In the North, we all know about the Ice Age. We generally agree that about 2 million years ago we started the Pleistocene Epoch. I'm not totally convinced that the day before this was all sunshine and roses, since subsequent glaciations would have removed all evidence. I'm fairly convinced this is tied in with Plate Tectonics and big earthquakes, since that is what I do. :)
So, at 60 million years ago, we were still warm enough to have a few dinosaurs roaming around, and then everything got colder as the continents separated. Remember that at 150 million years ago, the continents were having a big party, and tons of CO2 and water vapour were being baked out by the thermal insulation.
So, if you want to talk about Climate Change, look at the temperature change from the Mesozoic to now. Straight down the tubes, baby. If we raised a dinosaur now, it would want to go right back into its egg!
So, you wouldn't have noticed a big change on Day 1 of the Pleistocene. We do know that our wonderful Trade Wind System had a shit-fit. It actually reversed and died. This killed the Gulf Stream, which is the only thing that keeps us and Europe talking. The North had nothing better to do than freeze up. What caused the cycles?
As I've stated, the Friendly God belief is thus: There is no unstable earth process that will wipe us out. Everything has a balance.
Now the hard-core, no God version: The Universe is controlled by Blind Chance. There are no unstable processes that will wipe us out, because they would have been triggered in the past, thus rendering things moot. A little shift in the Cosmic Dice, and we wouldn't be here, like millions of other planets.
But really, everything we see now has been triggered in the past. So, the Ice Age Advance has a balancing force, or we'd all be under ice, and Google wouldn't be sinking barges. :) To me, the main force is Isostatic Response, which sinks all the continents under kilometres of ice, below sea level. Try to build up ice cubes with that! Once the ocean level goes super-high, the Trade Winds start up their happiness.
I'm not extrapolating any more, but the continents are still down, and we've got a while to go in this inter-glacial. As with the others, we can expect Florida weather in Toronto, but not in my lifetime (rats). So, take all this 'New Ice Age' talk with a Scotch on the Rocks. :)
Monday, November 10, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Oklahoma M4.1 earthquake
I only consider the M4+'s because they have a mechanics solution. The other stuff is just 'breathing'. So, here it is right on the main shear plane, and I need a fault plane solution of strike-slip to confirm it. But, nooooo they don't have a solution! Have they fallen asleep? Too much surfing in California? Pooey.
Update: Rats, still no solution. I even sent a nice note, but you know how they love me. :(
Update2: I guess they aren't doing solutions any more, because I'm showing them up. :) Anyway, this earthquake started the whole organism twitching.
More on earth dials
Previous post
I'm still adding dials before I play. I am convinced that oceanic currents are an independent factor, on a 10,000 year cycle, and they are intimately associated with continental aggregation. Look at this
In the short years I've been looking at it, there have been minor variations with large consequences, such as no hurricanes, more typhoons, etc. The picture is of air currents, but they have no staying power, it's the ocean heat transport that drives them. We also know the 7 year El Nino cycle, but there must be other cycles. My dial would just indicate the efficiency of heat transport from the equator to the north (south for Australians).
I am also convinced that this shuts down during ice ages. Although I have studied ice ages extensively, I can find no good ideas of what the equator was doing at the time. I suspect it was extra hot. I know it was at least tropical, and did not cool down significantly or all our warm-water critters would be dead. So, I'm really eliminating a major solar cycle. If the sun goes down, it must go up, and we're still here. :)
Update: More research shows controversy and conflicting evidence on the tropics during the ice age. The oceans remained warm, but the highlands were cold and there was no Sahara dust in South America. To me, this implies the whole Equator to Poles system stopped, which is what I expect. The recovery mechanism was that the ocean level went down 120m which probably made the equator soil and water really hot, and everything started up again. (Thank Goodness). There is also the fact of isostatic response which sinks the highlands in Canada and makes them warmer.
I'm still adding dials before I play. I am convinced that oceanic currents are an independent factor, on a 10,000 year cycle, and they are intimately associated with continental aggregation. Look at this
In the short years I've been looking at it, there have been minor variations with large consequences, such as no hurricanes, more typhoons, etc. The picture is of air currents, but they have no staying power, it's the ocean heat transport that drives them. We also know the 7 year El Nino cycle, but there must be other cycles. My dial would just indicate the efficiency of heat transport from the equator to the north (south for Australians).
I am also convinced that this shuts down during ice ages. Although I have studied ice ages extensively, I can find no good ideas of what the equator was doing at the time. I suspect it was extra hot. I know it was at least tropical, and did not cool down significantly or all our warm-water critters would be dead. So, I'm really eliminating a major solar cycle. If the sun goes down, it must go up, and we're still here. :)
Update: More research shows controversy and conflicting evidence on the tropics during the ice age. The oceans remained warm, but the highlands were cold and there was no Sahara dust in South America. To me, this implies the whole Equator to Poles system stopped, which is what I expect. The recovery mechanism was that the ocean level went down 120m which probably made the equator soil and water really hot, and everything started up again. (Thank Goodness). There is also the fact of isostatic response which sinks the highlands in Canada and makes them warmer.
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