Mantle Waves Form Mountains This ARTICLE, based on THIS PAPER in Nature, suggests that the splitting apart of a continental plate affects not only the area near the rift zone, but also the interior of the continent. 30 or 40 km of the roots of the continent are stripped away and this wave of root erosion moves towards the interior of the craton. And this results in an increase in altitude of the land surface The example cited is the Drakensberg of South Africa. This, and similar, if less impressive formations, form escarpments around the cratons formed at the breakup of Gondwana. The pa ..read more

 Down to Earth Extra September 2024 The September 2024 edition of Down to Earth Extra has been published. You can download it HERE or you can red it below ..read more

 Orcadian Basin Rock at Stonehenge! I expect you all have heard that the Altar Stone at Stonehenge has been proved to be from the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) of North East Scotland. The original paper is in Nature and can be read HERE.  The Altar Stone, seen here underneath two bigger Sarsen stones, which new research suggests is actually Scottish not Welsh © Professor Nick Pearce/PA Wire Nature has also provided a video which is well worth viewing. The origen has been established using extremely sophisticated analysis techniques on individual crystals in a couple of thin section ..read more

 Mantle Drilled Several sources have alerted me to this item of news. The longest core sample of the mantle (1,286m) has been drilled and will soon be available for examination. It was drilled by the well known drill ship "Joides Resolution" in the North Atlantic near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and not far from the Lost City hydrothermal field, which is also well known. You can read all about it HERE (Nature), HERE (Science) and HERE (The Conversation). What you can read is that it is serpentinized abyssal mantle peridotite interleaved with thin gabbroic intrusions. Othe ..read more

 Phosphorus Presence leads to Macrofossils? It is thought that the lack of phosphorus (P) was what stopped the evolution of unicellular life into complex life in the Pre-Cambrian. The increase in P allowed the Ediacarian and Cambrian fossils to evolve. In Gabon, the 2100 Ma Paleoproterozoic Francevillian formation, due to peculiar circunstances had high phosphorus (and other element) concentrations. And there are structures which have been interpreted as macrofossils. Did complex life start 1500 Ma before the Ediacarian and Cambrian? If it did, it was a false start as the pecu ..read more

Cave Man in the Moon? In the last few weeks there has been some speculation about the existence of caves (or, more likely, lava tubes) on the Moon and their suitability as good places to live on the satellite. See HERE and HERE. The data from which the caves were recognised was gathered in 2010 but it is only recently that processing techniques advanced enough for the presence of the caves to be recognised. The surface of the Moon is not a good place to live for any length of time. There is no atmosphere or magnetic field to protect life from cosmic radiation. But a cave under ..read more

Down to Earth Extra August 2024 The August 2024 edition of Down to Earth Extra has bee published. You can download it HERE or you can read it below ..read more

What is the Younger Dryas? I stumbled upon THIS ARTICLE and was impressed by its clarity in describing the Younger Dryas. I knew that the Younger Dryas existed but I must have missed the lecture when it was defined. And I was vaguely aware that there was some controversies associated with it. The Skeptoid web site specialises in debunking the fake science which proliferates on the internet and is well worth supporting - and you get clear descriptions of the Younger Dryas ..read more

 Heart of Wales Geopark Opening On 27th July the "Heart of Wales Geopark will open. The details are contained in the poster which you can read below or download HERE ..read more

  Down to Earth Extra July 2024 The July 2024 edition of Down to Earth Extra has been published. You can download it HERE or you can read it below ..read more