Nexus - 1506 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

the crust and brought to an end the devastating swings in We are not at the end of a glacial flux event currently, but severe tilting or obliquity. in a true interglacial period that falls between a total ice age Mass extinction of Precambrian fauna is found at the cycle and lasts only 13,000 years, or one half of the boundary of the Cambrian and was determined to be caused _ precession cycle. When Libby in 1975 said that temperate by sudden environmental change.” climates only endure for five per cent of an ice age, he was It would be the passing of the Sun through the galactic almost right. A real interglacial period—the length of time plane, something our solar system does repeatedly, and the —_ not between ice flux cycles but between one total ice age subsequent though temporary collapse of planetary magnetic | and the next—occupies about three per cent of the total fields that would give rise to gravitational influences that cycle, while a warming flux—the warming period between could affect the potential shifting of astronomical bodies and _ glacial maximum events—can be 10 per cent or more of that at the very least threaten the dislodgement of comets from —_ cycle's duration. the Oort cloud." Another look at Muller's graph of climate of the last three In 1994, astronomers discovered a new galaxy very close _ million years (fig. 1) shows that each glacial period to the Milky Way galaxy. Subsequent analysis showed the associated with noticeable changes from the previous age is Milky Way to be devouring this smaller galaxy, now known —_ approximately 650,000 years in duration. Al Gore only took as the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (Sag DEG). his graph of CO» concentrations back 650,000 years for a Significantly, it intersects the Milky Way at our solar reason. The interglacial period which occurred beyond this system's precise angle and space.” point was so warm that there were This coincidence would be less hippopotamuses and hyenas in significant if our solar system England." weren't also moving at this same The signature event that Between each ice age cycle of angle through the galaxy. It is . 650,000 years, polarity reversals acknowledged that our solar takes place like clockwork at cause continental shifting that system passes through the galactic . forces Greenland to move further plane, usually described as a the same 650,000-year period north while Europe spreads further bobbing motion that takes of time is the Yellowstone east, each shift increasing the anywhere from 33 million to 55 . amount of warm Atlantic waters million years to be completed. supervolcano eruption. that reach the polar Arctic Ocean There is no direct reason for this conjectured time limit or bobbing The signature event that takes motion, other than a flawed attempt place like clockwork at the same to match the movement of the solar system to known periods —_ 650,000-year period of time is the Yellowstone supervolcano of surface cratering or extinction events." eruption. Yellowstone is not random in its most violent Considering the angle of the solar system and its given _ eruption cycle and has marked the starting point for at least momentum, it is unlikely that the solar system bobs in any __ each of the last five ice ages. The apparent lack of sufficient way with reference to the galactic plane. If the solar system gas and particulates in ice core samples shows that it is only were actually oriented relative to the galactic plane, it would —_ associated with the start of each glacial period and is not the be easier to accept the notion of a bobbing of the solar _ cause of it. system along the galactic plane like the skipping of a rock on Yellowstone eruptions are very often associated with a a pond's surface, but this is not the angular momentum that — significant jolt of the North American continent. The the Sun is known to have. Whether or not our solar system _ caldera itself doesn't move, but the plate over it does. This comes from Sag DEG, though it seems most likely, the Sun _ continental shift is sudden and reveals a repetition in the would have long ago passed through the Milky Way and just direction the continental interior has been moving for at least kept going if our solar system's journey had not somehow __ the last 13 million years (fig. 2). during the following glacial cycle. been captured, resulting in a galactic orbit that apparently Deformation in the Earth's crust prior to a polarity reversal takes the solar system through both galactic hemispheres in __ is the reason Yellowstone can set the signature for each ice its full orbital cycle. age cycle. As the solar system approaches the galactic plane, where magnetic fields collapse before reversing, the Ice age cycles and interglacial periods magnetic field of the Earth must similarly collapse before Defining the length of this solar-galactic orbit leads back _ reversing. to the ice age cycle. Even though each warming period In 2002, scientists observed a noticeable flattening of the between glacial events is called an interglacial period, poles but could not arrive at an appropriate explanation, technically it is not—because an ice age cycle takes 650,000 _ citing post-glacial rebound, global warming—induced years to complete. There are warming flux events in weather alterations and changes in gravity (!) as possible between glacial advancement (not the short interstadials, the causes.’ warmer periods during a glaciation that last less than 10,000 Fluctuations in the strength of the magnetic field of the years), but they are not the true interglacial periods. core allow centrifugal forces of molten magma to bulge The signature event that takes place like clockwork at the same 650,000-year period of time is the Yellowstone Ice age cycles and interglacial periods Defining the length of this solar—galactic orbit leads back to the ice age cycle. Even though each warming period between glacial events is called an interglacial period, technically it is not—because an ice age cycle takes 650,000 years to complete. There are warming flux events in between glacial advancement (not the short interstadials, the warmer periods during a glaciation that last less than 10,000 years), but they are not the true interglacial periods. NEXUS ¢ 31 supervolcano eruption. OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2008 www.nexusmagazine.com