tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33439597594487264072024-02-21T21:09:35.437+08:00Old Maps, Expeditions and ExplorationsThe archaic...the arcane...and fantastic...the historic...Compiled from divers sources.Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.comBlogger798125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-12162265722613454342020-08-03T19:40:00.002+08:002020-08-03T19:41:59.199+08:00Researchers say cooling 13,000 years ago is coincident with major volcanic eruption<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ECg4W9JzDSY/Xyf3h2Sq75I/AAAAAAAA7W8/8GZpICLP7i499-p32tgRYtytYSVRr6zZACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/fotonoticia_20200731195933_640.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="640" height="341" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ECg4W9JzDSY/Xyf3h2Sq75I/AAAAAAAA7W8/8GZpICLP7i499-p32tgRYtytYSVRr6zZACLcBGAsYHQ/w512-h341/fotonoticia_20200731195933_640.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Contact: Terry Goodrich, Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 254-644-4155</div><br /><br />WACO, Texas (July 31, 2020) – Texas researchers from the University of Houston, Baylor University and Texas A&M University have discovered evidence for why the earth cooled dramatically 13,000 years ago, dropping temperatures by about 3 degrees Centigrade.<br /><br />The evidence is buried in a Central Texas cave, where horizons of sediment have preserved unique geochemical signatures from ancient volcanic eruptions — signatures previously mistaken for extraterrestrial impacts, researchers say.<br /><br />The resolution to this case of mistaken identity recently was reported in the journal Science Advances.<br /><br />“This work shows that the geochemical signature associated with the cooling event is not unique but occurred four times between 9,000 and 15,000 years ago,” said Alan Brandon, Ph.D., professor of geosciences at University of Houston. “Thus, the trigger for this cooling event didn’t come from space. Prior geochemical evidence for a large meteor exploding in the atmosphere instead reflects a period of major volcanic eruptions.”<br /><br />After a volcano erupts, the global spread of aerosols reflects incoming solar radiation away from Earth and may lead to global cooling post eruption for one to five years, depending on the size and timescales of the eruption.<br /><br />The study indicates that the episode of cooling, scientifically known as the Younger Dryas, was caused by numerous coincident Earth-based processes, not an extraterrestrial impact.<br /><br />“The Younger Dryas, which occurred about 13,000 years ago, disrupted distinct warming at the end of the last ice age,” said co-author Steven Forman, Ph.D., professor of geosciences at Baylor University.<br /><br />The Earth’s climate may have been at a tipping point at the Younger Dryas, possibly from the ice sheet discharge into the North Atlantic Ocean, enhanced snow cover and powerful volcanic eruptions that may have in combination led to intense Northern Hemisphere cooling, Forman said.<br /><br />“This period of rapid cooling is associated with the extinction of a number of species, including mammoths and mastodons, and coincides with the appearance of early human occupants of the Clovis tradition,” said co-author Michael Waters, Ph.D., director of the Center for the First Americans at Texas A&M University.<br /><br />University of Houston scientists Brandon and doctoral candidate Nan Sun, lead author, accomplished the isotopic analysis of sediments collected from Hall’s Cave in the Texas Hill Country. The analysis focused on difficult measurements at the parts per trillion on osmium and levels of highly siderophile elements, which include rare elements like iridium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium and rhenium. The researchers determined the elements in the Texas sediments were not present in the correct relative proportions to have been added by a meteor or asteroid that impacted Earth.<br /><br />That meant the cooling could not have been caused by an extraterrestrial impact. It had to have been something happening on Earth. But what?<br /><br />“The signature from the osmium isotope analysis and the relative proportion of the elements matched that previously reported in volcanic gases,” Sun said.<br /><br />Kenneth Befus, Ph.D., volcanologist at Baylor University, added that “these signatures were likely the result of major eruptions across the Northern Hemisphere, including volcanoes in the Aleutians, Cascades and even Europe.”<br /><br />“I was skeptical. We took every avenue we could to come up with an alternative explanation, or even avoid, this conclusion,” Brandon said. “A volcanic eruption had been considered one possible explanation but was generally dismissed because there was no associated geochemical fingerprint.”<br /><br />A volcanic cause for the Younger Dryas is a new, exciting idea, he said. Whether a single major eruption of a volcano could drive the cooling observed, however, is still an open question, the researchers said.<br /><br />Volcanic eruptions cause their most severe cooling near the source, usually in the year of the eruption, with substantially less cooling in the years after the eruption. The Younger Dryas cooling lasted about 1,200 years, so a sole volcanic eruptive cause is an important initiating factor, but other Earth system changes, such as cooling of the oceans and more snow cover were needed to sustain this colder period, Forman said.<br /><br />This research underscores that extreme climate variability since the last ice age is attributed to unique Earth-bound drivers rather than extraterrestrial mechanisms. Such insights are important guidance for building better models of past and future climate change.<br /><br />ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY<br /><br />Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 18,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.<br /><br />ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY<br /><br />The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and eight academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit baylor.edu/artsandsciences.<br />Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-88687275178955885842020-08-02T15:24:00.003+08:002020-08-03T19:41:45.280+08:00Siberia’s ‘gateway to the underworld’ grows as record heat wave thaws permafrost<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fC_Ijm3j7bw/XyZpOF7AEaI/AAAAAAAA7Ws/nnezeu3CIpQOp6CRUF3ZUzshC3grZIDtACLcBGAsYHQ/s720/information_items_5549.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="720" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fC_Ijm3j7bw/XyZpOF7AEaI/AAAAAAAA7Ws/nnezeu3CIpQOp6CRUF3ZUzshC3grZIDtACLcBGAsYHQ/w512-h328/information_items_5549.jpg" width="512" /><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fC_Ijm3j7bw/XyZpOF7AEaI/AAAAAAAA7Ws/nnezeu3CIpQOp6CRUF3ZUzshC3grZIDtACLcBGAsYHQ/s720/information_items_5549.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><b>Song of dying permafrost. 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</b><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/siberia-s-gateway-underworld-grows-record-heat-wave-thaws-permafrost" target="_blank"><b>By Richard Stone</b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On a spring day in 2019, Alexander Kizyakov rappelled down
the 60-meter headwall of the Batagay megaslump in eastern Siberia, pausing to
chisel out chunks of ice-rich soil that had been frozen for eons. “One of my
hobbies is rock climbing,” says Kizyakov, a permafrost scientist at Lomonosov
Moscow State University. Colleagues below sampled the most ancient soil along
the base of the cliff. Such work is too dangerous in summertime, when the
constant crackling of melting ice is punctuated by groans as slabs of
permafrost, some as big as cars, shear off the headwall.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Known to locals as the “gateway to the underworld,” Batagay
is the largest thaw slump on the planet. Once just a gully on a slope logged in
the 1960s, the scar has expanded year by year, as the permafrost thaws and
meltwater carries off the sediment. Now more than 900 meters wide, it
epitomizes the vulnerability of permafrost in the Arctic, where temperatures
have shot up twice as fast as the global average over the past 30 years.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But it is also a time capsule that is seducing scientists with
its snapshots of ancient climates and ecosystems. “It’s a mind-blowing place,”
says Thomas Opel, a paleoclimatologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute. Dates
from ice and soil gathered at Batagay show it holds the oldest exposed
permafrost in Eurasia, spanning the past 650,000 years, Opel and colleagues
reported in May at the European Geosciences Union’s online general assembly.
That record could reveal how permafrost and surface vegetation responded to
past warm climates. “It gives us a window into times when permafrost was
stable, and times when it was eroding,” Opel says.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Global warming is inflicting wounds across Siberia.
Outbursts of pent-up methane gas in thawing permafrost have pocked Russia’s
desolate Yamal and Gydan peninsulas with holes tens of meters across. Apartment
buildings are listing and collapsing on the unsteady ground, causing about $2
billion of damage per year to the Russian economy. Forest fires during the past
three summers have torched millions of hectares across Siberia, blanketing the
land with dark soot and charcoal that absorb heat and accelerate melting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Intensifying this year’s fires was a heat wave that baked
Siberia for the first half of 2020. On 20 June, the town of Verkhoyansk, just
75 kilometers from Batagay and one of the coldest inhabited places on Earth,
reached 38°C, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic. The
record-breaking heat “would have been effectively impossible without
human-induced climate change,” said the authors of a 15 July study by World Weather
Attribution, a collaboration of meteorologists who analyze the possible
influence of climate change on extreme weather events.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An abiding question is how much carbon the thawing soil will
release to the atmosphere, and whether the lusher growth of Arctic plants in
the warming climate will absorb enough carbon to offset the release. The Arctic
may already have reached a tipping point: Based on observations at 100 field
sites, northern permafrost released on average about 600 million tons more
carbon than vegetation absorbed each year from 2003 to 2017, scientists
estimated in October 2019.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Scientists are venturing to Batagay in annual campaigns to
learn what it can say on the matter. Visits, organized by the Institute of
Applied Ecology of the North in Yakutsk, are not for the faint of heart. In
2014, Kseniia Ashastina slogged through 3 kilometers of mosquito-infested
forest to reach the headwall’s edge. “You hear a lot of cracking noises as you
get closer, and all of a sudden there are no trees and you’re standing on an
overhang,” says Ashastina, a paleobotanist at the Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History. She and colleagues from the Senckenberg Research
Institute and Natural History Museum lodged with Indigenous Siberians—Evens and
Sakha—some of whom fear the megaslump. “They say it’s eating their land,
swallowing up the trees and their sacred places,” she says.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To learn the age of the exposed permafrost, Opel’s team
relies on luminescence dating, which reveals the last time minerals in the soil
saw daylight, and a new Russian technique for dating chlorine in the ice. The
dates allow them to match soil layers to the known climate record, while
abundances of two isotopes trapped in ice wedges, oxygen-18 and deuterium, are
proxies for local temperatures. Assaying Batagay’s soil composition should
yield insights into how much carbon the permafrost sequestered over the
millennia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The permafrost also holds glimpses of ancient Arctic
ecosystems. Sampling trapped plant remains, the team learned that during the
last ice age, when winter temperatures plunged even lower than in modern times,
the vegetation was surprisingly lush, supporting woolly mammoths, woolly
rhinos, and other now-vanished herbivores in a meadow steppe ecosystem. “It was
a paradise for the foraging animals,” Ashastina says.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes, the remains of these lost creatures tumble out of
the headwall in exquisite condition. In 2018, scientists recovered a young
ginger-colored Lena horse (Equus lenensis), an extinct relative of the Yakutian
horse, with intact soft tissue. Scientists hope to find a live cell so they can
attempt to clone the 42,000-year-old foal. Some of its preserved muscle is
particularly promising, says P. Olof Olsson, a molecular biologist with the Abu
Dhabi Biotech Research Foundation, which is teaming up on the effort with
North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk. “I’m skeptically optimistic,”
Olsson says. “At least, it’s not impossible.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the elements carve up more of the Batagay megaslump, it
could transport scientists deeper into time. Glaciers scour away soil as they
advance, but they largely bypassed Siberia during recent ice ages, leaving the
permafrost in some areas hundreds of meters thick. For decades, as the hot
summers liquefied its ice-rich soil, Batagay’s headwall advanced about 10
meters per year, says Frank Guenther, a permafrost researcher at the University
of Potsdam. Since 2016, he says, that rate has surged to 12 to 14 meters per
year. It’s harder to peg how fast the slump is deepening, and thus how much
farther back in time the thaw is penetrating. The most ancient permafrost ever
dated, from Canada’s Yukon territory, is 740,000 years old. As much as climate
watchers may cringe at the thought, several more roasting Siberian summers
could push the Batagay megaslump to claim another record.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WAQbTFWM8Sc" width="320" youtube-src-id="WAQbTFWM8Sc"></iframe></div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
</div>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-59193983918635232212019-11-27T18:47:00.000+08:002019-11-27T18:47:34.554+08:00PALEOMAP Project<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EnByIap47QA/Xd5UEQl6kwI/AAAAAAAA6gk/acnsM_MhfMA7C9W_o8mDP6mZmTHIaGMFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/top_htm_txt_Kt_med.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="600" height="202" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EnByIap47QA/Xd5UEQl6kwI/AAAAAAAA6gk/acnsM_MhfMA7C9W_o8mDP6mZmTHIaGMFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/top_htm_txt_Kt_med.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big><big><big>Goal of the PALEOMAP Project</big></big></big><br />
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;">
</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;">
</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;">
</span><br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big>The goal of the PALEOMAP Project is to illustrate the plate tectonic development of
the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea
during the past 1100 million years.</big><br />
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;">
</span><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big>In the <big><a href="http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm">Earth History</a></big> section of this website are
full-color paleogeographic maps showing the ancient mountain ranges and shorelines, active
plate boundaries, and the extent of paleoclimatic belts.<br />
</big></span></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">NEW</span> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">App for iPad/iPhone, "Ancient Earth: Breakup of Pangea". </span><span style="font-size: medium;">
A Scalable, Rotatable, and Completely Interactive PaleoGlobe
Animation. Download from the App Store or visit our website,
(<a href="http://www.ancient-earth.com/">www.ancient-earth.com</a>), or search for "ancient earth" at the (<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ancient-earth-breakup-pangea/id509943912?mt=8&ls=1">App Store</a>)
</span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%">
<span style="font-size: large;">3D movable Paleoglobes. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">
Interactive 3D virtual object - globes that you and manipulate,
rotate, and view from many angles. Times available: <a href="http://www.scotese.com/0002D.htm">Modern
Globe</a>, <a href="http://www.scotese.com/0202d.htm"> Miocene (20 Ma)</a>, <a href="http://www.scotese.com/0652d.htm"> K/T boundary (65
Ma)</a>, <a href="http://www.scotese.com/0802d.htm"> Late Cretaceous (80 Ma)</a>, <a href="http://www.scotese.com/1202d.htm">
Early Cretaceous (120 Ma)</a>, <a href="http://www.scotese.com/1402d.htm"> Earliest Cretaceous (140
Ma)</a>, <a href="http://www.scotese.com/Pangea2d.htm"> Pangea - earliest
Jurassic (200 Ma)</a>, early Permian (280 Ma).<br />
</span></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><a href="http://www.scotese.com/3Dmodels.htm"><span style="font-size: large;">3D
Paleogeographic Animations</span></a>. <span style="font-size: medium;">A sample of the new 3D
topographic and bathymetric models that can be visualized as stunning
3D globes. 3D Animations of the <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pg080anim.htm">Latest
Cretaceous</a>, <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pg100anim1.htm">Cretaceous</a>, <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pg280anim.htm">Early Permian.</a> and the
<a href="http://www.scotese.com/3Dmodels.htm">Middle Devonian</a>.<br />
</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;">
</span><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">(Check these out!)</span><big> </big><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/newpage13.htm">Animations</a></span></span>
<big>
you can view from your Browser</big>. <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pangeanim.htm"> PANGEA</a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pcanima.htm">
PRECAMBRIAN </a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pzanim.htm">PALEOZOIC</a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pg100anim1.htm">3D-CRETACEOUS</a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pg280anim.htm">3D-PERMIAN</a>
<a href="http://www.scotese.com/pg080anim.htm">3D-LATE CRETACEOUS</a> 3D-EARLY
DEVONIAN <a href="http://www.scotese.com/pacifanim.htm">PACIFIC</a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/natlanim.htm">N. ATLANTIC</a>
<a href="http://www.scotese.com/satlanim.htm">GONDWANA</a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/sfsanim.htm">GLOBAL
TECTONICS</a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/npoleanim.htm">NORTH POLE</a>
<a href="http://www.scotese.com/futanima.htm">FUTURE</a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/indianim.htm">INDIA</a>
<a href="http://www.scotese.com/caribanim.htm">CARIBBEAN</a> <a href="http://www.scotese.com/paleocli.htm">PALEOCLIMATE</a> <br />
</span></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big>In the<a href="http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm"><big> Climate History</big></a> section is a discussion
of how and why the Earth's climate has changed through time.</big><br />
</span></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big><a href="http://www.scotese.com/future.htm"><big>Future Maps</big></a> showing positions of continents in
the future and formation of <big><a href="http://www.scotese.com/future2.htm">"Pangea Ultima"</a></big></big><br />
</span></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big><big><a href="http://www.scotese.com/paleo-globes.htm">Paleo-Globes</a></big> </big>(4" diameter spheres)
Make your own Paleoglobe !<strong> and </strong><big><a href="http://www.scotese.com/software.htm"><big>ESH-GIS 1.0</big></a> (ArcView)</big>, the first Earth History
Geographic Information System. <br />
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;">
</span><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big>In the<a href="http://www.scotese.com/Method.htm"> </a><a href="http://www.scotese.com/method1.htm">Methods </a>section, find out
how these paleogeographic maps were made, what the scientific basis for the maps are, and
what software was used to produce the maps.</big><br />
</span></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big>The Atlas has been 30 years in the making. In the <a href="http://www.scotese.com/history%20ofatlas.htm">History of the Atlas</a> section describes the who, when,
what and
where that went into producing the Paleogeographic Atlas. A list of <a href="http://www.scotese.com/References.htm">Key References</a> is also provided.<br />
</big></span></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img height="15" hspace="13" src="http://www.scotese.com/_themes/expeditn/expbul1a.gif" width="15" /></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times;"><big><a href="http://www.scotese.com/license.htm">License Information</a> If you would like to use PALEOMAP
images or 3D digital models give us a call (888 288 0160)
or email us at cscotese ( at ) gmail.com.</big></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-77360946245417127502019-11-27T18:43:00.000+08:002019-11-27T18:43:02.618+08:00His Dark Materials' Most Confusing Plot Points Explained<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qap6qAf2kF8/Xd5S1HLHb0I/AAAAAAAA6gY/HG7wZpWDtJoewfd-WKqmPvnD28qP8VSGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/hisdark_1000x563_acf_cropped.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qap6qAf2kF8/Xd5S1HLHb0I/AAAAAAAA6gY/HG7wZpWDtJoewfd-WKqmPvnD28qP8VSGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/hisdark_1000x563_acf_cropped.webp" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Multiple worlds, armoured bears, dust, <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/11/in-his-dark-materials-lyra-uncovers-a-major-secretand-so-do-we">daemons</a>. BBC and HBO’s <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/11/a-new-his-dark-materials-trailer-teases-the-rest-of-season-one-including-hell-yeah-a-bear-fight"><em>His Dark Materials</em></a> can be pretty confusing. We’re here to open up the alethiometer and answer a few of your biggest questions about <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/11/his-dark-materials-is-off-to-a-great-start">what the crap is going on</a>.<br />
<br />
This week is the halfway point of <em>His Dark Materials’</em> first
season, with Lyra (Dafne Keen) finally meeting aeronaut Lee Scoresby
(Lin-Manuel Miranda) and Iorek Byrnison, one of the armoured bears of
the north. And there will be a lot more to unpack as the season
continues. <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/11/his-dark-materials-dives-into-lyras-past-as-lord-boreal-makes-a-strange-discovery">Who is Will</a>? Why are the <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/10/lin-manuel-miranda-shares-his-dark-materials-terrible-parallel-to-our-own-world">children being kidnapped</a>? What’s the deal with multiple worlds? What is Lyra’s destiny?<br />
<br />
But hopefully, we can shine a little bit of light into this dusty,
strange darkness. Let me know in the comments if you have any additional
questions and I’ll do my best to answer them...provided they don’t
spoil too much for everybody else. Let’s crack open the alethiometer and
begin!<br />
<br />
<h2>
1. The Magisterium</h2>
The main antagonist of the series, the Magisterium is the governing
force that “keeps order” in Lyra’s world. You may have noticed their
garments, which are quite clerical. That’s because author Philip Pullman
modelled the Magisterium after the Catholic Church—something that was
notably missing from the 2007 movie <em>The Golden Compass</em>, as the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-goldencompass-religion/compass-under-fire-over-religious-content-idUSL2772517320071128">threat of a boycott</a> from Christians led the studio to remove religious themes altogether. <br />
The Magisterium works in service of the Authority, which is their
term for God. We don’t really see them performing many charitable acts
or community service. They rarely even hold church service. Instead,
they’re focused on keeping order and censoring things they consider to
be blasphemous. In that way it’s not a criticism of faith, but rather of
control. <br />
<h2>
2. Dust</h2>
The Magisterium is obsessed with three things: order, control, and
Dust. The first two make sense, but the last one might seem strange. In
the world of<em> His Dark Materials</em>, Dust—with a capital D—is a
mysterious substance that connects all intelligent life in the universe
and beyond. Folks like Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) and Mrs. Coulter (Ruth
Wilson) are obsessed with finding out Dust’s true purpose, albeit for
very different reasons. <br />
Dust is attracted to people—specifically adults, not children. It
tends to bounce off kids. This is why the Magisterium believes that Dust
is actually a manifestation of Original Sin, otherwise known as the
moment in the Bible where Adam and Eve ate fruit from the Tree of
Knowledge and were cast out of the Garden of Eden. In the Magisterium’s
mind, it’s evidence that something changes when innocence becomes
experience. What it <em>actually</em> is—well, we wouldn’t want to give that away just yet.<br />
<h2>
3. Daemons</h2>
Dust has something to do with daemons (dæmons in the books), which
are an integral part of Lyra’s world. A daemon is a physical embodiment
of a person’s soul, manifested as an animal. It represents your dual
nature, your instincts, and your conscience. In our world, we sometimes
have inner monologues or gut feelings. People in Lyra’s world have
talking animal sidekicks.<br />
Daemons change shape at will for children, because their
personalities are always growing and changing. But upon puberty, they
settle into one form, representing a core aspect of your personality.
The bond between a human and their daemon is sacred. Hurting one will
affect the other, and when a person dies their daemon disappears into
Dust (hint hint). Seeing someone without a daemon would be like seeing a
person walking around without a head. It just doesn’t happen.<br />
<h2>
4. Armoured Bears</h2>
Then, there are the bears. Yes, there are talking bears in this show. The bears of Svalbard (which is <a href="https://en.visitsvalbard.com/visitor-information/polar-bears">actually a real place</a>)
have a kingdom in the north, where they tend to keep to
themselves—occasionally trading with outsiders. They don’t have daemons,
but they do have their armour, which is crafted out of sky-iron, a rare
metal. Bears consider their armour to be like their souls…or daemons. A
bear without their armour is missing their soul, their prized
possession. At the time we meet him in the series, Iorek Byrnison has
been cast out of the kingdom for betraying his fellow bears, leaving the
kingdom in the control of another.<br />
<h2>
5. The Alethiometer</h2>
As of now in the show, there’s a lot we don’t know about the
alethiometer yet...and we don’t want to give any of the big reveals
away. But in the simplest of terms, it’s a compass-like device, based on
the real-world astrolabe, that can read the truth in any situation.
Normally it requires years of study, but Lyra is strangely able to
master it pretty quickly. You ask the alethiometer a question and
something (or someone) provides an honest, truthful answer. Only six
were ever made, and the Magisterium yearns to have them all. So long as
Lyra has one of the alethiometers, total control is out of their reach.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/11/his-dark-materials-most-confusing-plot-points-explained/" target="_blank"><b><em>His Dark Materials</em></b></a> streams on Foxtel.<br />
<br />
<br />
Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-32932134293791380592019-06-14T02:50:00.002+08:002019-06-14T02:50:47.846+08:00Mysteries of pristine Kimberley wilderness are being unravelled at last<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BEQyrbrH7Eo/XQKZ45YF-EI/AAAAAAAA58U/NTw1y1J5ZDAY31sFV2a34guApjf-nkV3QCLcBGAs/s1600/11168312-3x2-940x627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="940" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BEQyrbrH7Eo/XQKZ45YF-EI/AAAAAAAA58U/NTw1y1J5ZDAY31sFV2a34guApjf-nkV3QCLcBGAs/s400/11168312-3x2-940x627.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="first">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JDKe7BOggEI/XQKa7twcZUI/AAAAAAAA58g/pS4uTFAsp9AzOlLyRabcCEv2Qw1jeY1HACLcBGAs/s1600/4410252-3x2-940x627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="940" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JDKe7BOggEI/XQKa7twcZUI/AAAAAAAA58g/pS4uTFAsp9AzOlLyRabcCEv2Qw1jeY1HACLcBGAs/s400/4410252-3x2-940x627.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="first">
<br /></div>
<div class="first" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Horizontal Falls demonstrates the extreme tides of the Kimberley.</b></i></div>
<div class="first">
<br /></div>
<div class="first">
The natural mysteries of the Kimberley, one of
Australia's last pristine habitats, have been documented like never
before thanks to a multi-million-dollar project.</div>
<div class="first">
<br /></div>
More than 200
scientists worked over five years in collaboration with local Indigenous
groups to conduct what was one of the largest marine science studies
undertaken in Australia.<br />
<br />
Kelly Waples from the WA Marine Science
Institution said it had given researchers an unprecedented understanding
of the region's signature reefs and wildlife, including whales, dugong
and saltwater crocodiles.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Climate change a threat</h2>
With the onset of climate change and
increasing levels of human activity, Dr Waples said gaining a better
understanding of the Kimberley's extreme ecosystem was vital for its
protection.<br />
<br />
Isolated for thousands of years from large human populations, the
Kimberley's rugged coastline and high tidal movements have allowed plant
and animal species seen nowhere else to flourish.<br />
<br />
"The way the
ecosystem is set up is a bit different to other places, and we need to
understand that to be able to manage the area for the future," Dr Waples
said.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Research breaks ground</h2>
Researchers from 25 organisations were
tasked with cataloguing the unique biodiversity and determine how it
survived and co-existed in such a harsh environment.<br />
<br />
Saltwater crocodile populations were found to be on the rebound, with a 256 per cent increase in numbers in the past 30 years.<br />
<br />
High-priority nesting areas for marine turtles, which are being
significantly affected by warming sea temperatures, were identified
along the coastline.<br />
<br />
Surveys of the sea floor found almost 2,200 species including sponges, molluscs and crustaceans.<br />
<br />
Whale researchers now know more about the mammals' distribution
throughout the Kimberley coast, including the role of Camden Sound as a
major calving area for humpbacks.<br />
<br />
Ground-breaking data also
suggested that calving areas might extend along the Dampier Peninsula, a
popular tourist destination north of Broome.<br />
<br />
New species of coral were documented for the first time, as
scientists tracked the recovery of reef systems from widespread
bleaching linked to climate change.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, more evidence of
elusive Australian snubfin dolphin and humpback dolphin populations were
also documented in isolated areas.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Collaboration key</h2>
Working with Indigenous people was an
essential part of the project that, Dr Waples said, helped to employ
local knowledge and foster skills among remote community residents.<br />
<br />
"One
of the best lessons I've learned from the Kimberley is to recognise
Indigenous knowledge, to recognise there was a lot of value in that,"
she said.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-80847465135961780122019-06-14T02:39:00.002+08:002019-06-14T02:39:18.816+08:00Fossils of giant new species of sea creature found on South Australia's Kangaroo Island<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYe9vJGbGtcpS-QZ37WhWOST24h8nFomuPYHcke1rsYmqfpt-EiDn-cfU77yPsin-NIiWq5JMwPdOOC_yfrVZePFAaLPyvJi2gmYDNrC_4dI_Un6Q33yF92xFZLyFyNOFCU1wmZfXAkgCX/s1600/11207240-3x2-940x627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="940" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYe9vJGbGtcpS-QZ37WhWOST24h8nFomuPYHcke1rsYmqfpt-EiDn-cfU77yPsin-NIiWq5JMwPdOOC_yfrVZePFAaLPyvJi2gmYDNrC_4dI_Un6Q33yF92xFZLyFyNOFCU1wmZfXAkgCX/s400/11207240-3x2-940x627.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<i><b>The fossils of a giant new species of sea creature have been found on
Kangaroo Island, with experts saying it was likely the "terror" of other
creatures on the seafloor.</b></i><br />
<br />
Researchers said the discovery of a group of sea creatures called
trilobites added insights to knowledge of the Cambrian explosion, the
greatest diversification event in the history of life on Earth.<br />
<br />
The fossils, called Redlichia rex, were the largest Cambrian trilobite to be discovered in Australia.<br />
Trilobites, which had hard, calcified, armour-like skeletons over their bodies, were related to modern crustaceans and insects.<br />
<br />
They were one of the most successful fossil animal groups, surviving for about 270 million years.<br />
The
new species was discovered at Emu Bay on Kangaroo Island, where more
than 100 other species were discovered, including some with soft parts
intact.<br />
<br />
"We decided to name this new species of trilobite
Redlichia rex — similar to Tyrannosaurus rex — because of its giant
size, as well as its formidable legs with spines used for crushing and
shredding food, which may have been other trilobites," University of
Adelaide PhD student James Holmes said.<br />
<br />
The findings were published in the Journal of Systematic
Palaeontology by a team of scientists from the University of Adelaide,
South Australian Museum and the University of New England led by Mr
Holmes.<br />
<h2>
A giant of the ancient ocean</h2>
Redlichia rex is the
largest Cambrian trilobite found in Australia, growing to about 30
centimetres long — or twice the length of other trilobites of about the
same age.<br />
<br />
"Interestingly, trilobite specimens from the Emu Bay Shale —
including Redlichia rex — exhibit injuries that were caused by
shell-crushing predators," said senior study author Associate Professor
Diego Garcia-Bellido, from the University of Adelaide and the South
Australian Museum.<br />
<br />
"There are also large specimens of fossilised poo — or coprolites — containing trilobite fragments in this fossil deposit."<br />
<br />
Mr
Holmes said one of the major drivers of the Cambrian explosion was
likely an evolutionary "arms race" between predators and prey.<br />
<br />
"The
overall size and crushing legs of Redlichia rex are a likely
consequence of the arms race that occurred at this time," Mr Holmes
said.<br />
<br />
Specimens of Redlichia rex and other Emu Bay Shale fossils are on display in the South Australian Museum. <br />
<br />
<br />
Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-65903578587630963192018-11-28T22:23:00.001+08:002018-11-28T22:23:37.094+08:0015 major ancient Celtic gods and goddesses you should know about<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-image="https://www.realmofhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/celtic_gods_goddesses_facts_1.jpg" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="https://www.realmofhistory.com/2018/07/02/ancient-celtic-gods-goddesses-facts/">15 Major Ancient Celtic Gods And Goddesses You Should Know About</a></h4>
When it comes to the all the way from the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and Ireland to the frontiers of Liguria in Italy and the upper Danube. Suffice it to say, their mythology rather mirrored this multifarious scope, with various tribes, chiefdoms, and even later kingdoms having their own set of folklore and pantheons.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-80626852536824312192018-11-28T22:18:00.001+08:002018-11-28T22:18:37.488+08:00Reconstructions of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-image="https://www.realmofhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/reconstruction-seven-wonders-of-the-ancient-world_5-min.jpg" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="https://www.realmofhistory.com/2018/11/19/reconstruction-seven-wonders-of-the-ancient-world/">Reconstructions Of The Seven Wonders Of The Ancient World</a></h4>
From the historical perspective, the list of Seven Wonders of the Ancient World comes to us from an incomplete manuscript known as the Seven Sights of the World (which incidentally only listed six monuments), possibly authored by Philo of Byzantium in circa 225 BC.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-88245053435493733962018-11-15T10:48:00.002+08:002018-11-15T10:48:43.100+08:00Mummified cats and beetles found in ancient Egyptian tombs<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-11/egyptian-archaeologists-uncover-cat-mummies-in-newly-discovered/10485974">Mummified cats and beetles found in ancient Egyptian tombs</a></h4>
Updated November 11, 2018 14:48:33 Archaeologists have discovered a rare collection of mummified scarab beetles, as well as an apparently pristine Fifth Dynasty tomb they plan to open in the coming weeks. The mummified beetles were among artefacts found in seven tombs discovered over the past six months on the edge of the King Userkaf pyramid complex at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-79245476940097045062018-11-15T10:45:00.002+08:002018-11-15T10:45:25.004+08:00'Wild speculation': Scientist who found mystery space object dismisses alien theory<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-14/scientist-who-discovered-oumuamua-says-its-not-alien/10495366?section=technology">'Wild speculation': Scientist who found mystery space object dismisses alien theory</a></h4>
Posted November 14, 2018 11:35:31 The scientist who discovered a mysterious cigar-shaped space object says suggestions by Harvard astronomers it is an alien probe are "wild speculation". When 'Oumuamua - a Hawaiian word meaning "a messenger from afar arriving first" - was detected last year, it became the first object originating beyond our solar system to be observed in our vicinity.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-86777480809917424582018-11-15T10:43:00.000+08:002018-11-15T10:43:12.190+08:00Signs of alien super-Earth planet detected around lonely star near us<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-11-15/signs-of-alien-super-earth-planet-near-barnards-star/10494110?section=technology">Signs of alien super-Earth planet detected around lonely star near us</a></h4>
After decades of searching, astronomers say they've finally detected compelling evidence of an alien world orbiting one of the closest and most iconic stars in our cosmic neighbourhood. Barnard's star, a small red dwarf star in the constellation of Ophiuchus, is a favourite of astronomers and sci-fi fans.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-57598981469924474332018-08-28T15:23:00.002+08:002018-08-28T15:23:47.938+08:00Arkaim: Aryans, Advanced Astronomy and Untold Secrets of a Russian Citadel<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/arkaim-aryans-advanced-astronomy-and-untold-secrets-russian-citadel-0010055">Arkaim: Aryans, Advanced Astronomy and Untold Secrets of a Russian Citadel</a></h4>
Arkaim is a mysterious site located in Russia. Experts believe the citadel, not necessarily the oldest feature of the site, was built between the 17th and 16th century BC. But there are several reasons why Arkaim stands apart from other Bronze Age settlements in the area, leading to the idea it was built by a separate group.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-29394928530162406972018-08-28T15:22:00.000+08:002018-08-28T15:22:05.279+08:00Ancient Arkaim: The Stonehenge of Russia<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/older-stonehenge-arkaim-russia-00251">Ancient Arkaim: The Stonehenge of Russia</a></h4>
An archaeological expedition led by the University of Chelyabinsk in 1987 discovered an ancient fortified settlement in the Southern Urals of Russia dating back to two or three thousands of years BC. The fortress, called Arkaim ( Ar-ka means sky and Im means Earth), is known as the Russian Stonehenge and is believed to be even older than Stonehenge itself.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-49715938242002469802018-05-25T11:00:00.004+08:002018-05-25T11:00:37.860+08:00Easter Island - Rano Kau<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Easter Island is the most isolated island on earth. Less
than twenty-five kilometers (fifteen miles) across, it is well over 2,000
kilometers (1,300 miles) distant from the nearest habitable land in any
direction. Yet when Europeans first chanced across it (Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen
arrived there on Easter Sunday in 1722, hence the name), they found it
inhabited. In fact, Rapa Nui (which is the Polynesian name for the island) had
been colonized well over a millennium earlier, in about C. E. 400. Whether only
a single canoe or fleet of canoes ever reached this remotest corner of
Polynesia, or whether for a period there was further contact, we shall probably
never know. What is certain is that the inhabitants of the island soon lost
contact with their forebears and spent many centuries in complete isolation.
Both archaeologists and ecologists have been bequeathed an incredibly valuable
case study of people interacting with their environment within a closed system,
and it is one that has some sobering lessons for the population of the planet
as a whole. Certainly environmental disaster loomed toward the end, when the
population had increased dramatically and all the forests had been destroyed. </div>
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Among the fascinations of Easter Island are the famous large
statues or moai. Several hundred of them came to stand imposingly on platforms
(ahu), mostly ringing the island and facing inland, but with a few in other
locations. Scores more lie or stand in what resembles a frozen production line
in the volcanic crater Rano Raraku, in various stages of production from
quarrying to transportation. Why would an isolated population on a small island
have put such a significant proportion of its human resources into producing
them? One possibility is that they were seen as protective presences, but their
full significance for the population of this tiny island remains largely a
matter of speculation. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The island has long attracted astronomical attention. As far
back as the 1960s, publications appeared describing ahu that were solstitially
or equinoctially aligned. But since there are over 250 ahu on the island, the question
of bias in selection arose. Were the supposedly astronomically aligned ahu
selected on the basis of a preconceived "toolkit" of targets? If so,
it is possible that they had no statistical or cultural significance whatso
ever. Attempts were made to resolve this question through systematic studies of
ahu and moai orientations, both by an archaeologist (the Easter Island
specialist William Mulloy) and later by an astronomer, William Liller. They
provide only marginal evidence at best of any intentional orientations upon
solstitial and equinoctial sunrise and sunset. The overriding tendency is for
ahu to be situated close to the coast and oriented parallel to it, with the
moai facing inland. Since such platforms are to be found all around the
perimeter of the island, their orientations are scattered around the compass,
with some falling inevitably within the solstitial and equinoctial ranges. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Perhaps the most noteworthy ahu from an astronomical point
of view is one of a small minority that are not situated on the coast but a
good way inland. Ahu Huri a Urenga is situated in a low saddle
surrounded-unusually for Easter Island-by a hilly horizon with very little sea
visible. Standing upon the platform is a distinctive and imposing moai. This is
aligned not only upon the rising sun at the June solstice, but upon a prominent
hill summit. Another hilltop marks equinoctial sunset. A number of apparently
artificial depressions in boulders adjacent to the platform incorporate several
so lar alignments and hence, it has been claimed, could have functioned as a solar-ranging
device. All this evidence still falls short of conclusive proof, but it does at
least raise the possibility that natural features in the landscape were used to
mark the solar rising or setting positions at different times of the year. This
is a possibility that has been raised elsewhere in Polynesia, for ex ample in
the N<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ā</span>
Pali region of the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i. </div>
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<br /></div>
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One of the most significant astronomical alignments to the
inhabitants of Rapa Nui may actually have been a natural one. The village of
Orongo was placed in an extraordinary situation on a knife-edge ridge
overlooking the spectacular but treacherous crater of Rano Kau, with its marshy
lake on one side and the ocean on the other. This sacred place was the
ceremonial base for the extraordinary annual "birdman" ritual in
which contestants had to swim two kilometers (over a mile) out to a small rock,
wait there for the return of a migratory sea bird, and collect its first egg.
As seen from Orongo, the sun rose behind the summit of Poike, a prominent
volcanic hill on a far corner of the island, precisely at the winter (June) solstice.
As the rising sun moved away from this peak, the spring ceremony approached. It
is hard to believe that priests at Orongo could have failed to notice that the
peak of Poike marked the limit of the sun's movement along the horizon,
especially given that the word poike, according to the anthropologist and Maori
scholar Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa), means "to be seen just above the
horizon." However, the severe limitations of the topography make it
unlikely that this was taken into account when the village was planned.
Instead, the solstitial alignment of Poike from the crater-rim village may have
been dis covered later. We would see it as a coincidence, but it may well have
been taken by the Easter Islanders as something that confirmed and reinforced
the already evident sacredness of the place. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A remnant of Easter Island astronomy of a rather different
nature may have been bequeathed to us in the form of Rongorongo script, a
system of symbols used on Easter Island that seems to have provided a series of
triggers for the reader rather than actual words or syllables. One fragment of
Rongorongo has been interpreted as a lunar calendar.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">References and
further reading</b> Barthel, Thomas. The Eighth Land: The Polynesian Discovery
and Settle ment of Easter Island. Honolulu: University Press of Hawai`i, 1978.
Fischer, Steven Roger, ed. Easter Island Studies, 122-127. Oxford: Oxbow Books,
1993. Flenley, John, and Paul Bahn. The Enigmas of Easter Island. Oxford: Ox
ford University Press, 2003. Liller, William. The Ancient Solar Observatories
of Rapanui: The Archaeoastronomy of Easter Island. Old Bridge, NJ: Cloud
Mountain Press, 1993. Mulloy, William T. "A Solstice-Oriented Ahu on
Easter Island." Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania 10 (1975),
1-39. Selin, Helaine, ed. Astronomy across Cultures, 148-152. Dordrecht, Neth.:
Kluwer, 2000.</div>
<br />
<br />Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-2754151273498726292018-05-25T10:55:00.001+08:002018-05-25T10:55:29.870+08:00RAPA NUI STAR LORE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The official dating of the arrival of the first humans at
Rapa Nui – between 700 CE and 1100 CE – is not based on any genetic data but
exclusively on archaeological evidence. If Dr Schoch’s analysis of the island
is even slightly correct, it is also based on selective archaeological
evidence, whilst ignoring the sedimentation around the moai and lack of granite
quarries, as either of these would push the date back quite significantly.
Another example of this selective evidence would be the reliance on a change
from palm to grassland around 1200 CE – contiguous with the presumed first
arrival of the Polynesians – whilst ignoring the same palm-to-grassland change
that occurs at 450 BCE.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It may be the case that 100 CE was indeed when the first
people arrived at Rapa Nui. The hypothesis that Polynesian cultures were the
most likely to retain elements of the Sunda and Sahul cosmologies remains in
play. It is, however, considerably strengthened if it transpires the islands
have been, or were once, occupied significantly earlier. The reason for this is
Rapa Nuian star lore is astoundingly similar to the emergence of star lore with
the first ‘civilisations’ of the Near East and Indian subcontinent. It has the
highest degree of ritual overlap out of anywhere in the Pacific which could be
explained by using an earlier date of first settlement, contemporaneous with
the proposed influence on points west, after which point in time the Rapa
Nuians remained in the most splendid of isolations out of anywhere in
Polynesia. We shall return to this suggestion following an analysis of their
star lore.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rapa Nui provides the best example in the Pacific of the use
of astronomy and star lore for reasons other than navigation. It was home to a
powerful priesthood who used their knowledge of observation of the stars to set
a yearly calendar of ritual and domestic activities. Most of the information
regarding the sacred astronomy of this priesthood was collected in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth century, probably the very last time any of
these practices remained in living memory, and sometimes only as remembrances
of tales told by grandparents. In fact, a lot of the star lore lay forgotten in
dusty boxes in the Royal Geographic Society until 1983, when the unpublished
field notes of ethnographer Katherine Routledge’s 1914–1919 studies were
located. She managed to find two elderly inhabitants who could allegedly read
some of the mysterious rongorongo script, although their description of the
meanings differs markedly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Carved onto wooden tablets and seemingly kept in the
majority of Rapa Nui homes, this script was only first discovered by Europeans
in the 1860s, at which point missionary zeal led to the fiery destruction of
most of them. Now only a few dozen remain and many of these are scattered
across western museum collections. These tablets are a couple of centuries old
and likely copies of earlier tablets or carvings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Currently undeciphered, the rongorongo glyphs repeat in a
way that leads some researchers to suggest they are or were sacred chants. But,
as we shall see, there is a good case to be made for suggesting these are
depictions of stars and sky phenomena. One interpretation does not preclude the
other, of course. Indeed, it seems likely they are sacred chants of star lore,
which is not at all without precedent across Polynesia.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the symbols are very similar to glyphs found on
other Pacific islands, particularly in Hawaii and Micronesia. Quite
suggestively, there is also a stylistic overlap with the also undeciphered
Indus script. If these similarities are anything other than accidental, then
they may well point to a shared origin, perhaps even a Sundaland one. Even more
intriguingly, Dr Schoch sees similarities with both the Nazca Lines and
carvings found at Göbekli Tepe. For all of these to have a common origin, we
are indeed back in the early days of Southeast Asian colonisation, which is the
last time the ancestors of all these cultures were in the one place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Returning to Katherine Routledge, she was told there were
several classes of astronomer priests, each trained to and then tasked with
recording the movements of specific asterisms, principally Orion, the Pleiades
and Sirius/Canis Major from certain ahu, or sacred platforms. Although the
earliest interpretation of these ahu were that they were aligned to solstices
and equinoxes (western antiquarians having a tendency to overemphasise the
sun), it turns out that those that do have sky alignments are better matches
for the rising of specific constellations. And it is those with stellar
alignments that are the best constructed out of all the ahu. Caves and natural
rocks were also used as observation points. One promontory on the Poike
Peninsula is called Papa ui hetu’u, ‘the rock for star-gazing.’ Near to the
promontory was a rock Routledge identified as having a cup hole ‘star map’ of
the Pleiades. Cup holes are common in megalithic sites across Western Europe and
also feature on the tops of the T-shaped pillars at Göbekli Tepe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like we find in Western Polynesia, the Eastern Polynesian
year began with the rising of the Pleiades, called Matariki. However in the
east, they are more explicit about what this entails. During Matariki, the gods
descended from the skyworld, ao, to mingle with humans in the realm of the
living, called kainga.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Matariki inaugurated the ‘bountiful season,’ called Hora
Nui. Beginning at this point and proceeding through the year, the ritual marking
of the annual cycle was called ‘the Work of the Gods.’ This calendar was lunar,
rather than solar, which is another overlap with early Indian culture. In order
of importance, the preeminent asterisms and constellations should be familiar
by now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Orion</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Orion has three separate names in Rapanui star lore. They
are Tautoru, the Three Handsome Ones, which are the belt stars; E tui, ‘The
Expelled,’ which is the constellation itself; and Tau ahu, ‘Beautiful
Firebrand,’ the name for Rigel and the wife of one of the belt stars. Along
with the Pleiades, Orion’s Belt was the most important asterism.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Immediately following the first lunar month of Hora Nui,
marked by the Pleiades’ arrival into the sky, was the lunar month of Ruti,
where Orion’s Belt was high in the sky and rituals were held to honour the
chiefs and ancestors. The next three months deal principally with the location
of the Pleiades and Orion’s Belt in the sky and their relationship to Mars,
Canopus and other important stellar objects. The month of Tara Hau, when the
Pleiades disappeared beneath the horizon, signalled a time of calamity for man
until the next Matariki festival in several months’ time. Again, this is
curiously redolent of Ancient Egypt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Other Important Stars</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Other stars, planets and constellations of significance
recur. Chief among them are Sirius, Te pou o te rangi, the Post of the Sky;
Canopus, Po roroa, the Great Darkness, used in conjunction with Orion’s Belt to
time the planting season; Mars, Matamea, Red Eye, observed from Routledge’s
observatory on Poike and probably considered a bad omen. Vega, Antares, Alpha
Centauri, Beta Centauri, Venus and Aldebaran were all named, tracked and
calendarised in the ‘Work of the Gods.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Other Ritual Activity</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Turmeric, which is native to southeast India, was made into
a body paint called renga during the Matariki festival. Offerings of turmeric
were also made to the high chief. If this is not an historical development –
which is unlikely – then we are left to wonder how a member of the Indian ginger
family ended up on the most isolated island on earth, more than half a world
away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rapa Nui’s astronomer-priests were known as tohunga. The
exact same word in Maori means expert or wise man, equivalent to the Hawaiian
kahuna. In New Zealand there were tohunga specialising in navigation, medicine,
stars, canoe building and so on. On Rapa Nui, it was the tohunga who read the
sacred chants of the rongorongo script. According to what Katherine Routledge
was told, these tohunga lived in circular stone towers called tupa. The
majority of these tupa are clustered in the northern part of the island, where
we also find ‘the rock for star-gazing’ and plenty of ahu. A 2010 Explorers
Club Flag Expedition to Rapa Nui found that all but one of these tupa had
entranceways that were oriented to a star or asterism in some way involved in
the ‘Work of the Gods.’ It may be that measurements were taken when the stars
appeared in the doorway or it may even have been a way of drawing down a
particular asterism into its tower. Again we immediately think of Egypt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
GATHERING UP THE STARS</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What are we to make of Rapa Nui, then? It is apparently the
last island in Polynesia to have been colonised, as recently as only a thousand
or fifteen hundred years ago. Yet it has geological, archaeological and
potentially ritual evidence to suggest activity in much earlier times. Rapa Nui
may have been an outpost of the Nusantao Maritime Trading Network that arose
immediately after the end of the Ice Age. Or it may have even been a holy
island that was not permanently occupied and used as a sacred or holy site,
both before and after this point. Perhaps it was a combination of sacred site
and sailing stop-off point, never permanently occupied and visited at intervals
determined by the stars and the seasons, such as was the case with Göbekli
Tepe. One of the names for the island means ‘navel of the world,’ hinting it
may have had a ritual value far in excess of its comparatively meagre resource
value.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If such a scenario is accurate, it provides a ‘solve’ for
the otherwise incongruous data suggesting both very early and very late
occupation: it was a site that was used and known during a time when the sea
levels were much lower, then it was abandoned or the original inhabitants died
out. Then it was recolonised by the descendants of these first occupiers in the
first millennium CE and some of the remaining megalithic infrastructure, such
as the basalt moai, were repurposed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whatever the scenario, the island is the most challenging
and most rewarding place to look for where, in the words of Dr Oppenheimer survivors
of a sunken landmass may have ‘retained their original culture with the least
dilution.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Right across Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia we have the
demonstrable continuity of Gondwana star lore being developed into a highly
sophisticated form of Laurasian astronomical knowledge used for navigation and
the precise measurement of a ritual year. We find the Gondwana/Laurasia
crossover of star lore in the same part of the world – Sunda and Sahul land –
where linguistic evidence records the first rise in cultural complexity since
we left Africa, which also seems to have stepped, pyramidal hills built before
the end of the Ice Age. This part of the world also has genetic, archaeological
and potentially linguistic links to the ‘first cilivisations’ of Harappa, Sumer
and Egypt, as well as probably South America (although we are now heading in
the opposite direction).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the last one hundred and fifty years, historians have
looked for singular, linear answers: cities started here. The people next door
learned from them and then built cities. Pyramids started there and then their
neighbours copied the form. This linearity simply does not match what we now
know about early human population movements or the ‘overlap analysis’ of world
mythology that points to much, much older shared origins of specific gods and
cosmologies. This book does not suggest that all culture and civilisation came
from the scattered survivors of Sundaland, setting out in ships to become the
world’s wisdom teachers. It seems increasingly clear that early communities
across Eurasia had hugely sophisticated cosmologies and even architectural
capacities by the end of the Ice Age, the original elements of which they may
have brought with them as human populations moved up into Eurasia and Europe
from South Asia during a brief warm period as the mtDNA evidence suggests.
Instead, this book suggests that survivors of the sinking of Sunda and Sahul
brought technological and magical techniques with them to populations across
central and western Asia that were already in situ and likely even had vaguely
recognisable pantheons and practices. It is also fairly likely that the Sunda
survivors knew of these scattered communities if the evidence for transoceanic
and transcontinental trade is considered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moving from Wendy Doniger’s microscope back to her
telescope, we find in the star lore of the Pacific a concept of divine kingship
descending from the night sky, the magic of immortality and human origin
associated with particular asterisms and the belief that actions or
architecture ‘below’ are in some way aligned with that which is ‘above.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even more than that, we have specific asterisms such as
Orion and even god names that recur in both description and magical function
for the next five thousand years. We can now posit that creating a map or
replica with specific points in the night sky, a concept we see executed
throughout dynastic Egypt and continuing into the hermetic traditions of the
Classical Age, seems to be a very long-lived one. The development of this star
map with ever more precision is, I believe, the ‘wisdom of the sages come down
to us from a time before the Flood,’ as it is commonly described. It grew in a
highly specific incubator: the interactions with the spirit world conducted by
a culture or cultures of highly proficient open ocean navigators for whom
precision was a literal matter of life and death. And the proof of their
supreme competence is the very fact of the existence of their descendants
living on every piece of habitable land in the Pacific, an ocean which covers
half our planet’s surface.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It must have been quite an event to set these ancient
Argonauts on such a journey.</div>
Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-88192308930022631942018-03-11T09:46:00.002+08:002018-03-11T09:46:58.667+08:00Interstellar message of ‘Oumuamua<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TD6xZqT5iaI/WqSITL5GP_I/AAAAAAAA4PU/kTVphWntzuYFEtZvsGStUcKssZdYjLWOgCLcBGAs/s1600/1280px-Artist%2527s_impression_of_%25CA%25BBOumuamua.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1280" height="261" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TD6xZqT5iaI/WqSITL5GP_I/AAAAAAAA4PU/kTVphWntzuYFEtZvsGStUcKssZdYjLWOgCLcBGAs/s400/1280px-Artist%2527s_impression_of_%25CA%25BBOumuamua.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
<b><a href="https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17450-origin-alien-asteroid-oumuamua-millions-more" target="_blank">Mysterious traveller</a> from afar highlights a seasonal greeting.</b></h3>
In October, a group of wise women and men spotted a mysterious light
in the sky. There has been much excited chatter since about what it
might mean. A space rock has come travelling. And as December draws to a
close, the unusual visitor is heading away again, its brief message to
Earth seemingly delivered. Our interstellar guest is from another star
system entirely, one it was bundled out of perhaps even billions of
years ago. Long-predicted, this is the first confirmed visit of an
object from so far away. We are probably its first company in some time.
And already it has seen enough.<br />
A bright light shone around it. Long-term exposure to cosmic rays has created an insulating organic-rich layer on its surface (<a data-label="http://doi.org/chks" data-track-category="body text link" data-track="click" href="http://doi.org/chks">A. Fitzsimmons <i>et al. Nature Astron. </i>http://doi.org/chks; 2017</a>).
This coating — more pink than silver — could have protected an ice-rich
interior from being vaporized during its passage close to the Sun. And
it could help to explain some of the initial confusion over the
visitor’s true nature. Sky-watchers scanning for interstellar objects
tend to be on the look-out for a comet. These are expected to produce a
distinctive haze as their outer layers of ice sublimate, making them
much easier to spot as they pass close to the Sun.<br />
<br />
<br />
The absence of a
tail saw the object reassigned instead as a rocky asteroid, which it
could be. But its organic shield protects the unlikely possibility that
it could be a comet after all — models suggest ice might be hidden
underneath, undisturbed by the body’s flirtation with the Sun.<br />
<br />
<br />
It
could come from a planet a long way from here. If it is not a comet, a
paper posted to the arXiv server this month speculates, it might be a
fragment of a distant planet ripped apart by a process of gravitational
vandalism known as tidal disruption (<a data-label="https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.01823" data-track-category="body text link" data-track="click" href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.01823">M. Ćuk preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.01823; 2017</a>).<br />
<br />
<br />
Despite
the best listening efforts of telescopes on Earth, the object has
remained silent. And to the disappointment of alien-hunters across the
planet, there is no sign of technology. (It was always a long shot, but
the unusual cigar-shape boosted hopes that it was built and not formed.)
Nonetheless, astronomers have called it ‘Oumuamua, a Hawaiian term for
scout. In <a data-label="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25020" data-track-category="body text link" data-track="click" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25020"><i>Nature </i>this week</a>,
its discoverers (who spotted it using the Pan-STARRS telescope on
Hawaii’s Maui island) say the object seems to be a “messenger sent from
the distant past to reach out to us”.<br />
<br />
<br />
‘Oumuamua might not be
talking but it could still be listening. At this time of year, it’s
traditional for many radio stations across the United States to play the
1949 Hawaiian tune ‘<i>Mele Kalikimaka</i>’, which offers a greeting of
love, peace, joy and compassion. As ‘Oumuamua speeds away there are
worse impressions for it to take from Earth — even if, like most
souvenirs, the significance is lost on many of the planet’s locals.<br />
<br />
#<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-2263646987742083992017-01-24T15:10:00.000+08:002017-01-24T15:10:03.192+08:00Coastal survivors: SA's rare, twisted trees<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-13/south-australias-rare-and-twisted-dingley-dell-gums/7929050">Coastal survivors: SA's rare, twisted trees</a></h4>
Updated October 13, 2016 15:21:00 Hundreds of years old and with their gnarled limbs and otherworldly appearance, the grove of dingley dell gum trees in Port Macdonnell's Clarke Park is a spectacular sight. Scattered across a narrow coastal strip from the Glenelg River across South Australia's south-east, the rare subspecies of South Australian blue gum has survived by its sheer hardiness.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-55605978605773592182017-01-24T15:05:00.001+08:002017-01-24T15:05:49.056+08:00Photographing one of the world's tallest trees<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-24/photographing-one-of-the-worlds-tallest-trees-in-styx-valley/8206910">Photographing one of the world's tallest trees</a></h4>
Posted January 24, 2017 13:58:03 It took 67 days, 12,000 images and a climb to stomach-churning heights, but photographer Steven Pearce finally got the image he was after of the world's tallest flowering plant, Tasmania's eucalyptus regnans. The Styx Valley, past the township of Maydena, about 100 kilometres north-east from Hobart, is often damp, cold and foggy.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-11363659039918092902017-01-16T16:47:00.003+08:002017-01-16T16:47:50.459+08:0010 Bizarre Recently Discovered Animal Species - Listverse<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-image="http://i0.wp.com/listverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/8-Pegomastax.jpg?resize=632%2C332" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://listverse.com/2017/01/16/10-bizarre-recently-discovered-animal-species/">10 Bizarre Recently Discovered Animal Species - Listverse</a></h4>
Animals Modern human beings have lived on Earth for about 200,000 years. In that time, we've been almost everywhere-on land, in the sea, and on (and under) the water. You'd think we'd pretty much seen it all. However, that's not the case. Whether we're talking reptiles, dinosaurs, sharks, fish, flies, arthropods, or worms, nature is full of surprises.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-59843575468071426542017-01-16T16:33:00.002+08:002017-01-16T16:33:29.942+08:0010 Stunning Hidden Paradises From Around The World - Listverse<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-image="http://i0.wp.com/listverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/10_178455646.jpg?resize=632%2C421" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://listverse.com/2014/04/06/10-stunning-hidden-paradises-from-around-the-world/">10 Stunning Hidden Paradises From Around The World - Listverse</a></h4>
Travel You've heard of the Grand Canyon, the Galapagos Islands, and Venezuela's Angel Falls; you've probably even heard of more obscure natural wonders, like the needle-like rock forests at Tsingy de Bemaraha. But no matter how much of the Earth we cover, there's always something breathtaking just around the bend.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-48913085834257539372016-12-21T18:31:00.000+08:002016-12-21T18:31:03.907+08:0010 Oldest Geological Features On Earth<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://listverse.com/2016/12/12/10-oldest-geological-features-on-earth/">10 Oldest Geological Features On Earth - Listverse</a></h4>
Our World The oldest parts of Earth testify to a living world that has been moving and taking shape for eons. Whenever another is discovered, they bring with them new surprises, often confirm theories, or confuse scientists completely.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-38061723813545659262016-12-21T18:21:00.000+08:002016-12-21T18:21:31.562+08:0010 Amazing Things We’ve Learned About The Solar System In 2016<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://listverse.com/2016/12/18/10-amazing-things-weve-learned-about-the-solar-system-in-2016/">10 Amazing Things We've Learned About The Solar System In 2016 - Listverse</a></h4>
Space There are nearly 30 man-made spaceships out in the solar system right now gathering information about our planet's neighborhood. Every year, evidence is gathered to bolster some theories while others fall by the wayside. Here are just some of the highlights of what we've discovered about the solar system in 2016.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-7882572783450915452016-11-27T14:13:00.002+08:002016-11-27T14:13:19.224+08:00MapCarte 264/365: Plan oblique relief Europe by Jonas Buddeberg, Bernhard Jenny & Johannes Liem, 2014<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://mapdesign.icaci.org/2014/09/mapcarte-264365-plan-oblique-relief-europe-by-jonas-buddeberg-bernhard-jenny-johannes-liem-2014/">MapCarte 264/365: Plan oblique relief Europe by Jonas Buddeberg, Bernhard Jenny & Johannes Liem, 2014</a></h4>
Click the image to view the web map Representation of terrain is as old as cartography itself and there remain numerous ways of creating interesting effects. Plan oblique can be traced back to the work of Xaver Imfeld in 1887 (featured in MapCarte 182).</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-81254965138071728982016-11-27T14:10:00.000+08:002016-11-27T14:10:07.057+08:00MapCarte 343/365: A deliniation of the strata of England and Wales by William Smith, 1815<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://mapdesign.icaci.org/2014/12/mapcarte-343365-a-deliniation-of-the-strata-of-england-and-wales-by-william-smith-1815/">MapCarte 343/365: A deliniation of the strata of England and Wales by William Smith, 1815</a></h4>
In a world where many seem rather quick to suggest their map is 'the first to show...' it's refreshing to be able to show actual firsts from the world of cartography that exhibit good design. English geologist William Smith is credited as the first to have created a nationwide geological map.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3343959759448726407.post-54489965930134944502016-11-27T14:06:00.000+08:002016-11-27T14:06:05.744+08:00MapCarte 94/365: Wood charts by Below the Boat, 2013<blockquote class="embedly-card" data-card-key="8ac4b7fee45c4d83a80aed58857fcf40" data-card-type="article-full">
<h4>
<a href="http://mapdesign.icaci.org/2014/04/mapcarte-94365-wood-charts-by-below-the-boat-2013/">MapCarte 94/365: Wood charts by Below the Boat, 2013</a></h4>
Physical models, for instance in the form of globes and vacuum-formed raised relief vinyl maps have been staple ways to depict the world for centuries. They bring a three-dimensional quality to the map that allows us to more clearly see how a landscape looks.</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="UTF-8" src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js"></script>Mitch Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14692138354674511017noreply@blogger.com0