Earth - tectonics and geology

[nick c]

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Geologists at the University of Illinois have confirmed the discovery of Earth’s inner, innermost core, and have created a three-dimensional model that describes the seismic anisotropy and texturing of iron crystals within the inner core.

coreA
coreB
coreC
coreD
3D illustrations of the Earth’s inner core structure and the texturing of its iron crystals. The transparent outer surface is the inner core boundary (at radius 1220 km). The opaque inner sphere is the inner inner core (slightly less than half of the inner core radius) found in this study. The sticks represent the alignments of iron crystals in the outer part of the inner core. The longer the stick is, the higher the degree of alignment is and the stronger the seismic anisotropy is. The fast direction is parallel to the spin axis. The illustration A is a 3D view. The illustrations B, C, and D are cut-away views along the longitudes as labeled. The labels NP and SP stands for the North Pole and the South Pole, respectively. The anisotropy at the top 100 km is weak. The anisotropy at greater depth is stronger in the western part than in the eastern part. The form of anisotropy in the inner inner core is different from that in the outer part.

Composed mainly of iron, Earth’s core consists of a solid inner core about 2,400 kilometers in diameter and a fluid outer core about 7,000 kilometers in diameter. The inner core plays an important role in the geodynamo that generates Earth’s magnetic field.

The solid inner core is elastically anisotropic; that is, seismic waves have different speeds along different directions. The anisotropy has been found to change with hemisphere and with radius

The layering of the core is interpreted as different texturing, or crystalline phase, of iron in the inner core, the researchers say.

“Our results suggest the outer inner core is composed of iron crystals of a single phase with different degrees of preferred alignment along Earth’s spin axis,” Sun said. “The inner inner core may be composed of a different phase of crystalline iron or have a different pattern of alignment.”

Although the anisotropy of the inner core was proposed 20 years ago, “this is the first time we have been able to piece everything together to create a three-dimensional view,” Song said. “This view should help us better understand the character, mineral properties and evolution of Earth’s inner core.”

http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/08/0310core.html

[rangerover777]

Hi all,

About the earth liquid metal core, that moves separately from
earth crust - I have a lot of doubts. Science claim that earth
core is Iron-Nickel alloy which consist 35% of the mass of the
earth (in the crust - 5%).

The temperature range between 5,000c - 6,000c, the
pressure 3,000,000 Atm. The melting point is 1,536c and
the boiling 2,862c

As we know, molten iron loses it's magnetic properties at
certain temperature, so where the magnets that create gravity
coming from ?

Also at 3,000,000 Atm iron must be solid, so what is
a molten/solid state ? if there such a thing.

One of the reasons science cannot connect between gravity
and magnetism is because they think magnets attracts only
ferromagnetic elements and not wood or stone.
No #2 is the theory that mass attracts mass is missing something.

Ed's (Leedskalnin) theory that in the middle of the earth there is a
very dense matter(more then Uranium), that condensed due to
the pressure and heat cause by the circulation of the magnets
through the core.

And due to the constant bursts of the crushed Uranium atoms,
which sends the magnets outwards and these magnets create gravity
by attracting everything in front of them (on the account that every matter
contained both North and South pole individual magnets).

I'm not saying that he is right, but it seems "finished",
integrated theory that backed-up by nature.

[Kapriel]

In the article I read, they had their theoretical crystals forming up in parallel theoretical lines, which again wouldn't be possible in that kind of intense heat (theoretically).

If crystals at or near the core don't explain the more rapid passing of seismic waves from north to south than from east to west (which was why they proposed crystals 'had' to be there in the first place), then what does explain it?

An electrified core, responding to the passage of a Birkeland current through the north and south poles (again, through them, not around them) could explain it. Question is: COULD a Birkeland current act like that?

In his recent article on Enceladus, Wal Thornhill wrote:

“I explained in January, 'The polar hot spot and long-lived hexagonal feature result from a continuous electric current flowing from the Sun into the pole of Saturn. The hot spot will remain for as long as the Sun shines electrically.' Now, what do we find encircling the ‘hot’ south pole of Enceladus but another polygonal feature."
(http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=xcafwdgn)



In another article, Wal Thornhill also explains:

Now, in plasma experiments where a magnetized ball is placed in a vacuum and subjected to an electric discharge, the ball has a plasma torus form around the equator - which then discharges to the mid-latitudes of the ball. Can it be that volcanoes here on Earth are connected to electrical activity in space via the lightning above them? Are volcanoes a result of an underground electrical discharge? Also, lightning and strange electrical and magnetic effects are often reported to precede and accompany strong earthquakes. Are earthquakes a different manifestation of the same phenomena?

I do not know how lightning can discharge from under the ground, though I don't doubt Wal's explanation. An electrical current running through the core of Earth could easily account for the increased speed of seismic waves traveling north to south vs those going east to west, without our having to theorize the presence of crystals. It would also free us of the necessity for creating a dynamo that cannot be sustained without a constant inflow of additional energy.

Trouble is...Anthony Peratt's papers seem to imply that the ancient plasma sheath surrounded the Earth, like a plasma 'sock', with relativistic particles following magnetic field lines- entering near the south pole and exiting above the north pole. At no time (so far as I know) does he say that they could have also traveled through. It could be a mistake to think they could have passed through the planet itself, but it certainly could simplify a great many controversies if it were true, such as why earthquakes tend to be pre-ceeded by ionospheric density spikes (notably of the radioactive element, radon).

[Lloyd]

- The pre-crash forum had a good thread on geodes and similar formations. It looks like that thread has not been recovered. On the EU board I started a thread on Complete Gamut of ED Effects re galaxies, stars, planets, planetoids etc. I intended to post this message on geodes there, but it seems more appropriate for planetary science.
- Below are excerpts from TPODs re concretions. My intent is to classify the range of types of concretions, or spherules, formed by ED and try to glean some clues re how they're formed. The last TPOD below is about the cavern of huge crystals in Mexico. I found a couple of sites that have more excellent photos. See the links below. Has anyone determined yet how such huge crystals form by ED? I also found sites about oil and water-filled geodes and gemstones. See links.
Mar 28, 2005
- *concretions are often composed of minerals different from the primary constituent of the stratum in which they lie. Many are formed from carbonates, but others of iron ore or silica and other varieties as large as 10 feet in diameter. They are often layered like an onion. Inside their spherical shells, some are hollow, others contain crystals, sandstone, or even petroleum. virtually all concretions are harder and more durable than their surroundings. concretions are confined to specific areas. The layers in which they are embedded are often level and undistorted around the concretions. not all concretions are spherical, and some take very odd shapes. One cluster had long handles perfectly parallel and horizontal, point[ing] north.
- *blueberries are blue-grey spherules on Mars - the fused layers of Martian soil around the spherules look very much like the glassy fused material of fulgurites created by lightning strikes. The small spheres stand out, but we also see fused globules of material where a diffuse electrical discharge lacked the intensity to create discrete spheres. Diffuse discharges are not homogeneous but consist of smaller-scale channels that vary in intensity. Trapped gases may not have time to be released before the molten surface has solidified.

Aug 27, 2004
- *blueberries - BB-sized spheres scattered all over Meridiana Planum were nicknamed "*blueberries" because of their grey-blue color and the way they are embedded in the Martian rocks "like blueberries in a muffin." were identified as hematite - *concretions.
- *Moqui balls from Utah are hematite spheres with sandstone cores
- *geodes,
- *thunder eggs, and *concretions as large as ten feet in diameter. many of the spheres are layered or hollow or even contain a separate "nut" rattling around inside. Many are pressurized and squirt when the shell is cut. Most of them are clustered in zones, not randomly distributed.
- *hailstones: a giant hailstone produced by a Midwestern thunderstorm is also similar in form to the cauliflower-like shell and inward growing crystals of a geode.

Jun 29, 2007
- *Stone Eggs: large stone spheres in China - evidence that the spheres either “fell from heaven” or were formed in mysterious and possibly catastrophic events. The stones are of various sizes and are so numerous that the hill in which they were discovered was called a “stone egg mountain.” A similar grouping of stone spheres has been found in the Bosnian pyramid structure. ranging in size from a few inches to several feet in diameter, the spheres are remarkably similar to ones found buried in Costa Rica.
- glassified spherules are created with high voltage discharges - several kinds of “stone egg”:
- *Moqui balls – iron spheres with sandstone cores, *cannonballs, blueberries, thunder eggs, *Apache tears and geodes. Many of them are hollow inside. And mysteriously, geodes found in Illinois and neighboring regions of Iowa and Missouri are filled with oil under pressure.
- http://www.geodegallery.com/keokuk.html
Keokuk geodes are also found containing water, and in at least one area bitumen (oil). ... Some resemble fossils (photo of Keokuk geode resembling a horn coral fossil) [looks like a snail shell too - LK].
- http://www.gamineral.org/enhydros.html
Mineral dealers at rock shows will occasionally offer specimens labeled enhydros for sale. What they are selling are typically quartz crystals with liquid inclusions. Within the liquid is a tiny bubble and if you tip the crystal back and forth the bubble will move. Scientists call these trapped liquids and their bubbles fluid inclusions. They are quite common. The white color of milky quartz is due to thousands or perhaps millions of microscopic fluid inclusions. Gemologists see inclusions when they look at certain gemstones (emerald is a good example) with a microscope. The liquid is not always water. A common fluid in ore forming processes is salty water. some inclusions trap hot salt water. When the salt water cools and contracts it forms a bubble and The salt begins to crystallize out as a halite crystal within the fluid, which in turn is trapped in the quartz crystal. Other things found in these fluid inclusions are carbon in fluids in Herkimer diamonds (doubly terminated quartz crystals from Herkimer, New York) and oil in fluorite from Elmwood, Tennessee. (Oil often fluoresces – check out your fluorite!) There are many more examples of wild stuff trapped in minerals. the fluid in the inclusion is an actual sample of fluid in which the mineral was growing! For this reason fluid inclusions are geochemical time capsules for scientists. an enhydros is “a hollow nodule or geode of chalcedony containing water, sometimes in large amounts.” This is different from the fluid inclusions that we have been talking about - chalcedony is a microcrystalline, fibrous variety of quartz made up of hundreds or thousands of tiny elongated quartz crystals.
- http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf131/sf131p08.htm - A Brobdingnagian Geode
geodes found near Niota Illinois are filled with solid tar or liquid bitumen.
- http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/DisplayArticleForFree.cfm?doi=CA8824200810&JournalCode=CA
Crystallised Paraffin in Geodes in a Basaltic Lava. -In a part of the basaltic lava, at Paternh, in the neighbourhood of Etna, small geodes occur about 1 cm in diameter, filled with solid crystallised paraffin. It is in the form of large yellowish-white pellucid plates of waxy appearance. It was from this same lava that the author formerly extracted a paraffin oil, from which a solid paraffin was separated.
- Chemical Nature of Liquid Inclosures found in Crystals of Native Sulphur. -Some crystals of sulphur from the Solfara, in Catania, Sicily, were found to contain inclosures of a liquid, also gaseous bubbles. laminae under the microscope seen traversed by numerous tubular cavities likewise filled with an aqueous solution containing sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium sulphate, calcium chloride, barium and strontium chlorides.

Mar 25, 2005
- *Blueberries are embedded in what appears to be fused layers of soil that are exposed on the margins of the crater. were identified as “hematite concretions”. Hematite is an iron-rich mineral and is the primary constituent of the soil surrounding the blueberries.

Mar 27, 2007
- *Iapetus: The distinctive ridge around Saturn’s moon Iapetus bears an eerie similarity to equatorial ridges around concretions on Earth.
- *sandstone concretion was found on a farm near the Red River in Texas, and the
- *hematite Moqui marble was found in Utah
- *spheres with equatorial ridges
- Significant patterns already observed include concentric layering of different materials, radial structures, and polar markings. Similarities with
- *tektites, glassy spherules
- The abstract for a paper, showing that electric discharge can produce some of the mysterious spheres found on Earth without water can be seen here. http://absimage.aps.org/image/MWS_APR05-2004-000006.pdf

Dec 07, 2007
- *Electric Caverns
- *gigantic uplifts such as Shiprock and the Brandberg Massif
- *Grand Canyon, caves and caverns
- Lichtenberg figures etched into soils and rocks
- plasma forms "tufts" and "blooms" of electricity as in "plasma sphere" devices
- the majority of caverns contain mineralogical samples that cannot be defined through the corrosive action of water
- Giant Crystals Cave in the Naica Mine of Chihuahua, Mexico has mineral deposits of enormous size, as well as delicate flowers and wisps of crystal - formed out of semiconductor materials: selenite, calcium carbonate, silicon dioxide and lead sulfides. The crystal matrix shown above is an example of the "spray" that might have been created when a powerful electric current exploded out of the rock face into a void beneath the surface.
- The nuclei of charged particles could have been carried along with the current flow and either ionized by the passage of electricity, or forced out of solution within the solid medium. The filaments of energy flew out of a central point and then crossed empty air seeking the path of least resistance, whereupon they continued into the stone, impacting at multiple locations. Wherever the electric arcs passed they left behind consolidated crystals condensed along their interior trackways.
- Jenolan Caves near Sydney, Australia has Clear helicites everywhere with mind-boggling shapes that defy gravity. Some of the chambers within the cave complex are etched with Lichtenberg figures and upright columns of translucent gypsum crystal.
- *Fulgurites, or the fused trackway of lightning bolts through refractory minerals, are common in Jenolan and in most other caverns. Could
- *stalactites and stalagmites found therein actually be the remains of fulgurites? As we have suggested in the past, some geographical features, like rivers, may have "adopted" discharge channels after they were excavated by a plasma blast. Perhaps drops of water roll down stalactites after their formation as fulgurites?
- Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico - in one of its vast rooms are thickets of gypsum blossoms like small crystal bushes. Merely walking too close is enough for them to collapse with tiny tinkling sounds. has "boreholes" as well - horizontal tunnel that penetrates for miles into the rock - exhibits a helical shape - a spinning electric arc blasting out the material as it spiraled through the strata.
- In Mexico is Cave of Swallows, a favorite place for jumpers because it is 875 meters deep, similar to the "skylights" discovered on Mars.
- http://vibrate.wordpress.com/2007/09/02/naica-mine
- http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/mystical-crystal-cave-of-giants-uncovered/weird-science
- http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf131/sf131p08.htm
4 kilometers from Almeria, in north-eastern Spain, was found a veritable crystal cave Inside a giant geode lined with near-perfect, transparent crystals of gypsum, some of which are 11 feet long.

[Steve Smith]

Has anyone determined yet how such huge crystals form by ED?

As far as I know, Lloyd, and according to Wal Thornhill and some Electric Universe oriented geologists, I'm the first one to make the suggestion. The method I proposed was given the go ahead by them, but no one really knows for sure. Since most of us are conditioned by childhood "science" we rarely consider the everyday, commonly accepted ideas about things. A case in point is cavern formation -- stalactites and stalagmites for example.

The giant stalagmite in Jenolan Caves is an anomaly. It has no stalactite above it, nor is there a source of dripping water to slowly, over the eons, deposit atom-sized limestone specks on its apex. It strongly resembles some features that adorn the Amazonian tepuis..

The DeBarge Borehole in Lechugilla is another weird anomaly. A 5-kilometer-long horizontal tunnel with a helical cross-section in a cavern that is dry as a bone.

It isn't so much as trying to figure out how things work, it's more like winnowing out the ways that they don't work. Like Doyle put in the mouth of Sherlock Holmes:

When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains -- however improbable -- must be the truth.

The impossibilty of water acting to form the 20 meter selenite crystals in Naica or to precipitate a 1 meter halite crystal made me start thinking about alternatives.

[Lloyd]

- It seems to be much easier to imagine "Stalactagmites" [to coin a new word] being formed by electric discharge, than to imagine the big straight, long, geometric crystals being formed that way. Apparently, the same process may be involved in forming snowflakes, since the crystals resemble straight portions of snowflakes. Do you have a detailed explanation of the process to offer? It's just hard to see how E.D. can produce such straight forms, although I guess there are quite a few straight and square carvings on Mars that TPODs attribute to EDM.

[Steve Smith]

Speaking of snowflakes:



Weird Snowflake

There are many geological formations that look like thin hard layers of rock on top and bottom, with pillars of stone like a thicket deposited between them. Many look like this ice crystal. I don't see why ice or quartz might behave differently -- they're both plasmas since they aren't electrically neutral substances...

[bboyer]

Speaking of snowflakes:

See also thread Recovered: Snowflakes

[Lloyd]

The Weird Snowflake link says Forbidden! Is there another link?

[heretic5]

http://www.physorg.com/news131894008.html
offers a report about a discovery by some geologists that some mountains were uplifted faster than previously believed. Yes, I realize that they have not yet grasped the true rapidity with which mountains can be uplifted; but they are moving in the right direction, yes?

[Daniel Downs]

In regard to the large stalagmite with no stalagtite buddy to feed it, it is easy to make some of these for yourself,get a glass of water and keep stirring salt into it until it wont dissolve plus a couple extra teaspoons for good measure, then leave it on your window sill to evaporate.
No matter how small the initial stalagmite is it is a base for more material to build on.
I figure the cave was repeatedly filled and evaporated over time each time depositing more material.
The building of crysals has a lot to do with the crystal stucture,take the salt for example it has a cubic structure so tends to precipitate into steep little mountains as all the tiny cubic salt crystals stack onto each other, large quartz crystals however mirror the shape of quartz's trigonal crystal structure.
When geodes are formed(at least the ones i hunt for here in Taranaki) they seem to begin life most often as a tree, the tree is ground down into rounded shapes(in the sea or a river or both), im guessing resinous knots survive this process best, the rounded wood is then inpregnated with fine silica silt, then it is deposited into a river bank to cook for a while just like the organic matter in my compost heap, once all of the matter has been broken down by bacteria,heat and possibly pressure(if its deep enough) mainly silica remains, if it is a light porous peice of wood its more likely to leave less evidence that it was wood,where knotty bits tend to keep the original colour and stucture of the tree i.e. still have their rings,peices of wood in all parts on the way to this process of silicification can be observed where i go rock hunting, Arizona has a petified forest where whole logs are preserved in this way,still retaining their bark and ring stucture.

Im also interested in your explanation of the Moeraki boulders, i find boulders like these in the sedimentary papa in Taranaki,the boulders are found in a range of hardnesses ranging from straight papa(i.e. greasy when wet powdery when dry)to a much more solid form that chips of in sharp flakes and has definately become stone, not all of them are round but most are perfect balls, when you smash them open they contain some crabs but mostly large scallop type shells.
Massey University came to my cousins farm in Stratford to collect a bunch of these balls to take back and study, oddly when my cousin asked them how they were formed they replied " from the bodys of the scallops etc rolling and collecting more papa as they go, in a sluice of papa" and then added and this is the odd bit "it shows a record of when New Zealand flipped upside down, it happened twice that we know of." flipped upside down?!? how the hell can it flip upside down? this is an idiotic theory, ive thought long and hard about this and here is the process i can up with:
I figure at the time of the forming of the papa balls the area would have been a tidal mudflat, things die and sink to the bottom of the mud forming a layer of sorts at the bottom of dead marine creatures and other matter,this layer starts to break down due to bacteria and form gas, the gas unable to escape between the layers of material and mud breaks of a chunk and it proceeds to head upwards toward the surface, in this slow process it forms into a bubble as it breaks away from the bottom(like a lava lamp) this bubble never reaches the surface instead settling about half way between the warmer decaying bottom material and the cold river cooled mud at the top, the level in which it settles determines its hardness because the peices ive found that never quite seperate from the bottom layer to become a bubble are by far the hardest, they are typically flat bottemed and boulbus at the other end.

[Daniel Downs]

I figure electricity is one explanation for the supposedly endless geometric forms a snowflake can make, altough i suspect denstiy of the air in which it forms,the pressure, height, windspeed, and chemical composure of the ice also are equally contributing factors. Same goes with formation of crystals of quartz,altough quartz is obviously more sensitive to the electricity than most things given that it is peizo-electric.

[flyingcloud]

Electronic Heat Trap Grips Deep Earth: Current Models Of Mantle Dynamics Challenged
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 140404.htm

[MGmirkin]

Electronic Heat Trap Grips Deep Earth: Current Models Of Mantle Dynamics Challenged
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 140404.htm

Interesting...

The scientists, including a co-author who was an NSF-sponsored summer college intern Benjamin Haugen, found that heat absorption is governed by the concentration of ferric (Fe3+) iron in silicate perovskite and ferropericlase. Their results for silicate perovskite in the visible and near infrared showed that heat absorption is dominated by the transfer of electron charges during oxidation—the process of electron loss—in the oxide O-Fe 3+.

"Our results show that the conductivity of heat in this part of the lower Earth is driven by the amount of ferric iron in the mantle and the process of losing and gaining electrons," said co-author Viktor Struzhkin. "We'll need to use this new collection of information to reexamine how mantle plumes and other dynamic features of this remote realm are affected."

Thanks for the news link!

Regards,
~Michael Gmirkin

[GaryN]

If we are going to accept that we live in an electric universe, then shouldn't we also consider that we live on an electric earth?
I dont know how the experts can say for sure what lies at the 600 to 2900 Km depths within the earth, the deepest we can be sure of is the Kola borehole at 12 Km or so. If what us EUers believe is true, then the experts are wrong about the surface of the earth (and other planets), nevermind what goes on deep below!