The Earth's Pulse: 27.5 million years

Laura

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The blind leading the blind.



Our planet's geological heart beats at a rhythmic pace.

Most major geological events in Earth's recent history have clustered in 27.5-million-year intervals — a pattern that scientists are now calling the "pulse of the Earth," according to a new study.


Over the past 260 million years, dozens of major geological events, from sea level changes to volcanic eruptions, seem to follow this rhythmic pattern.

"For quite a long time, some geologists have wondered whether there's a cycle of around 30 million years in the geologic record," said lead author Michael Rampino, a professor in the departments of biology and environmental studies at New York University. But until recently, poor dating of such events made the phenomenon difficult to study quantitatively.

"Many, but maybe even most, [geologists] would say that geological events are largely random," Rampino told Live Science. In the new study, Rampino and his team conducted a quantitative analysis to see if they were indeed random or if there was an underlying pattern.


The team first scoured the literature and found 89 major geological events that occurred in the past 260 million years. These included extinctions, ocean anoxic events (times when the oceans were toxic due to oxygen depletion), sea level fluctuations, major volcanic activity called flood-basalt eruptions and changes in the organization of Earth's tectonic plates.


Then, the researchers put the events in chronological order and used a mathematical tool known as Fourier analysis to pick up spikes in the frequency of events. They discovered that most of these events clustered into 10 separate times that were, on average, 27.5 million years apart. That number may not be "exact," but it's a "pretty good estimate" with a 96% confidence interval, meaning it's "unlikely to be a coincidence," Rampino said.

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The researchers looked only at the past 260 million years — when the dating of such events is most accurate — but they think the results likely extend further back in our planet's history. For example, data from sea level changes go back around 600 million years and also seem to follow this pulse, Rampino said.

It's not clear what's causing such a pulse in geological activity, but it could be internally driven by plate tectonics and movement inside the mantle, the researchers wrote in the study. Or it could have something to do with the movement of Earth in the solar system and the galaxy, Rampino said. For example, the 27.5 million year pulse is close to the 32 million year vertical oscillation around the midplane of the galaxy, according to the study.


One theory is that the solar system sometimes moves through planes containing larger amounts of dark matter in the galaxy, Rampino said. When the planet moves through dark matter, it absorbs it; large amounts of captured dark matter can annihilate and release heat, which can produce a pulse of geological heating and activity, Rampino said. Perhaps this interaction with large amounts of dark matter correlates with the pulse of the Earth, Rampino said. (But of course, this is just a theory. Scientists still don’t know what dark matter is made of, and don’t know how it’s distributed in the solar system.)

Rampino and his team hope to get even better data on the dating of certain geological events and plan to analyze a longer time period to see if the pulse extends further back in time. They also hope that if, one day, they can get better numbers on the astronomical movements of Earth through the solar system and the Milky Way, they can see if there's any correlation in the astronomical and geological cycles.

In any case, if such a pattern exists, the last cluster was about 7 million to 10 million years ago, so the next one would likely come in 10 million to 15 million years, Rampino said.

The findings were published online June 17 in the journal Geoscience Frontiers.

Originally published on Live Science.
 
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I perfectly agree with you, @Laura, when you said that the blind are leading the blind. Moreover, recently, the geological community communication can be described as a case of the blind speaking to the deaf in darkness.
However, the case is, in my honest opinion of a geophysicist that knows geology, having taken it seriously in study and application, the confusion is normal. Geology as science developed from a purely myopic perspective. Naturalists described what they observed, from a 50 cm or less distance ( hand specimens) and then diversified both into the microscopic scale and architectural scale. For some time old maps of the earth were kept in the cognitive distance and new mathematical models for the shape of the Earth were formalised giving a spatial theoretical framework for thinking geology at a scale not capable to be observed. As such, the Geologic Time Scale gospel needed to be created. I insert a link summarizing a bit of what I had to learn.
Geologic time scale - Wikipedia
Of course recently, with the advent of widespread application of remote sensing and GIS, the geological community started to learn to see the Earth from the distance of the stationary satellites that can provide satellite imagery nowadays at cm ground resolution. One can now recognize (within the Geologic Gospel framework) physical expressions of continental collision, of tectonic plate boundaries, and relate them to existing theoretical spatial, temporal-dynamic, and even evolutionary models (continent formation).
The researchers looked only at the past 260 million years — when the dating of such events is most accurate — but they think the results likely extend further back in our planet's history. For example, data from sea level changes go back around 600 million years and also seem to follow this pulse, Rampino said.
Still, Geology has largely remained myopic in its application. Perhaps this article is an attempt to step out of the box. However, as the past 260 Ma can be considered a 'blink' in comparison to the 4550 Ma considered the oldest geologic time allocated for Earth's formation, that kind of pattern recognition cannot be applied to the current Geologic Gospel.

Geology needs a new Gospel, and I hope, in the Age of Aquarius, Humanity will get to the point of creating a more realistic one.
 
The blind leading the blind.



Our planet's geological heart beats at a rhythmic pace.

Most major geological events in Earth's recent history have clustered in 27.5-million-year intervals — a pattern that scientists are now calling the "pulse of the Earth," according to a new study.


Over the past 260 million years, dozens of major geological events, from sea level changes to volcanic eruptions, seem to follow this rhythmic pattern.

"For quite a long time, some geologists have wondered whether there's a cycle of around 30 million years in the geologic record," said lead author Michael Rampino, a professor in the departments of biology and environmental studies at New York University. But until recently, poor dating of such events made the phenomenon difficult to study quantitatively.

"Many, but maybe even most, [geologists] would say that geological events are largely random," Rampino told Live Science. In the new study, Rampino and his team conducted a quantitative analysis to see if they were indeed random or if there was an underlying pattern.

Related: Photos: The world's weirdest geological formations


The team first scoured the literature and found 89 major geological events that occurred in the past 260 million years. These included extinctions, ocean anoxic events (times when the oceans were toxic due to oxygen depletion), sea level fluctuations, major volcanic activity called flood-basalt eruptions and changes in the organization of Earth's tectonic plates.


Then, the researchers put the events in chronological order and used a mathematical tool known as Fourier analysis to pick up spikes in the frequency of events. They discovered that most of these events clustered into 10 separate times that were, on average, 27.5 million years apart. That number may not be "exact," but it's a "pretty good estimate" with a 96% confidence interval, meaning it's "unlikely to be a coincidence," Rampino said.


A new study finds that major geological events occurred in clusters every 27.5 million years.


The researchers looked only at the past 260 million years — when the dating of such events is most accurate — but they think the results likely extend further back in our planet's history. For example, data from sea level changes go back around 600 million years and also seem to follow this pulse, Rampino said.

It's not clear what's causing such a pulse in geological activity, but it could be internally driven by plate tectonics and movement inside the mantle, the researchers wrote in the study. Or it could have something to do with the movement of Earth in the solar system and the galaxy, Rampino said. For example, the 27.5 million year pulse is close to the 32 million year vertical oscillation around the midplane of the galaxy, according to the study.


One theory is that the solar system sometimes moves through planes containing larger amounts of dark matter in the galaxy, Rampino said. When the planet moves through dark matter, it absorbs it; large amounts of captured dark matter can annihilate and release heat, which can produce a pulse of geological heating and activity, Rampino said. Perhaps this interaction with large amounts of dark matter correlates with the pulse of the Earth, Rampino said. (But of course, this is just a theory. Scientists still don’t know what dark matter is made of, and don’t know how it’s distributed in the solar system.)

Rampino and his team hope to get even better data on the dating of certain geological events and plan to analyze a longer time period to see if the pulse extends further back in time. They also hope that if, one day, they can get better numbers on the astronomical movements of Earth through the solar system and the Milky Way, they can see if there's any correlation in the astronomical and geological cycles.

In any case, if such a pattern exists, the last cluster was about 7 million to 10 million years ago, so the next one would likely come in 10 million to 15 million years, Rampino said.

The findings were published online June 17 in the journal Geoscience Frontiers.

Originally published on Live Science.
Putting aside all the PR gloss of the article and possible interpretations there like "Earth's pulse", this time interval of 27.5 My in average between clusters of geological events, obtained by Fourier analysis which suggests a periodic nature, sounds to me pretty darn close to 27 My orbital cycle of Sun's dark star companion, as proposed by the C's. Another hit for them? :)
 
They seem to be pulling out all sorts of funny explanations just not to have to go down the road of comets and other bodies creating havoc in the skies. Also very funny that they pull out dark matter out of their hat - convenient.
 
They seem to be pulling out all sorts of funny explanations just not to have to go down the road of comets and other bodies creating havoc in the skies. Also very funny that they pull out dark matter out of their hat - convenient.

The article is talking about geological events such as volcanism which are not generally seen as being related to cosmic activity. Few if any mainstream scientists are working in a holistic paradigm in which cometary bombardment, solar activity, and geological upheaval (together with biological, sociopolitical, and spiritual changes) are expected to correlate together. Point being, I don't think the authors are desperately trying to avoid thinking about comets - it just hasn't occurred to them, because in their worldview there's no reason for a connection.
 
The article is talking about geological events such as volcanism which are not generally seen as being related to cosmic activity. Few if any mainstream scientists are working in a holistic paradigm in which cometary bombardment, solar activity, and geological upheaval (together with biological, sociopolitical, and spiritual changes) are expected to correlate together. Point being, I don't think the authors are desperately trying to avoid thinking about comets - it just hasn't occurred to them, because in their worldview there's no reason for a connection.

I’m not sure I agree to that, mostly given the fact that the cometary impact hypothesis experiences massive, almost hysterical, pushback when even mentioned as a side note. IMHO, if they were so sanguine about it, they would just ignore it.
 
Back in 2007 when studying ice core data, the thoughts of a pulse came to mind. Suggesting this was met with scorn and jeers from the peanut gallery. There definitely is traction here for an open mind. It's meaning and how we are affected is fairly obscure. Interesting!
 
I’m not sure I agree to that, mostly given the fact that the cometary impact hypothesis experiences massive, almost hysterical, pushback when even mentioned as a side note. IMHO, if they were so sanguine about it, they would just ignore it.
Totally agree. That article reads like they are deliberately avoiding asteroid and cometary impacts, given that they talk about "dark matter". So, dark matter in space can cause cataclysms on Earth, but not asteroids or comets? 😂🤣😂

Makes me wonder if "someone" knows that the coming Cosmic Changes are going to be so huge that the "humans dunnit" hypothesis simply won't fly, so they are preparing some damage control explanations.
 
One theory is that the solar system sometimes moves through planes containing larger amounts of dark matter in the galaxy, Rampino said. When the planet moves through dark matter, it absorbs it; large amounts of captured dark matter can annihilate and release heat, which can produce a pulse of geological heating and activity,
I was just reading:

Australia's search for 'dark matter' deep in an old gold mine

and I suddenly got the image that Dark Matter only exists in 4thD. What scientists are observing in our world is merely a "radiation", an effect of 4thD 'dark matter' reflecting upon our 3rdD reality. So its perfectly visible in the much more energized 4thD reality. Our scientists can't see it, so they call it a shadow presence, a dark matter, because only its effects on our reality can be observed, not the thing itself.
 
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