The Fabulous Triassic 

A correspondent has brought THIS ARTICLE to my attention. It is from the Christmas edition of The Economist. You may have to go through some hoops to read it but you should get in without much difficulty.

And it is worth reading as it gives an overview of the Triassic AND it quotes Mike Benton!

The articles contention is that, although often overlooked, it is the period that led to the world as we know it. And it is fun to read!

 Why the Earth is Not Like Venus

At first glance the Earth and Venus should be similar and have geology with more resemblances than differences. A closer look tells us that it is a very different place.

The longest any lander has survived on Venus is 2 hours. We have been on Earth for rather longer. The surface temperature is about 465⁰C, the atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and there is virtually no oxygen and water.

Orbiters have used radar to look at the surface and conclude that it is mostly wrinkled plains of lava. There are lots of volcanoes and some are very large.

THIS ARTICLE will tell you all you need to know about the place; and comes to the conclusion that the crucial difference with the Earth is the lack of a magnetic field of any great strength.

Most of the lighter elements - especially hydrogen and oxygen - have been lost to space by the action of the solar wind. The atmosphere has been eroded of all its lighter components, leaving carbon dioxide and thus a runaway greenhouse effect.

The Earth's magnetic field protects the atmosphere from the solar wind. It has had a magnetic field for at least 3.7 billion years. 

Are Vast Amounts of Hydrogen Fuel Hidden Below Earth's Surface?

 

Are Vast Amounts of Hydrogen Fuel Hidden Below Earth's Surface?

The short answer is that we do not know! A longer answer can be found in THIS New Scientist Article.

A couple of emails ago I wrote about using ophiolites to produce hydrogen. Many people believe that you do not need to do that as there should be lots of hydrogen lurking below the earths surface. There is talk about quadrillions of tonnes. But so far only one deposit is known - (in Mali).

Finding other deposits is proving to be very difficult - unless they have been found and the finders are keeping quiet! We do not want to go down that rabbit hole! (A bore hole surely!)

I hope more evidence appears soon and we can stop following speculation.

 Fossil Tree Found at Saltern Cove, near Paignton

A correspondent alerted me to THIS WEB PAGE on the BBC website. It concerns the finding of a lycopsid (tree) fossil at Saltern Cove. It is important because the area was thought to be marine in the Devonian and the tree indicates that there was a desert island. I wonder if the tree grew here or whether it floated in.

You can find out a great deal more about the find at THIS ARTICLE published by the English Riviera Global Geopark.

 Making "White" Hydrogen - Pity About the Ophiolite

I came across THIS ARTICLE which discusses the various means of making Hydrogen, most of which are very environmentally unfriendly. There is a colour coding of Hydrogen which describes how it is made.

And the "greenest" hydrogen is White Hydrogen! This is already being produced by natural geochemical processes. This involves the weathering of basic igneous rocks.

This could be industrialized by pumping water and carbon dioxide into ophiolites. This produces serpentine, magnesium carbonate and hydrogen. So get rid of carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen! 

This sounds very good. Presumably there would be difficulties, but the techniques used are those of the oil industry which might encourage their use.

As far as I am concerned the downside is the change of lovely ophiolites into less lovely serpentinites.

 Nautilus Video

A correspondent alerted me to this video and it makes nice pleasant viewing. It is even more pleasant if you mute the sound.

All you need to know about Nautilus can be found HERE.

 Down to Earth Extra December 2024

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