CapitalistImperialistPig

The evidence that the Earth's "Big Five" extinction events were triggered by the enormous volcanic events that created the so-called Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) continues to accumulate. The most catastrophic of these, the end Permian extinction, killed most of the species that existed at the time. It was long suspected that it was tied to the epic Siberian Traps volcanism (think many millions of Mount Saint Helens eruptions) and new geochronological evidence makes the evidence of simultaneity far more precise. So why were these eruptions, which large as they were, were confined to relatively small portions of the globe, so catastrophic for the whole planet? The big culprit seems to have been carbon dioxide, with an assist from sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide caused as sharp global cooling, lasting only a few years, and extreme acid rain. The CO2 triggered multi-millenium long global warming and ocean acidification, producing anoxic oceans that killed most sea ...

If our ancestors of some time ago had been a bit more forward thinking and had set up suitable time-lapse photography, we could have had a nice record of a spectacular event. I'm talking about the collision of India with the Eurasian land mass, of course. 300,000 years worth should have been enough to capture the land mass looming out of the distance, the seabeds buckling upward, and the wild explosion of earthquake and volcanic activity. I suppose we can't really blame them much though, since they were all squirrel sized pro-simian insectivores with little knowledge of digital photography or long term archival storage.

How do you know that Easter Island wasn't wiped out by a tsunami? asks Rae Ann in this comment . There are many similar questions. How do we know that the Universe is expanding? How do we know that the Earth is more than four billion years old? How do we know that Finland was covered with ice 25,000 years ago? How do we know that human activity is increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere? How do we know that Africa and South America were joined two hundred million years or so ago? How do we know what the sea level was 500 years ago or how much CO2 was in the atmosphere 200,000 years ago. How do we know, for that matter, that the Earth is round and that the Moon isn't made of green cheese? In each case, even the last, there is a chain of evidence that leads to the deduction. In the case of Easter Island, and Rae Ann's question, the answer is easy. The great part of Easter Island is more than 50 meters above sea level. Portions are more than 400 meters above ...

Louisiana continues to slide into the Gulf of Mexico. Long known to be sinking, it now seems that it's also sliding into the Gulf. Associated Press's Cain Burdeau has the story: A new report by scientists studying Louisiana's sinking coast says the land here is not just sinking, it's sliding ever so slowly into the Gulf of Mexico. The new findings may add a kink to plans being drawn up to build bigger and better levees to protect this historic city and Cajun bayou culture. It's only a matter of a few millimeter's per year, but that's enough to affect plans for levees and floodgates. On the other hand: And some scientists have suggested the debate over subsidence is overstated. Torbjorn Tornqvist, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at Tulane University, found much of the region surprisingly stable and the rate of sinking to be at least 10 times less than previously reported.

Well, hey, the war in Iraq may not be going so well, but the Bush administration war on science is doing just fine. While most of our attention has been focussed on Bush's battles against climate science and stem cell research, the Bushies have quietly won one major battle against geology. Steve Benen, filling in for Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly, has the story , apparently getting his information from the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility . Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). "In...