Author: @madridbg, through Power Point 2010, using public domain images.
Welcome dear readers of this prestigious platform, our planet earth is the place that we should consider as our main home and hence the need to take care of it and not attempt against its welfare and balance. However, as is well known, we have done the opposite and our development has been due to a rupture in the carrying capacity of our planet.
In this sense, the objective of the recent publication seeks to generate more information about the evolution of the globe and for this we will not rely on a process that geologists call Permafrost.
If we analyze the meaning of the word we realize that it was coined in mid-1943 by S. W. Muller, it refers to the layer of ice that has remained perennially frozen, without evidence of ice or snow on its surface and which have stored thousands of years of information that can generate a broader view of our evolution.
Fig. 2. The layers of the earth that have been in continuous freezing may be the key to understanding our evolution. Author:Florence D.
Under this conception, a group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute, have discovered a large cave in Canadian territory covering approximately 15 million km2 of permafrost, i.e., soil that has been sedimented and rocks that have been frozen for thousands of years and where carbon concentrations have remained intact, as well as the remains of animals that can give us valuable information about our evolution.
It is currently estimated that there are approximately 1400 gigatons of carbon that we can study and thus reveal valuable information about our origins on earth. However, these expanses of permafrost have been exposed as climate change and rising global temperatures have thawed much of this unexplored territory.
So this period of warming that we are experiencing, are considered as interglacial periods, whose signs of thawing can be seen in the stalagmites and other mineral deposits that are generated when the water generated in the thawing enter the ground and penetrate through the caves. This effect could be counterproductive in the long run, since large amounts of carbon would be released into the atmosphere, which would increase the greenhouse effect on the planet, according to David McGee, co-author of the study.
Fig. 3. Stalagmites are determinant to know the history of the places where they are generated. Author:Simón
So far, studies have been carried out in search of traces of some elements using specific uranium/thorium geochronology techniques to determine the age of the layers where the samples have been collected.
This technique is based on a natural disintegration of uranium on a thorium daughter isotope, where the variation of solubilities makes it possible to determine the ages of the layers where the samples were extracted.
Chemically, the process is based on the dissolution of the sample in various chemical solvents in order to isolate the thorium and uranium, which will then be subjected to mass spectroscopy to determine how long the elements have been in the permafrost layers extracted by each sample.
It is undoubtedly a great research, which has generated much controversy due to the thawing that has been generated, which is a serious threat to the stability of our planet. In this sense, it is appropriate to know your position on the origins of our planet.
BIBLIOGRAPHY CONSULTED
[1] Enrique Serrano Cañadas. Glaciers, Permafrost and Climate Change. Department of Geography, University of Valladolid. Article: Online Access
OF INTEREST
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Grateful with the community @project.hope and with all the management team of the same one that they motivate us to continue working in a mutual and balanced growth.
There is a contradiction in global warming and that is that cold waves are getting stronger and temperatures at that time of the year drop more than usual. Some scientists warn that we are approaching another ice age. There is no doubt that under the ice is the history of the planet but we have dedicated ourselves to other less important things than knowing it. @tipu curate 2
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I confess that although I am an explorer and I have visited a few small caves in national parks, I sin to bring samples (without damaging anything, only what is naturally placed) just for the sake of knowing the structure of the cave and the existing formations. I am neither a scientist nor a geologist, just an observer of the environment. Good analysis of the morphological structure of the cave in question.
Comment by: @hojaraskita