 million BC).
| -- When Earth Tipped, Life Went Wild by R. Monastersky, July 26, 1997, Science News Online, http://www.sciencenews.org |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 534,000,000 BC: A sudden mass imbalance within the Earth may set off rapid geologic changes worldwide now (with significant climatic consequences afterwards)The normal tectonic processes are vastly accelerated as a result of the imbalances brought on by this event. Within 15 million years all the continents have moved by some 90 degrees from their previous positions.
| -- EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #113, SEP-OCT 1997 by William R. Corliss, citing Joseph L. Kirschvink, et al; "Evidence for a Large-Scale Reorganization of Early Cambrian Continental Masses by Inertial Interchange True Polar Wander," Science, 277:541, 1997, Kathy Sawyer; "Global Shift May Have Sped Evolution," Washington Post, July 25, 1997, and Kurt P. Wise, "The Archaean Explosion," CEN Technical Journal, 10:315, 1996 |
The unusual size and configuration of the subducted seafloor may also cause far more seawater than normal to be dragged downwards deep into the Earth as well.
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It appears two enormous ancient oceans were dragged deep towards the core of the Earth (hundreds of kilometers down) by the subduction of their floors under the continents. They may host quantities of seawater comparable to the surface oceans of 20th century Earth.
One of these bizzare realms may now exist some 900 km underneath Europe. The other looks to be almost 3,000 km below Indonesia. These regions were revealed by seismic tomography. -- TWO REALLY DEEP OCEANS from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #96, NOV-DEC 1994 by William R. Corliss, citing Carl Zimmer; "The Ocean Within," Discover, 15:20, October 1994, and Martin Redfern; "Lost Ocean Found Deep in the Earth," New Scientist, p. 16, September 3, 1994 |
Between 750 million BC and 2,000 AD the Earth's surface sea level will drop some 1,968 feet due to loss of water to subterranean regions.
| -- "The world's oceans seem to be draining away" by Peter Hadfield, Tokyo, New Scientist ["http://www.newscientist.com"] issue 11th September 99, http://www.newscientist.com, 8 SEPTEMBER 1999, EurekAlert! ["http://www.eurekalert.org/"] |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 500,000,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include starfish, corals, and clam-like shellfish | -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 490,000,000 BC: The Earth may have slowly reduced its previous tilt of 70 degrees from the vertical to some 20 or 30 degrees now
| -- One theory solves two ancient climate paradoxes, EurekAlert! ["http://www.eurekalert.org/"] 14 DECEMBER 1999, Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer aem1@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 450,000,000+ BC: After many false starts (species which failed to make the transition) finally one form of plant life manages to survive the change from water to dry land. I.e.,
the very first successful species of land plant now makes its debutBy the end of the 20th century there will be four different lineages of plants-- including fungi, which is more like a hybrid of plant and animal.
Three of the plant lines are basically categorized according to color: green, brown, and red. Fungi is in a class of its own.
A summary of the evolution of life by this point would be: Life begins in the ocean. Some life moves into freshwater, or which a portion will eventually move back to the sea. Some of the plant life which stays in freshwater eventually colonizes dry land.
| -- XVI International Botanical Congress Team of 200 scientists presents new research that reveals full 'tree of life' for plants, EurekAlert!, 4 AUGUST 1999, Contact: Ellen Wilson, Dennis Kelly, or Eileen Kugler ewilson@burnessc.com 301-652-1558 Contact the IBC press office at 314-611-3961 or 314-621-4827 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 439,000,000 BC: The Ordovician mass extinction occurs, wherein......about 85% of all marine animal species are killed off (there were no land animals at this time)
| -- 2150 biodiversity ["http://www.enviroweb.org/coe/e-sermons/weedplan.html"] |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 425,000,000 BC: Portions of the continents are growing closer again| -- Lecture 14 - The Appalachian Mountains ["http://wwwcatsic.ucsc.edu/~eart3/Lectures/lecture14.html"], last reviewed by respective author(s) on 2/18/00, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Emerging lifeforms of this time include land scorpions, club mosses, clams, mussels, snails, and certain types of fungi and algae which will survive into the 21st century AD.
| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 395,000,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include sharks, amphibians, spiders, and ferns| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 367,000,000 BC: The Devonian mass extinction takes place, and is apparently near the magnitude of the Ordovician event 72 million years before...| -- 2150 biodiversity ["http://www.enviroweb.org/coe/e-sermons/weedplan.html"] |
An enormous comet (as big as three miles in diameter) smashed into Nevada around 370 million BC (the Alamo Impact). This region is largely under the Pacific Ocean at this time. This impact may have been but the first of many; a series of comet showers may have begun impacting the Earth around 370 million BC, ultimately bringing about the mass extinction of 367,000,000 BC...
| -- Tiny Teeth Shed Light on Ancient Comets; 3/20/98; News Release; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey, Central Region Outreach Office, P.O. Box 25046, MS 150, Denver, CO 80225-0046. Contact Heidi Koehler Phone 303-236-5900 ext. 302 Fax 303-236-5882 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 364,000,000 BC: Something of a global extinction event takes place now...
| -- Killer Crater Found ["http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000419/geology_crater.html"] By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News, April 19, 2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 350,000,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include insects, reptiles, mosses, and land snails| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 340,000,000 BC: A wiener-length, lizard-like creature has firmly established itself in a semi-aquatic environment...
| -- "Science News Online (5/22/99): Out of the Swamps" ["http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/5_22_99/bob1.htm"] By Richard Monastersky, Science News Online,The Weekly Newsmagazine of Science, Volume 155, Number 21 (May 22, 1999), Science Service |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 360,000,000 BC- 250,000,000 BC: A cosmic impact in Australia now may be the cause of the worst extinction event(s) ever suffered by Earth
| -- Killer Crater Found ["http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000419/geology_crater.html"] By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News, April 19, 2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 300,000,000 BC: The super continent Pangea takes shape; Vascular land plants like trees may have spread over the continents sufficiently by now to cause a worldwide increase in oxygen; Gigantic insects may roam the world
| -- CNN.com - Nature - Plants spread secrets about climate change ["http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/03/09/plants.enn/"] By Environmental News Network staff, March 9, 2000, Environmental News Network |
These high oxygen levels last for about 100 million years. Note that under such conditions forest fires would have occured more easily and devastated far greater regions in single events (oxygen aids combustion).
| -- Yale researchers attribute ancient high levels of oxygen in the atmosphere to the rise of trees and large plants ["http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/yale-yra030700.html"], 7 MARCH 2000, EurekAlert! Contact: Karen Peart karen.peart@yale.edu 203-432-1326 Yale University |
Approximately 300,000,000 BC the super continent Pangea takes shape. Sometime later Pangea will split into Laurasia (north) and Gondwanaland (south).
| -- Geologic History of the Canadian Rockies ["http://www.tgx.com/rockymountains/geology.htm"], apparently created in 1998 by Rocky Mountain Hiking, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Africa and North America are colliding. Europe and South America are also colliding with North America, to form Pangea.
| -- Lecture 14 - The Appalachian Mountains ["http://wwwcatsic.ucsc.edu/~eart3/Lectures/lecture14.html"], last reviewed by respective author(s) on 2/18/00, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 345,000,000 BC- 225,000,000 BC: The Carboniferous and Permian periods see lots of Gondwana (southern Pangea) ice-covered. Animal life is minimal in the region now|
The document cited below gave 270,000,000 BC as an approximate date for an icy Gondwana, but also indicated the icy times lasted through much of the Carboniferous and Permian periods, which involve a range of as much as 120 million years (see additional info following below). I will attempt to tighten up these date estimates as more information becomes available. -- J.R.
-- Common questions: Gondwana and continental drift; FAQ - Gondwana ["http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/dinodream/faq/faqgond.htm"], Monash University Earth Sciences, Monash Science Centre, Ziggurat Creative & Technical Publishing, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
The Universal Almanac 1996 offers 350,000,000 BC as a marker for the Carboniferous Period, and 290,000,000 BC for the Permian.
| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
The Running Press Cyclopedia offers 345,000,000 BC- 280,000,000 BC as the range for the Carboniferous Period, and 280,000,000 BC- 225,000,000 BC for the Permian.
| -- Geological Timescale, page 15, The Earth, The World, The Running Press Cyclopedia, 2nd Edition, 1993, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 247,000,000 BC: Something of a global extinction event takes place now...
| -- Killer Crater Found ["http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000419/geology_crater.html"] By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News, April 19, 2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 252,000,000+ BC: At least some portions of the super continent Pangaea suffer an Ice Age
| -- GLG 111, Chapter 12: Glaciers and Glaciation ["http://www.muohio.edu/~schafesd/glg111-outlines/glg111-ch12-glaciers.htmlx"] GLG 111, The Dynamic Earth, Steven D. Schafersman in the Department of Geology at Miami University, August 27, 1998, schafesd@muohio.edu |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 252,000,000 BC- 2,000,000 BC: The Earth enjoys a lengthy warm and wet period mostly devoid of ice sheets and glaciers
| -- GLG 111, Chapter 12: Glaciers and Glaciation ["http://www.muohio.edu/~schafesd/glg111-outlines/glg111-ch12-glaciers.htmlx"] GLG 111, The Dynamic Earth, Steven D. Schafersman in the Department of Geology at Miami University, August 27, 1998, schafesd@muohio.edu |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 250,000,000 BC- 245,000,000 BC: The Permian mass extinction...
| -- 2150 biodiversity ["http://www.enviroweb.org/coe/e-sermons/weedplan.html"] and WRI Article: "A History of Extinction" ["http://www.wri.org/wri/biodiv/b03-koa.html"] |
Even the insects almost don't survive this one. The actual die off may have occurred over a period of one million years or less. There may have been more than one cause for the extinctions, but one prime suspect is an enormous lava flow up to four km thick in Siberia, over a region as large as the future USA. In the 20th century the ancient hardened lava flow will be called the Siberian Traps. The volcanic gases released along with the lava may have helped plunge the world into a 'nuclear winter' type environment-- or, alternatively, they may have formed 'greenhouse gases' which effectively cooked the planet for a while. In the 'cooked' scenario much life would have had to take refuge towards the poles (higher latitudes), worldwide. Or, both circumstances could have taken place, only one after the other. First a colder period, then a hotter one. Which scenario actually transpires will remain a mystery to scientists circa 1999 AD.
Other factors could include a comet or asteroid strike during this period.
Life however bounces back stronger than ever some 80 million years later.
| -- Meltdown By Diana Steele, From New Scientist ["http://www.newscientist.com"], 7 August 1999 |
Perhaps it was a series or multitude of comet impacts over time which caused the extinctions. Or such a series may have combined with the gases emitted by the Siberian Traps above to have had the effect.
| -- NOW, IT'S COMET SHOWERS THAT DID IT From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #54, NOV-DEC 1987 by William R. Corliss, citing Piet Hut, et al; "Comet Showers as a Cause of Mass Extinctions," Nature, 329:118, 1987 |
A fossilized forest in the central Transantarctic Mountains from the Upper Permian offers climatic evidence for its location which seems to conflict with long established ideas about the period.
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-- A PERMIAN POLAR FOREST From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #84, NOV-DEC 1992 by William R. Corliss, citing Edith L. Taylor, et al; "The Present Is Not the Key to the Past: A Polar Forest from the Permian of Antarctica," Science, 257:1675, 1992]
70% of land species and 85+% of ocean species went extinct by the time the Permian period ended. The extinctions appear to have occured within only one million years or less-- terribly fast, as such things go. -- Scientific American: IN BRIEF: Fast Extinction ["http://www.sciam.com/1998/0898issue/0898inbrief.html"] (appears from the URL to be the August 1998 issue) |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 250,000,000 BC: Antarctica (like the other continents) is part of the super continent Pangaea|
-- At one time Antarctica possessed jungles and wildlife similar to other continents.
-- Land of the Dinosaurs ["http://www.e-spaces.com/TOSB/tosb/Discover/dinosaur.html"] |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 240,000,000 BC: Much of Gondwana is freed from its previous icy conditions, and animal life repopulates the region| -- Common questions: Gondwana and continental drift; FAQ - Gondwana ["http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/dinodream/faq/faqgond.htm"], Monash University Earth Sciences, Monash Science Centre, Ziggurat Creative & Technical Publishing, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 235,000,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include turtles, frogs, dinosaurs, and mammals| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 220,000,000 BC- 208,000,000 BC: The Triassic mass extinction| -- 2150 biodiversity ["http://www.enviroweb.org/coe/e-sermons/weedplan.html"] and WRI Article: "A History of Extinction" ["http://www.wri.org/wri/biodiv/b03-koa.html"] |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 200,000,000 BC: An enormous line of volcanic eruptions breaks the back of the super continent Pangaea now
| -- "Eruptions Cleared Path for Dinosaurs" By R. Monastersky Science News Online, Volume 155, Number 17 (April 24, 1999), ScienceService ["http://www.sciserv.org"] |
Pangea begins to break apart, starting the process of widening one rift into the Atlantic Ocean with which humanity will ultimately be familiar.
| -- Lecture 14 - The Appalachian Mountains ["http://wwwcatsic.ucsc.edu/~eart3/Lectures/lecture14.html"], last reviewed by respective author(s) on 2/18/00, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Horseshoe crabs have appeared. They will survive at least to 2,000 AD.
| -- The creatures time forgot by Lynn Dicks, From New Scientist, 23 October 1999 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 200,000,000 BC: Insect evolution seems to be winding down-- most insect species designs appear to have already been perfected
| -- "insect", page 397, The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition, 1983, 1989, Columbia University Press |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 180,000,000 BC: Laurasia and Gondwanaland themselves begin to splinter into halves, helping widen the Atlantic Ocean
| -- Geologic History of the Canadian Rockies ["http://www.tgx.com/rockymountains/geology.htm"], apparently created in 1998 by Rocky Mountain Hiking, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Another source puts the start of the breakup of Pangea at 180,000,000 BC. Whatever the timing of that event, a certain homogenization of plant and animal species over common latitudinal regional bands of Pangea now insures many of the child continents possess a similar starting stock of species with which to begin their individual evolutionary journeys. One example of this is the Glossopteris tree, of which seeds will be found circa 20th century AD in Antarctica, Australia, South America, Asia, and Africa.
| -- Pangea ["http://www.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/science/pangea.html"], found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC: The southern super continent Gondwanaland forms as North America and Eurasia move in other directions| -- Land of the Dinosaurs ["http://www.e-spaces.com/TOSB/tosb/Discover/dinosaur.html"] |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC: Laurasia breaks from Pangaea
| -- Common questions: Gondwana and continental drift; FAQ - Gondwana ["http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/dinodream/faq/faqgond.htm"], Monash University Earth Sciences, Monash Science Centre, Ziggurat Creative & Technical Publishing, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC: Anything which exists today on the sea floors of the Earth will be erased forever long before the time of 21st century humanity|
Plate tectonics and subduction may mean that the oldest areas of the sea floor circa 2000 AD are only some 150 million years old. So all manner of exotic life form fossils and even signs of advanced civilizations that may have existed there more than 150 million years ago have been swallowed up by the mantle, and possibly melted and merged with liquid rock.
-- Back Lots of the Lost: The Implausibility of the Cliched 'Lost World' ["http://www.hpoo.com/science/lostworld.html"] by Paul T. Riddell, Revised February 28, 2000 |
Of course, if a civilization were sufficiently far advanced technologically, and wished to leave a permanent calling card or artifact for whomever might explore the planet up to 150 million years or more later, they could conceivably construct a near indestructible cairn somewhere on the planet for this purpose, at this time.
But tectonic forces are not the only destructive elements on Earth. There's also volcanism, cosmic impacts, weathering, earthquakes, tidal waves, corrosion, and more. All things considered, a wise planner would likely not only make their artifact indestructible, but also place it in a more durable location than the sea beds-- such as moderately deep underground in a continent, at a location judged more geologically stable than most others-- likely far from a tectonic plate edge, for instance. They would also try to choose a spot not so low in altitude as to be in danger of slipping undersea at some point, but also not so high as to perhaps be exposed by weathering within only 150 million years or so. The extra land mass mountains offer to help shield against cosmic impacts would be included in the design. Large mountain ranges far from tectonic plate edges and possessed of relatively light volcanic activity and slow development might be an ideal location under which to bury such an artifact. Such a range might be represented by the Appalachians in North America, or the Urals in Asia, both of which were formed around 200,000,000 BC-- if the planners could correctly deduce the long term status of sites at such an early date. Lastly, the planners would create more than one such artifact, as a further guarantee of perpetuity, and possible later discovery. Each artifact would be placed far from the others, for reasons of geographic accessibility for later discoverers, as well as increasing the likelihood of long range survival of the relic(s) beyond cosmic impacts and other threats.
| -- Land Mass Distribution ["http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/newton/askasci/1993/astron/AST036.HTM"], Ask A Scientist, Astronomy Archive |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC -100,000,000 BC: The super continent Pangaea is breaking apart to form all the separate continents with which 20th century humanity will be familiar| -- "Dinosaur fossils reveal evolution's big picture, says Paul Sereno", 24 JUNE 1999, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Contact: Heather Singmaster, hsingmas@aaas.org, 202-326-6414 |
The first ants may appear on Earth during this period.
| -- Ethological Curiosities, Miscellaneous Wonders of Nature ["http://cogweb.english.ucsb.edu/EP/Ethology.html"], by Francis F. Steen, (revised 17 July 1999) |
Around 150,000,000 BC there is a major asteroid impact in the Barents sea near the coast of Norway. This impact effects the entire globe via tidal waves, a climate-changing "nuclear winter", and extinctions.
| -- Europe's biggest smash hit By Dr David Whitehouse; Sci/Tech; BBC News Online, February 15, 1999, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 145,000,000+ BC: Small Velociraptor-like dinosaurs are mutating into the earliest bird-like forms| -- Terror, Take Two By Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, found on or about 9-1-99 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC- 50,000,000 BC: Gondwanaland splinters into all the southern continents of Earth, including the southernmost Antarctica| -- Land of the Dinosaurs ["http://www.e-spaces.com/TOSB/tosb/Discover/dinosaur.html"] |
Note that their previous union means that up until now Antarctica likely shared many of the same plant and animal species of Gondwanaland as a whole-- which included primordial versions of New Zealand, Australia, South America, South Africa, and India.
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Back in the Tertiary Kerguelen boasted substantial forests of tree species related to the modern trees of South America.
Kerguelen may have once served to connect the continents of South America and Australia, as well as New Zealand. -- Kerguelen Island, South Indian Ocean ["http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html"] by Paul Carroll, January 2000 -- Kerguelen cabbage ["http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/5/0,5716,46205+1,00.html"], ENCYCLOP®DIA BRITANNICA The position of Broken Ridge with regards to the central Kerguelen Plateau seemed to remain relatively stable (unchanging) between 83 Ma and 43 Ma. After this the sea floor between these two features began to spread. -- On the fit of Broken Ridge and Kerguelen Plateau ["http://ibis.grdl.noaa.gov/SAT/at/tikku_cande_epsl_00.html"] (appears to be authored by Anahita A. Tikku and Steven C. Cande), Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 180, no. 1/2, p. 117-132, July 2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 140,000,000 BC: Gondwana begins breaking up; 20th century-style Crocodiles have appeared
|
-- The creatures time forgot by Lynn Dicks, From New Scientist, 23 October 1999
-- Common questions: Gondwana and continental drift; FAQ - Gondwana ["http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/dinodream/faq/faqgond.htm"], Monash University Earth Sciences, Monash Science Centre, Ziggurat Creative & Technical Publishing, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 125,000,000 BC: 20th century type Gingko trees have appeared
| -- The creatures time forgot by Lynn Dicks, From New Scientist, 23 October 1999 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 144,000,000 BC- 66,000,000 BC: The largest living creature which will ever fly Earth's skies before the 21st century does so now
| -- See Largest Flying Creature By Rossella Lorenzi, Dec. 30, 1999, Discovery Online, Discovery News Brief |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 110,000,000 BC: A continent one third the size of 1999 AD Australia has appeared in the southern hemisphere
| -- "'Lost continent' discovered" By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse, BBC News Online: Sci/Tech, 5-27-99, ["http://www.bbc.co.uk/"] |
Some of the links on this search list may be helpful in visualizing the size and location of this continent that Earth will eventually lose to the sea.
Only the southern and central portions of the Kerguelen continent are created via volcanic eruption at this time (perhaps similarly to the more modern Hawaiian islands). Note that this includes the sections nearest Antarctica.
|
The majority of the Kerguelen Plateau and related Broken Ridge formation was created during the Cretaceous. The southern and central regions of the plateau formed around 100-115 Ma (millions of years ago). Greater India separated from Australia/Antarctica 320 My earlier, so the Kerguelen formations seem well differentiated from those larger events.
The major eruption event seems to have been around 110 Ma. The new land masses formed above sea level. Explosive volcanic eruptions above sea level also were occuring during the event. The northern Kerguelen Plateau seems to have formed in the Cenozoic, however (to be more specific, sampling at two different sites gave numbers of 68 Ma and 35 Ma). The central and southern portions of the plateau display fossils of plant life indicating existence as dry ground for some period of time. Some parts of the plateau may consist of very old isolated continental fragments from the time of Gondwana breaking apart. The mechanism for this inclusion is unclear. The material may be pieces of continent which have been recycled in the mantle, or surface pieces which simply mixed with new material welling up from deeper in the planet volcanically. The northern plateau indicates volcanic action (possibly undersea) around 35 Ma (million years ago). -- ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF A SUBMARINE LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCE: THE KERGUELEN PLATEAU AND BROKEN RIDGE, SOUTHERN INDIAN OCEAN ["http://www.gl.rhbnc.ac.uk/news/abstracts/abs21.html"], F A Frey and K Nicolaysen (EAPS Dept, Mass Inst Tech, Cambridge, MA 02139; e-mail: fafrey@mit.edu); D Weis (Univ. Libre Bruxelles), M Coffin (Univ. Texas, Austin), P J Wallace (ODP, Texas A&M Univ) and the Leg 183 Shipboard Scientific Party |
Another interesting aspect of Kerguelen is the 'clean slate' with which the continent likely begins its periods as a dry land mass, in terms of native life forms. Kerguelen would be populated and repopulated with life in ways similar to that of volcanically created sea islands, and those islands periodically wiped clean by severe ocean storms, tsunamis, and further volcanic eruptions and lava flows. That is, occasional surviving land plant and animal life would be washed up upon its shores by the sea, from other land masses. Birds would find the land mass on migrations over sea, or when pushed over it by storms. Birds would nest there, and also deposit via droppings seeds from food eaten on other islands or continents. Seals and penguins from Antarctica and elsewhere would find Kerguelen. A few land animals like lizards might swim there from nearby land masses, or be transported via storms.
There is also the relatively near proximity to Antarctica to consider. Kerguelen likely shares some climate similarities to portions of Antarctica throughout the shared history of the two continents, due to location and circumstance. It seems likely that a considerable migration of plant and animal forms could take place between Antarctica and Kerguelen-- especially over a span of millions of years.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 96,000,000 BC: Australia and Antarctica split apart| -- Common questions: Gondwana and continental drift; FAQ - Gondwana ["http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/dinodream/faq/faqgond.htm"], Monash University Earth Sciences, Monash Science Centre, Ziggurat Creative & Technical Publishing, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Note that their previous union means that up until now Antarctica and Australia likely shared many of the same plant and animal species.
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Kerguelen may have once served to connect the continents of South America and Australia, as well as New Zealand.
-- Kerguelen Island, South Indian Ocean ["http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html"] by Paul Carroll, January 2000 -- Kerguelen cabbage ["http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/5/0,5716,46205+1,00.html"], ENCYCLOP®DIA BRITANNICA |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 90,000,000 BC- 85,000,000 BC: New Zealand and the super continent Gondwana go their separate waysApparently New Zealand loses a great deal of its land area in the aftermath of its split from Gondwana, which reduces its capacity to host a diversity of life forms. This means many dinosaur species (especially larger ones) either go extinct there, or shrink in size and numbers.
| -- Back Lots of the Lost: The Implausibility of the Cliched 'Lost World' ["http://www.hpoo.com/science/lostworld.html"] by Paul T. Riddell, Revised February 28, 2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 84,000,000+ BC: Something rocks our world
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-- Study: Earth Once Wobbled, Jan. 21, 2000, Associated Press/Discovery Online News Brief/Discovery Communications Inc./http://www.discovery.com/
Around 84,000,000 BC dinosaurs worldwide suffered climatic changes brought about by a tilting of the Earth's axis by as much as 20 degrees. The tilt occured over just 2 million years-- ten times faster than normal for such movements. Tilts like this are considered to be caused by slippage between the Earth's core and the rest of the world. -- Fast tilt, From New Scientist magazine, 29 January 2000 |
As of the time of the cited article above the roll had not yet been confirmed. If the roll did occur, it signifies an unusual event for which we might have insufficient clues as to the cause. A cosmic impact of sufficient magnitude to roll the planet would seem to have initiated a mass extinction as well-- especially in synch with the huge volcanic eruptions indicated too. Events which might bring about a sufficient mass shift without calamitous extinctions might include a massive earthquake rupturing the crust undersea, allowing a huge volume of seawater to be swallowed up by the mantle, in a way much more sudden than the normal subduction process. There is evidence of at least a couple of unusually large subterranean gulps of ocean water in Earth's past.
| -- TWO REALLY DEEP OCEANS from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #96, NOV-DEC 1994 by William R. Corliss, citing Carl Zimmer; "The Ocean Within," Discover, 15:20, October 1994, and Martin Redfern; "Lost Ocean Found Deep in the Earth," New Scientist, p. 16, September 3, 1994 |
Between 750 million BC and 2,000 AD the Earth's surface sea level will drop some 1,968 feet due to loss of water to subterranean regions.
| -- "The world's oceans seem to be draining away" by Peter Hadfield, Tokyo, New Scientist ["http://www.newscientist.com"] issue 11th September 99, http://www.newscientist.com, 8 SEPTEMBER 1999, EurekAlert! ["http://www.eurekalert.org/"] |
Of course, a large section of the sea floor sinking along with a vast gulp of seawater would further amplify the effects and possibly accelerate tectonic plate processes.
| -- EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #113, SEP-OCT 1997 by William R. Corliss, citing Kirschvink, Joseph L., et al; "Evidence for a Large-Scale Reorganization of Early Cambrian Continental Masses by Inertial Interchange True Polar Wander," Science, 277:541, 1997. Also: Sawyer, Kathy; "Global Shift May Have Sped Evolution," Washington Post, July 25, 1997, and Wise, Kurt P., "The Archaean Explosion," CEN Technical Journal, 10:315, 1996 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 80,000,000 BC- 75,000,000 BC: Antarctica may be sufficiently close or connected to South America to allow dinosaur migrations between the continents|
The 20th century Antarctic Peninsula and associated islands offer many fossils of large dinosaurs-- including marine dinosaurs. The species found suggests that Antarctica was connected to the Americas around the end of the dinosaur era. Scientists believe these particular dinosaurs entered Antarctica in the late Cretaceous, around 80-75 million BC.
-- Fossils Show Dinosaurs Roamed A Warmer Antarctica; Antarctica - Part 2 ["http://www.crystalinks.com/antarctica2.html"], citing Reuters, July 13, 1999 |
Note that Antarctica and South America could have shared in other plant and animal species during this time as well, above and beyond the dinosaurs.
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Kerguelen may have once served to connect the continents of South America and Australia, as well as New Zealand.
-- Kerguelen Island, South Indian Ocean ["http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html"] by Paul Carroll, January 2000 -- Kerguelen cabbage ["http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/5/0,5716,46205+1,00.html"], ENCYCLOP®DIA BRITANNICA |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 76,000,000 BC: Australia and New Zealand split apart| -- Common questions: Gondwana and continental drift; FAQ - Gondwana ["http://www.earth.monash.edu.au/dinodream/faq/faqgond.htm"], Monash University Earth Sciences, Monash Science Centre, Ziggurat Creative & Technical Publishing, found on or about 7-8-2000 |
Note that their previous union means that up until now New Zealand and Australia likely shared many of the same plant and animal species.
|
Kerguelen may have once served to connect the continents of South America and Australia, as well as New Zealand.
-- Kerguelen Island, South Indian Ocean ["http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html"] by Paul Carroll, January 2000 -- Kerguelen cabbage ["http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/5/0,5716,46205+1,00.html"], ENCYCLOP®DIA BRITANNICA |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 70,000,000 BC- 45,000,000 BC: Antarctica begins the period somewhat dry, but gradually becomes warmer and wetter; similar conditions or better may encompass Kerguelen
| -- Antarctic environment and global climate ["http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/umic-aea053100.html"], 31 MAY 2000, EurekAlert!, The University of Michigan News Service 412 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1399, Contact: Nancy Ross-Flanigan rossflan@umich.edu 734-647-1853 University of Michigan |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 66,500,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include rodents, primates, horses, and sycamores| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 66,500,000 BC- 20,000,000 BC: Kerguelen boasts forests similar to those which will be seen in circa 2000 AD South America|
Back in the Tertiary Kerguelen boasted substantial forests of tree species related to the modern trees of South America.
Kerguelen may have once served to connect the continents of South America and Australia, as well as New Zealand. -- Kerguelen Island, South Indian Ocean ["http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html"]by Paul Carroll, January 2000 -- Kerguelen cabbage ["http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/5/0,5716,46205+1,00.html"], ENCYCLOP®DIA BRITANNICA -- "'Lost continent' discovered" By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse, BBC News Online: Sci/Tech, 5-27-99, ["http://www.bbc.co.uk/"] |
Note that the presence of trees indicates that, at the very least, average windspeeds about Kerguelen are much more sedate now than they will be around the 20th century AD. Less wind would spell less wind chill too, thereby raising the effective temperatures in the region at least a bit too, compared to the later 20th century.
But there's more. Since the trees populating Kerguelen now resemble those of South America circa 2000 AD, it would appear that the climate would have to be similar to that of 2000 AD South America too-- making Kerguelen a much warmer place than its island remnants will be millions of years from now.
Warmer temperatures and a wealth of vegetation would seem to make the continent hospitable for a plentitude of animal life as well.
|
The Kerguelen archipelago offers lots of bays and fjords along the coasts of its hundreds of islands. The region is very windy-- too windy for trees. Most of the modern ecosystem of the islands is dependent upon resources brought ashore by penguins. Seals and killer whales populate the waters of modern Kerguelen.
-- KERGUELEN ISLAND; Facts and Photos of Crozet, Kerguelen, & other sub-Antarctic Islands ["http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/penguins/subislands.html"], pictures by E. Fromentel. Worldwide Travelogs is also listed on this page |
But where could such animal life come from, and/or how might it reach the continent in the first place?
Keep in mind Kerguelen has possibly been connected to virtually all the southern continents at one time or another, since its formation. Thus, various migrations of species from places like Antarctica, South America, Australia, and New Zealand could have richly populated Kerguelen with representatives long before it became a wholly separate land mass, with seas or oceans isolating it from the rest.
But other questions arise-- like how these species might evolve once Kerguelen did become permanently separated. Or did these species even get the chance to evolve? Might the regular killing sweeps of sea storms and tsunamis across the continent's vast lowlands have quickly reduced the continent to an eerily silent landscape, well stocked with trees and plant life most of the time, but virtually bereft of large land animals, for millions of years on end?
Well, we do know that in the much harsher climate of the Kerguelen remnants (islands) of the 20th century AD, animals like rabbits brought in by human beings will thrive against all odds there, even with considerable and somewhat advanced human efforts to eradicate them. It may be that the underground shelters of the burrowing mammals protect them from the worst aspects of the environment then-- and so it might also be for some animals in the Kerguelen past. Except for the periods of near continent-wide inundation, at least. When tsunamis sweep the immense lowlands of the whole continent perhaps every 100,000 years or so, many burrowing animals would surely drown. Of course, if the populations were sufficiently large (and/or were prolific breeders), some might float or swim in the flood long enough to survive until the waters receded, within a few hours or so-- and then begin repopulating an empty continent once more.
The few higher altitude spots on the continent would likely serve as islands of life to re-seed the remainder of the lands, post-tsunami. At least wherever they possessed species which could easily switch between the different altitudes in terms of climate and vegetation. So versatility might soon become an embedded characteristic of what Kerguelen life survived many of the periodic drownings.
Other life which will be known to thrive around Kerguelen in the 20th century AD will be marine life: seals and penguins. Birds too will prosper on the islands. Whales are known to frequent the area. So it might be suspected that prehistoric Kerguelen boasted such life forms as well, although perhaps in far greater abundance and diversity.
One of the few constants for Kerguelen throughout much of its span will be its close proximity to Antarctica. At its worst, there are times when some 500 km or less of open sea might separate the southernmost tip of the Kerguelen continent from the dry land of Antarctica-- and in whatever millennia climate and winds combine to allow ice sheets to form in the straits between the continents, animal life may still walk from one to the other, even if only seasonally. So it may be that here too is yet another way Kerguelen life might be replenished time and time again.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 65,000,000 BC: The Cretaceous mass extinction comes about, famous later for the decimation of the dinosaurs, but more importantly responsible for the end of about 76% of all life on Earth.It will be becoming more widely accepted circa 1999 AD that dinosaurs did not in fact die out, but simply evolved into the birds known to 20th century humanity. As of 1999 it will also be appearing that even the popular concept of dinosaurs as large lizard-like beasts survived in the flesh for some time beyond the cosmic impact catastrophe (perhaps half a million years)-- at least in some places on Earth, like southeastern China, which maybe not coincidentally existed on the opposite side of the planet from the impact point. From the scant evidence available so far, it appears some 45% of local Chinese dinosaur species may have been among the survivors of this time. Keep in mind we're talking numbers of different species here, not total population numbers (which might still have been suffering tremendous declines).
It does appear the effects of the meteor strike and massive volcanic eruptions were poisoning the environment, perhaps adversely affecting processes like egg-laying by the dinosaurs similarly as to how the pesiticide DDT was harming egg-laying by american eagles in the mid-20th century.
One effect of the meteor strike itself appears to have been a disasterous and massive release of flammable gas (methane) from the sediments of ocean depths which filled much of the Earth's global atmosphere and was set aflame by lightning or other means, resulting in a raging firestorm racing over much of the planet. The fire consumed perhaps ten percent of all plant life on Earth's dryland surfaces.
Methane hydrates could have been the source of the gas. Shock waves from the impact could have been large enough to free gas from this undersea source all over the Earth simultaneously.
|
-- 2150 biodiversity ["http://www.enviroweb.org/coe/e-sermons/weedplan.html"]
-- "Did the Dark Ages begin with a bang?" by Robert Matthews Connected, Electronic Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk, 29 July 1999, Telegraph Group Limited -- "Dino Deaths Revisited Meteor May Not Have Destroyed Them, After All" By Kenneth Chang ABCNEWS.com, Sept. 26, 1999, http://www.abcnews.go.com, ABC News Internet Ventures -- GLOBAL FIRE AT THE K-T BOUNDARY from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #60, NOV-DEC 1988, by William R. Corliss, citing Wendy S. Wolbach, et al; "Global Fire at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary," Nature, 334:665, 1988 -- THE CRETACEOUS INCINERATION from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #43, JAN-FEB 1986 by William R. Corliss, citing Wendy S. Wolbach, et al; "Cretaceous Extinctions: Evidence for Wildfires and Search for Meteoric Material," Science, 230:167, 1985 -- Were the last dinosaurs roasted alive? by Michael Day New Scientist ["http://www.newscientist.com"] issue: 20th November 99 Source: Geo-Marine Letters (vol 18, p 285), http://www.newscientist.com and EurekAlert! ["http://www.eurekalert.org/"] |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 57,800,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include elephants, whales, camels, bats, penguins, weasels, cats, and dogs| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 55,500,000 BC: Huge amounts of methane are added to the atmosphere, setting off a period of extensive global warmingIronically perhaps, this warming was itself triggered by a much more subtle long term warm up (over 4.5 million years). Now, that previous slow rise in temperature has apparently pushed the Earth past some critical point, thereby initiating a large release of gas (methane and carbon dioxide) from worldwide methane clathrates deposits in the sea floor.
Such gases are called 'greenhouse gases' because they help insulate the Earth from space and make it heat up.
| -- Evidence for historic global warming published in Science, EurekAlert! ["http://www.eurekalert.org/"], University of California, Santa Barbara, 18 NOVEMBER 1999, Contact: Gail Brown, gbrown@instadv.ucsb.edu, 805-893-7220 |
Circa late 1999 AD, the Earth's hidden deposits of marine gas hydrates will be estimated at 14,000 gigatons.
| -- Geologists pinpoint source of major global warming event more than 55 million years ago, National Science Foundation /EurekAlert! ["http://www.eurekalert.org/"], 19 NOVEMBER 1999, Contact: Cheryl Dybas cdybas@nsf.gov 703-306-1070 |
During the LPTM sea temperatures rise between 7 and 14 degrees Fahrenheit in just one thousand years.
| -- Ocean Burp Caused Global Warming, Associated Press/Discovery Online News Brief, http://www.discovery.com/, found on or about 11-19-99 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 55,000,000 BC: Color vision first appears in prosimians and other species (which eventually will begat primates)| -- Shedding light on the origin of primate color vision, Contact: Sharon Parmet sparmet@mcis.bsd.uchicago.edu 773-702-6241 University of Chicago Medical Center , 3 NOVEMBER 1999, EurekAlert! ["http://www.eurekalert.org/"] (http://www.eurekalert.org) |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 50,000,000 BC: Ants begin agricultural pursuits (cultivating fungi)| -- Ethological Curiosities, Miscellaneous Wonders of Nature ["http://cogweb.english.ucsb.edu/EP/Ethology.html"], by Francis F. Steen |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 50,000,000 BC: Antarctica is moving into the south polar position with which 20th century humanity will be familiar; Kerguelen must needs follow on its heels|
Around 50 million BC Antarctica moved into the area of the South Pole.
The climate at extreme northern and southern latitudes became steadily colder over time, and Antarctica slowly lost its wealth of life to the ice. -- Land of the Dinosaurs ["http://www.e-spaces.com/TOSB/tosb/Discover/dinosaur.html"] |
Kerguelen too must be suffering climatic changes like Antarctica-- though perhaps avoids the worst due to Kerguelen's relative location to the South Pole never matching that of Antarctica itself.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 45,000,000 BC: Some of the earliest emerging primates (predecessors to humanity) are astonishingly tiny creaturesThe tiny creatures are denizens of a rain forest, feasting upon sap and insects. A slightly larger species (weighing in at half an ounce-- roughly 20th century shrew-size) living in the same time and place may be a closer relative to later human beings than the first. The animals are nocturnal. More than a dozen different types of tiny primates will be documented in the find cited below.
| -- Fossils of Tiny Primates Found By DAVID KINNEY, Associated Press/Yahoo! Science Headlines, March 16 2000 |
Prior to the discovery described above, scientists believed primates didn't emerge until five million years later in Asia.
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40,000,000 BC: At least one variant of early primate is roughly the size of a small 20th century squirrel, living on insects, and spending much of its time in trees.
-- Tiny Primate Could Rewrite Some History, Reuters/["http://dailynews.yahoo.com/"] News Science Headlines, October 15 1999 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 40,000,000 BC: New Zealand begins growing in land area again, due to volcanism and plate tectonicsThis seemingly ideal last refuge for dinosaurs did not bring them into anything near historic times. The reason seems to be that New Zealand suffered significant changes in land area and climate over the full span of its existence. Apparently New Zealand lost a great deal of its land area in the aftermath of its split from Gondwana, only growing again to its 20th century size after plate tectonics and volcanism began expanding its boundaries once more around 40 million BC. Sometime later the most recent Ice Age came along to affect things too-- with enormous ice sheets sweeping the islands almost clean of life, but for the northern end of North Island.
|
-- Back Lots of the Lost: The Implausibility of the Cliched 'Lost World' ["http://www.hpoo.com/science/lostworld.html"] by Paul T. Riddell, Revised February 28, 2000]
Back in the Tertiary Kerguelen boasted substantial forests of tree species related to the modern trees of South America. Kerguelen may have once served to connect the continents of South America and Australia, as well as New Zealand. -- Kerguelen Island, South Indian Ocean ["http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html"] by Paul Carroll, January 2000 -- Kerguelen cabbage ["http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/5/0,5716,46205+1,00.html"], ENCYCLOP®DIA BRITANNICA |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 40,000,000 BC: Glaciers may be gradually covering Antarctica's Lake Vostok now|
Lake Vostok in Antarctica may have been first trapped under glaciers around 40,000,000 BC. This event began a decline of life in the lake to what is expected to consist mainly of microbes by 2000 AD.
-- Antarctic lake frozen in time; Antarctica - Part 2 ["http://www.crystalinks.com/antarctica2.html"], citing Discovery Online, October 6, 1999 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 36,600,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include monkeys, pigs, deer, and saber-toothed cats| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 34,000,000 BC- 33,000,000 BC: Antarctica's massive ice sheets begin to form| -- Antarctica's icy origins, Sci/Tech, BBC News, http://www.bbc.co.uk/, 7 December, 1999 |
Is much of the Antarctic environment today something like the tundra of 20th century Alaska, or still warmer and more lush than that? Antarctica boasted tropical rainforests during some periods-- is this one of them? Or perhaps Antarctica possesses some regions of temperate environment, including deciduous forests similar to those USAmerica will display during the 20th century? In any event, note that the ice sheets are beginning to form now-- they do not yet dominate the continent. And so perhaps much of Antarctica at this time resembles North America prior to the Ice Age glaciers moving in.
| -- Chat with Sara Wheeler, Antarctic Travel Writer ["http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/travel/DailyNews/wheeler_chat981106.html"], ABCNEWS.com |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 30,000,000 BC: The dolphins of this time are smarter than the current representatives of humanity; Antarctica is mostly ice covered now| -- CNN - Scientists more optimistic about life beyond Earth - October 15, 1998, Associated Press/CNN |
Antarctica is near completely ice-covered by now.
| -- A visitor's introduction to Antarctica and its environment, found on or about 2-3-01; a reprint by NEW ZEALAND ANTARCTIC PROGRAMME of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with permission from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. The URL is from a Google search engine cache of http://www.icair.iac.org.nz/Subfolder/tourism/visitor.html |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 25,000,000 BC: Massive volcanic eruptions may be occuring in the region of Antarctica's Ross Sea-- perhaps even affecting global climate; Kerguelen climate is surely changed somewhat by the event|
Samplings of the Ross seabed off Antarctica indicate massive volcanic eruptions in the vicinity around 25 million BC-- eruptions large enough to affect global climate. At least a portion of the eruption seems to have been comparable to that of Krakatau in 1883-- but the exact location of the volcano involved here is as yet unknown. It was likely nearby, however.
-- Huge Antarctic eruptions 25 million years ago likely changed climate, drillings indicate; Antarctica - Part 3 ["http://www.crystalinks.com/antarctica3.html"], citing Wellington (?); November 6, 1998 (this is an incomplete citation: I expect it originally came from Reuters or AP) |
It appears that the climatic effects of eruptions in this region will more strongly affect areas in or near the same latitudes as opposed to others. Thus, despite being almost on the other side of the world from the eruptions, Kerguelen is likely affected.
Note that catastrophic climate changes which fall short of driving a given species into utter extinction may actually accelerate the process of evolution in regards to that species. At least this will seem to be the case with humanity and other species later. Is it possible that certain Antarctic/Kerguelen species are now being accelerated evolution-wise via such a mechanism?
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 23,500,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include dolphins, apes, bears, seals, giraffes, hyenas, and grasses| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 22,000,000 BC: A veritable explosion in the numbers of primitive ape species inhabiting Earth takes place| -- "Scientists Find 15-Mln-Year-Old Pre-Human In Kenya" By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Reuters/["http://dailynews.yahoo.com/"] News Top Stories Headlines, August 26 1999 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 20,000,000 BC: A continent one third the size of 1999 AD Australia sinks beneath the seas in the southern Indian Ocean
| -- "'Lost continent' discovered" By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse, BBC News Online: Sci/Tech, 5-27-99, ["http://www.bbc.co.uk/"] |
Note that the previous boom in ape species two million years earlier means apes existed simultaneously with the last couple of million years of a dry Kerguelen continent. It seems that at the very least Kerguelen offered its animal residents an evolutionary environment similar to Australia/New Zealand of the same period, with perhaps some intriguing marsupial and flightless bird species and other exotic evolutionary niches all its own. Kerguelen may even have been an evolutionary paradise in some respects.
One caveat about higher life forms and evolution on the Kerguelen continent however was its mostly low altitude and featureless plains. There was little in the way of terrain features to protect Kerguelen life from raging sea storms or tidal waves spawned by earthquake, volcano, or large meteor strikes during the land mass' dry span. Thus, the continent may not have offered a level of bio-diversity comparable to New Zealand, Australia, Madagascar, or better, after all-- or, alternatively, the periodic widescale destruction may have served to accelerate evolution on the continent (it's a toss up).
| -- Illustrated Transcript of The Future Eaters, Illustrated transcript of episode 2, Nomads of the Wind, Presented and Narrated by Dr Tim Flannery, Author of the Future Eaters, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. email: science@your.abc.net.au, http://www2.abc.net.au/, found on or about 9-12-99 |
It seems there would be a chance that some early forerunners of primates developed on or otherwise found their way to the lost continent, since Kerguelen enjoyed land links of one kind or another to virtually all the other southern continents at various times over the millions of years it existed as dry land.
Some of the links on this search list may be helpful in visualizing the size and location of this continent that Earth loses now to the sea.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 15,000,000 BC: Suddenly most competing ape lines go extinct, leaving only a handful of survivors| -- "Scientists Find 15-Mln-Year-Old Pre-Human In Kenya" By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Reuters/["http://dailynews.yahoo.com/"] News Top Stories Headlines, August 26 1999 |
Why the sudden extinctions of many ape lines at this time? That remains a mystery.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 14,000,000 BC: Antarctica enjoys a warm, ice-free period?| -- Oronteus Fineaus Map ["http://www.intersurf.com/~heinrich/FOG4.html"] By Paul V. Heinrich March 9, 1997 Version 1.5 (a rebuke of various speculative literature which used questionable evidence to describe an ice-free Antarctica and various events thereon sometime in recent history or prehistory; Mr. Heinrich offers an impressive list of citations to support his conclusions) |
How long does this period last? Is the Antarctic environment today something like the tundra of 20th century Alaska, or still warmer and more lush than that? Antarctica boasted tropical rainforests in the far past-- does it manage even a brief return to such conditions now?
| -- Chat with Sara Wheeler, Antarctic Travel Writer ["http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/travel/DailyNews/wheeler_chat981106.html"], ABCNEWS.com |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 13,000,000 BC: A 'mini-extinction' event may be afflicting life on Earth| -- "Nearby supernova may have caused mini-extinction", SciNews-MedNews, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 31-Jul-99, Contact: James E. Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor (217) 244-1073; kloeppel@uiuc.edu |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 5,200,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include australopithecines, Homo habilis, armadillos, giant sloths, and mammoths| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 3,000,000 BC to 2,000,000 BC: A mysterious time of transformative evolution for the creature that someday will call itself "human"
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-- "Nearby supernova may have caused mini-extinction", SciNews-MedNews, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
31-Jul-99, Contact: James E. Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor (217) 244-1073; kloeppel@uiuc.edu
-- "The First Human?" By Robert Locke, Discovering Archaeology, July/August 1999, http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/ |
The climate is becoming dryer now, thereby making it necessary to cover more ground faster in search of food. Over generations, advanced hominids evolve longer legs, making them more efficient at hunting and gathering.
| -- Walk this way by Matt Walker From New Scientist ["http://www.newscientist.com"], 16 October 1999 http://www.newscientist.com/ |
Note that much of 20th century humanity will find taller, longer legged people more attractive than others. The reason appears to be evolutionary.
| -- MEASURING BEAUTY From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #118, JUL-AUG 1998 by William R. Corliss, citing Albert M. Magro; "Why Barbie is Perceived as Beautiful," Perceptual and Motor Skills, 85:363, 1997 |
Australopithecus africanus hominids may be eating at least a bit of meat from herbivores now-- or else eating large quantities of sedges and grasses to gain the same nutrients-- as supplements to their historic fruit and leaf diet, similar to that of 20th century chimpanzees.
The possible addition of meat at this time is important. Keep in mind hand tools do not seem to be in use as yet. So any meat acquisition is likely gotten from scavenging after kills by big cats, and in competition with other scavengers such as hyenas.
| -- Paleoanthropology (revised 16 December 1999) by Francis F. Steen, Department of English, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://cogweb.english.ucsb.edu/EP/Paleoanthropology.html |
A couple million years in possession of powerful imitative speech capabilities has allowed these predecessors of human beings to learn some of the value of a chorus-- multiple voices applied in unison. Such actions can offer a pleasing if somewhat haunting feeling to the primates; a seemingly mysterious premonition of hidden talents, and greater things to come. At least, if such harmonies effect human ancestors in ways similar to how they will do their 20th century descendents.
Loud harmonies may provide a deep inner pleasure to the ape-people.
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Humans and other higher animal lifeforms possess an evolutionary family tree which necessarily includes fish at some point in past history. There's numerous places in human genetics and physiology wherein this ancestry may be traced. One of them may include the love of many humans for loud music.
The sacculus (a component of the inner ear's vestibular/balancing system) is notably responsive to acoustic frequencies like those found in music-- at least at high volumes (90 decibels plus). The sacculus is connected to the area of the brain which drives sex, hunger, and pleasure-seeking in general, and can produce pleasure for its owner under these conditions. No other hearing-related function of the sacculus is known to exist in humans as of early 2000 AD. This might explain music's strong influence upon modern human culture. Saccular sensitivity seems to peak around 300 to 350 hertz-- but has a full sensitivity range of 50-1000 hertz. The music in dance halls and rock concerts often seem to exploit this sensitivity. The chants of a crowd at a sports event, or the singing of a church chorus may also stimulate the sacculus. -- Music lovers 'have fish to thank' ["http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_645000/645578.stm"] BBC News Sci Tech, 17 February, 2000 Human beings and many other species have a tendency-- even an instinctive need-- to synchronize their actions with those of their peers. These actions in humans run the gamut from menstrual cycles to rhythmic hand clapping as part of an audience. Some scientists speculate such human synchrony in acts like applause may be a social behavior first acquired thousands of years ago in the species. -- Synchronized Clapping a Primal Desire? ["http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000224/misc_applause.html"] By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery.com News, Feb. 24, 2000 |
The use of chorus begins as random accidents of simultaneous calls achieving harmony, with they and their consequences eventually observed and emulated by the packs purposely later on. Choruses are seen to have unusual effects on not only the pack members themselves, but other packs who hear them, as well as even mighty beasts such as lions, bears, and wolf packs. Indeed, hints of the chorus can be detected in some of the sounds emanating from wolf packs too at times (Did early humans get one clue to chorus from the sounds of wolf packs? Does this signal the initial stirrings of kinship between humans and wolves, which will one day lead to the domesticated dog? Maybe. But keep in mind at this early date that wolves are both competitors and a constant predatory threat to humans in various regions of the world).
Over the millennia a few packs grasp the value of chorus techniques in battles against competing packs, as well as during hunts of great predators and other large beasts. A chorus can make a pack seem larger and stronger than they are-- a terrific survival advantage.
Over time the chorus technique spreads to virtually all of this class of primates, worldwide.
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Some (such as William R. Corliss cited below) note with puzzlement the significant presence of genetically encoded musical talents among the human population; after all, what survival advantages might such convey? Hopefully the above text and additional items later in this document help to answer that question.
-- IS PERFECT PITCH FAVORED BY NATURAL SELECTION? From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #111, MAY-JUN 1997 by William R. Corliss, citing Michael Day; "Keeping Perfect Pitch in the Family," New Scientist, p. 19, November 23, 1996 and John Travis; "Pitching in to Find a Musical Gene," Science News, 150:316, 1996 |
Note that as the use of the chorus spreads among these hominids, its value to a given group will be somewhat proportional to that group's ability to recognize and harmonize with the voices of others in the group-- and to distinguish members' sounds from those of animals which they might be preying upon (or hiding from).
As the power of the chorus spreads across all hominid groups, inter-group competition in related acoustic pattern recognition will intensify. After all, those best able to master and exploit the chorus technique will more often win various survival challenges than those that don't. Intra-group competition of course will also be present, from the very earliest point that the technique is recognized as beneficial to survival.
Does an intellectual 'bootstrapping' process of switching back and forth between marginal improvements in acoustic pattern recognition and trial-and-error tool-making begin to take place now? Could it be that the acquisition of speech and the earliest tool-making capacities are intimately linked?
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The part of the brain known as Wernicke's area is one of those responsible for language processing. Scientists have now discovered Wernicke's area also is involved in the predictability of nonverbal events. Thus, learning to speak may depend at least somewhat upon a subsconscious capacity to recognize predictable phenomena.
That is, our intellectual abilities to string together separate actions or thoughts to reach an end-- and realize the likelihood of certain outcomes from such sequences-- may be an important part of our evolutionary acquirement of language. -- Emory researchers discover a neurological link between language and predictability that operates without conscious awareness ["http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/ehsc-erd030100.html"], EurekAlert! 1 MARCH 2000, Contact: Lilli Kim llkim@emory.edu 404-727-5692 Emory University Health Sciences Center |
Note one implication of the above citation is that human predecessors may be developing their sense of past and future in parallel with their struggle to speak and learn to create hand tools. This in turn demands greater conscious memory capacity...
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 2,300,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: A Stone Age "tool factory" is in operation in Kenya, and a possible 0.5+ km asteroid impact in the deep southeast Pacific Ocean may increase atmospheric water vapor sufficiently to eventually bring about the next Ice Age|
-- "Researchers Amazed to Find Tools More Than 2 Million Years Old" Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II , May 6, 1999, Los Angeles Times, Science in Brief
-- DID AN ASTEROID IMPACT TRIGGER THE ICE AGES? From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #59, SEP-OCT 1988 by William R. Corliss, citing Frant T. Kyte, et al; "New Evidence on the Size and Possible Effects of a Late Pliocene Oceanic Asteroid Impact," Science, 241:63, 1988 Around 2,200,000 BC the approximately one km in diameter asteroid Eltanin impacts the Earth in the Bellingshausen Sea between South America and Antarctica, creating tsunamis 1 km tall, which themselves strike parts of South America and Australia. Severe changes to the Earth's climate follow. -- TWO CATASTROPHE SCENARIOS From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #117, MAY-JUN 1998 by William R. Corliss, citing Jeff Hecht; "A Bigger Splash," New Scientist, p. 11, November 1, 1997, and Anonymous; "The Splash Felt 'round the World," Earth, 7:12, April 1998 |
Homo erectus will appear to be butchering animals trapped in a natural fissure with stone tools in the vicinity of eastern China around 2,250,000 BC.
Perhaps most intriguing are hints that Procynocephalus monkeys may be serving Homo erectus in a semi-domesticated fashion in this region and during this time-- or at least hanging around in a scavenger role much like some wolves may be doing later on. If such service or related scavenging is ever confirmed by other finds it could offer a myriad of surprising implications and new questions regarding human development. Keep in mind that much later in the game humans may tolerate wolf scavengers hanging about their camps because of various advantages they can offer, such as alerts to incoming threats at the periphery of camps, and a contingency food source in hard times. Monkeys too could offer similar benefits perhaps...
Fossils of Homo erectus and monkeys similar to Procynocephalus seem to be commonly found together in Asia and east Africa...
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-- EARLY HOMO ERECTUS TOOLS IN CHINA by RUSSELL CIOCHON and ROY LARICK, NEWSBRIEFS, Archaeology, Volume 53 Number 1, January/February 2000, the Archaeological Institute of America, http://www.archaeology.org/0001/newsbriefs/china.html
Even as late as 2000 AD there will be primitive human tribes which possess extraordinarily close relationships with other primates and/or other animals-- even going so far as their women from puberty on nursing baby monkeys, raccoons, and pigs, as takes place among the Awa Guaja tribe of the Amazon. The Awa Guaja (a matriarchal society) consider monkeys to be sacred, and will raise baby monkeys among their own human children, with perhaps little difference in care. Some arbitrary observations: the Awa Guaja expect women to continuously breast-feed needy animals as well as human children from puberty onwards, and regard non-producing breasts as a curse. Could similar ways among much of prehistoric humanity over a million years or so have been one reason why human female breasts on average became more prominent than those of other large primates, by the dawn of recorded history? In primitive human societies-- especially those not far removed from apes themselves, such as those of seven million to two million BC or so-- baby monkeys might often have served mothers as welcome replacements for true children lost to disease, accident, or predators. Such monkeys may have often grown into helpful and loyal pets or aides for their human foster parents-- perhaps even performing chores taught them by their families, to help out with gathering food, preparing it, and even chipping stones for tools. They may also have helped enhance the vigilance of a camp against predators or hostile humans. If the practice of incorporating monkeys into human family units became sufficiently widespread, and continued on long enough in terms of generations, eventually the monkeys themselves might undergo certain evolutionary pressures of their own as a result. Imagine multiple generations of monkeys raised as human children reproducing amongst themselves, within and alongside their human host tribes. The smartest and most helpful monkeys might be favored and encouraged to breed by their masters, much as the wolves of later millennia will be transformed into obedient and capable dogs. Only monkeys can be more intelligent and versatile than wolves/dogs. They could be trained to do more and understand more than wolves/dogs. And their ultimate evolutionary potential would certainly rate considerably higher than wolves/dogs-- after all, primates begat human beings. -- Salon Health & Body | Suckling monkeys ["http://www.salon.com/health/sex/urge/world/2000/05/03/jungle/index.html"] By Jack Boulware, May 3, 2000 |
But if human predecessors and one or more species of monkeys early on worked together in some sort of substantive, long term, cooperative partnership, similar to that which would later develop between humans and wolves/dogs, what happened to that development? Did an unfortunate plague kill off the majority of the humans and/or monkeys participating in this arrangement, thereby ending the evolutionary experiment? Note that both would have been vulnerable to such a possibility-- especially if they were gathering together in large, concentrated communities-- like villages, towns, or cities. Or perhaps their cooperation began to turn more into a competition-- in which case they might part ways as enemies rather than friends, perhaps both losing precious evolutionary ground as a result. Indeed, there would have been plenty of opportunities for such an alliance to go wrong, as climatic disasters made food scarce, or one primate line found another they liked better than the previous partner (note that both the monkeys and human predecessors suffered competition from close relative species). Maybe it was even the growing fondness for wolves/dogs themselves that in the end displaced such monkey allies-- or some combination of several of the elements listed above.
Whatever the truth of the matter, if such a parallel monkey ally evolution ever occured (and lasted long enough), more discoveries on the subject could prove fascinating...
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 2,000,000 BC- 6000 BC: The Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice Age runs its courseThere are possibly ten separate cycles of cooling and rewarming during this period, during which the glaciers advance then retreat again. Sea levels may also decline and rise again in these cycles.
Four of the cycles are exceptionally harsh in the cooling stage. The most recent cooling stage may have begin around 56,000 BC- 48,000 BC.
During the cooling stages of the Pleistocene, the North American west is wetter than it will be circa 2000 AD.
| -- GLG 111, Chapter 12: Glaciers and Glaciation ["http://www.muohio.edu/~schafesd/glg111-outlines/glg111-ch12-glaciers.htmlx"] GLG 111, The Dynamic Earth, Steven D. Schafersman in the Department of Geology at Miami University, August 27, 1998, schafesd@muohio.edu |
Life diversity in New Zealand suffers greatly from the Ice Age.
Enormous ice sheets repeatedly sweep the islands almost clean of life, but for the northern end of North Island.
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-- Back Lots of the Lost: The Implausibility of the Cliched 'Lost World' ["http://www.hpoo.com/science/lostworld.html"] by Paul T. Riddell, Revised February 28, 2000
The main island of Kerguelen has suffered nearly complete coverage by ice, then volcanic lava, in relatively recent times. This activity destroyed much of Kerguelen's native flora. Back in the Tertiary Kerguelen boasted substantial forests of tree species related to the modern trees of South America. Kerguelen may have once served to connect the continents of South America and Australia, as well as New Zealand. -- Kerguelen Island, South Indian Ocean ["http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html"] by Paul Carroll, January 2000 -- Kerguelen cabbage ["http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/5/0,5716,46205+1,00.html"], ENCYCLOP®DIA BRITANNICA |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,600,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include Homo erectus, neanderthals, modern humans, giant beavers, giant bison, and many other species of hoofed mammals| -- Geologic Time Scale, page 564, Earth Science, Science and Technology, The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews and McMeel, 1995 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 700,000 BC: A rare super meteor storm may be raging over the region of Australia and southeast Asia now...
| -- HEAVY BOMBARDMENT OF SOUTHEAST ASIA 700,000 YEARS AGO From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #78, NOV-DEC 1991 by William R. Corliss, citing John T. Wasson; "Layered Tektites: A Multiple Impact Origin for the Australasian Tektites," Journal of Geophysical Research, 102:95, 1991 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 420,000 BC- 400,000 BC: Antarctica is forming new ice which will last continuously until at least 2000 AD.| -- Ice core dating back 420,000 years shows evidence humans changing climate; Antarctica - Part 3 ["http://www.crystalinks.com/antarctica3.html"], citing AP - June 7, 1999, and Bacteria found in Antarctic ice core; Antarctica ["http://www.crystalinks.com/antarctica.html"]; citing BBC, December 11, 1999 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 400,000 BC: The Earth warms up considerably and stays that way for at least 30,000 yearsNote that any long term hominid settlements in low lying coastal areas are being flooded and erased during this time worldwide, thereby forcing many potential innovations leading to agriculture or other characteristics of civilization to be postponed or forgotten as populations are repeatedly forced to move elsewhere to start again from scratch.
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-- "In Ancient Ice Ages, Clues to Climate" By WILLIAM K. STEVENS, 2-16-99, The New York Times
-- "The big thaw"by Jeff Hecht, Boston, From New Scientist ["http://www.newscientist.com"], 17 April 1999 |
It appears the melting collapse of the entire western Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, as well as ten percent of east Antarctica's ice, was the cause of the global rise in sea levels of perhaps at least 13 meters.
The facts of past sea levels are muddled somewhat by fluctuations in the levels of the continents themselves, due to tectonic processes, and the varying weights of covering ice sheets (when present).
| -- Climate's Long-Lost Twin ["http://www.sciencenews.org/20000226/bob2.asp"] By R. Monastersky, From Science News, Vol. 157, No. 9, February 26, 2000, p. 138 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 128,000 BC - 108,000 BC: The Earth enjoys a warm but stormy interglacial span (the Eemian period)
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-- "In Ancient Ice Ages, Clues to Climate" By WILLIAM K. STEVENS, 2-16-99, The New York Times
The last major break between Ice Ages was somewhere around 128,000 BC- 114,000 BC, lasting for roughly 14,000-20,000 years, depending on how you define the conditions (up to twice as long as the current period circa 2000 AD so far). Ice Ages can also begin and end pretty abruptly, and with perhaps little warning. -- Essay: Climate Future Told Through Mud ["http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000214/weather_interglacial.html"] By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News, February 15, 2000 The current interglacial period (circa 2000 AD) is apparently no more stable than any before it. The last major interglacial was between 128,000 BC and 114,000 BC. Ice Ages apparently may begin or end quickly. The current heating of the world by mankind however is a new wild card in the mix. If the planet's natural Ice Age cycle isn't much affected by human works, and the present interglacial continues for another 10,000 years, the Earth could get very hot indeed. On the other hand, if mankind can hurry the next Ice Age along, or its natural schedule is simply faster than we expect, then our extra heat production might help postpone the glaciers while keeping planetary temperatures about the same as they were over the past thousand years. -- Essay: Climate Future Told Through Mud ["http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000214/weather_interglacial.html"] By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News, February 14, 2000 |
Note that global sea levels now are likely near the same as circa 1999 AD (or slightly higher), thereby insuring that land links such as the Bering landbridge (and many islands) are submerged. The greater southeast asian peninsula is also in large part underwater, presenting something a bit smaller than its circa 1999 AD incarnation to surface observation.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR: 118,000 BC to 8,000 BC: the last Ice Age; a third of Earth's surface is sheathed in ice for much of this period-- and world geography undergoes drastic changesFor the 15,000 years preceding this time, world sea levels never rose more than two meters above that of the sea level circa 1999 AD. But now sea levels worldwide drop to 1999 AD levels and significantly below between 118,000 and 8000 BC. This means there are greater chances for landbridges connecting islands and continents, and considerably more land exposed along the coastlines of continents and islands, among other things. All this extra dry land offers places where human civilizations might spend centuries or even millennia building cities and nations, and migrating over to explore new territories-- only to have the sea take them away again in the centuries to follow (and possibily leaving some folks permanently stranded on places like islands afterwards). In 1998 AD archaeologists will be discovering many human works submerged this way during prehistoric times.
Another implication of the great ice sheets are 'ice bridges' essentially offering yet another means of connection between many land masses during this time that would otherwise be inaccessible due to surrounding seas. Note that the Earth's north pole will have little or no exposed land area by 1998 AD; and yet it will be covered by an ice sheet sufficient to support lengthy migrations of human and animal species across the region. Thus, technically there exist paths allowing exploration of the americas and other regions for ancient hominids as far back as two million years or more as of 1998 AD. Such access ways may be as forbidding as deserts, or as temporary as seasonal sea ice, but they are there none-the-less. Indeed, early humans could theoretically explore almost every continent on earth now requiring little more than their feet for locomotion, due to ice sheets and lowered sea levels exposing various land bridges. No boats or rafts are required for most excursions. And yet, any humans intelligent enough to use floating constructions may trod the last few percentage points of the Earth's surface remaining out of reach of their land locked peers as well.
Unfortunately, towards the end of this period, when the ice sheets are retreating and the ocean levels rising again, volcanic action tends to increase as the weight of the ice sheets themselves seemed to have restrained them earlier. And the huge cataracts of flood waters released from melting glaciers and overflowing of sea-sized inland lakes during this time also wreak havoc on many regions.
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-- "Surprise: Geologists Find Glaciers Can Suppress Volcanic Eruptions", 12-8-98, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
-- "The big thaw" by Jeff Hecht, Boston, From New Scientist ["http://www.newscientist.com"], 17 April 1999 |
Sudden large climate changes worldwide occurred during the last Ice Age. Apparently there were six events where immense numbers of ice bergs were created in Canada, which then flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. These spurred global climate changes.
| -- SIX IMMENSE ARMADAS OF ICEBERGS INVADED THE NORTH ATLANTIC From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #98, MAR-APR 1995 by William R. Corliss, citing Wallace S. Broecker; "Massive Iceberg Discharges as Triggers for Global Climate Changes," Nature, 372:421, 1994 |
Climates fluctuated substantially during the last Ice Age, between very cold and milder conditions. The frequency of these swings was on average once per 3,000 years. The warm ups are called interstadials. The northern and southern hemispheres often were not synchronized in the timing of their respective interstadials. Apparently these warm ups happened in the southern hemisphere roughly a thousand years ahead of the time they occurred in the northern.
Curiously, western Antarctica does show some synchrony with the interstadials of the north-- unlike the rest of the continent.
| -- Rhythm of the ice age: North versus south By R. Monastersky From Science News Online, Vol. 154, No. 8, August 22, 1998, p. 119. Science Service ["http://www.sciserv.org/"] |
Orbital insolation may be the main culprit behind Ice Ages. This involves the Earth's tilt on its axis, possible changes in solar output, and cyclic changes in Earth's orbit about the Sun.
One of the cycles involved here is periodic (once in 41,000 years) wobbles in the tilt of Earth's axis of one to three degrees from normal (in the range of 22 to 25 degrees from vertical). The shape of the Earth's orbit shifts between a rough circle and a slight ellipse every 100,000 to 400,000 years. Once every 22,000 years there's a change in which hemisphere faces the sun when the Earth's orbit puts it nearest Sol.
All these factors affect the Earth's climate.
The mid-point of the interglacial period which preceded the present one was around 133,000 BC.
| -- A Debate That Could Last An Iceage ["http://www.spacer.com/spacecast/news/iceage-00c.html"] by Kurt Sternlof, March 22, 2000 SpaceDaily, Columbia University |
The ice sheets of Europe and North America began melting around 12,000 BC and were gone by around 6000 BC. Sea levels rose by roughly 350 feet in only 6000 years.
The Ice Age is also known as the Pleistocene Epoch, which began around 2,000,000 BC and ended about 6000 BC. There were possibly ten separate cycles of cooling and rewarming during this period, in which the glaciers advanced then retreated again. Sea levels may also have declined and rose again in these cycles.
Four of the cycles were exceptionally harsh in the cooling stage. The most recent cooling stage may have begun around 56,000 BC- 48,000 BC.
During the cooling stages of the Pleistocene, the North American west was wetter than circa 2000 AD.
Prior to the Pleistocene there was another Ice Age on the super-continent of Gondwana, in the southern hemisphere. There were 60+ cooling/warming cycles in that period. This Ice Age began around the end of the Paleozoic.
There was maybe 250 million years between the end of the Gondwana Ice Age and the beginning of the Pleistocene, during which no large ice sheets existed on Earth, and the entire planet was considerably warmer and more humid than 2000 AD.
It may be that Earth circa 2000 AD is subject to various cycles of orbit and axis-tilting/rotation that may coincide every 500,000 years to possibly trigger a new Ice Age.
| -- GLG 111, Chapter 12: Glaciers and Glaciation ["http://www.muohio.edu/~schafesd/glg111-outlines/glg111-ch12-glaciers.htmlx"] GLG 111, The Dynamic Earth, Steven D. Schafersman in the Department of Geology at Miami University, August 27, 1998, schafesd@muohio.edu |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
98,000 BC: A tsunami beginning with a height of possibly a quarter-mile strikes portions of coastal Australia and New Zealand (as well as miscellaneous other isles and possibly Antarctica)
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-- "Was The Lack Of Language The Force Of Driving Stone Age Art?", 12-9-98, New Scientist ["http://www.newscientist.com"]
-- TWO TSUMANI TALES From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #85, JAN-FEB 1993 by William R. Corliss, citing Garry Davidson; "A Tsunamis Tale from Sydney," New Scientist, p. 17, October 17, 1992, and Jan Smit, et al; "Tektite-Bearing, Deep-Water Clastic Unit at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in Northeastern Mexico," Geology, 20:99, 1992 -- EVIDENCE FOR A GIANT PLEISTOCENE SEA WAVE From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ["http://www.knowledge.co.uk/frontiers/"] #37, JAN-FEB 1985 by William R. Corliss, citing James G. Moore, and George W. Moore; "Deposit from a Giant Wave on the Island of Lanai, Hawaii, Science, 226:1312, 1984 |
A super nova explosion around this time in our vicinity creates a 200-600 lightyear diameter 'bubble' of space around us largely cleared of interstellar dust and gas. Our 'local bubble' is located on the inner edge of the Orion galactic arm. The Sagittarius galactic arm lies corewards from the Sun about 1500 parsecs away.
| -- Ask the Astronomer: Is there anything interesting about the Sun's location in the Milky Way? ["http://www2.stx.com/cafe/qadir/q662.html"] by Dr. Sten Odenwald, found on or about January 15, 2000 |
Our local bubble is but one of several such regions within 2000 lightyears. They are called Loops I, II, and III respectively. Each consists of a roughly spherical region a few hundred lightyears in diameter.
Though the bubbles possess a lower density of interstellar dust and gas than the regions outside them, they are not completely empty, but populated by very diffuse clouds, such as the Local Fluff, which our solar system will appear to be entering around the end of the 20th century. Aging bubbles also tend to slowly refill again, to eventually regain their original densities of dust and gas. Entering and exiting bubbles can expose solar systems to changes in cosmic ray environments.
| -- >Ask the Astronomer: Are the properties inside 'Local Bubbles' the same everywhere? ["http://www2.stx.com/cafe/qadir/q2402.html"] by Dr. Sten Odenwald, found on or about January 15, 2000 |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
98,000 BC- 9,500 BC: Global sea levels are consistently lower now than they will be in the 20th century| -- Exploration - A-Z History - Homework Help - Discovery Channel School ["http://school.discovery.com/students/homeworkhelp/worldbook/atozhistory/e/188760.html"] |
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
69,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: A massive volcanic eruption now intensifies the current Ice Age via a 'nuclear winter' type effectWell, something similar can also be brought about by a sufficiently large asteroid or comet strike-- or even a sudden eruption of many small volcanos all at once (or one very big one).
Such a volcanic-inspired 'nuclear winter' may have occured around 69,000 BC. Immediately following on the heels of that winter was the worst 1000 years of the most recent Ice Age.
| -- Paleoanthropology (revised 16 December 1999) by Francis F. Steen, Department of English, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://cogweb.english.ucsb.edu/EP/Paleoanthropology.html |
One anthropologist (Stanley Ambrose) even thinks he knows of a single super-volcanic eruption perhaps substantially responsible for all this havoc: Mount Toba in Sumatra (the eruption of which lasted around 6 years and affected global climate for maybe 1000 years afterwards).