The plasticity of rock

[Woodbeef]

Andrew Hall: Earth's Cyclone-Sheared Surface | Space News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L98P6cvhyx8

Andrew Hall compares Jupiter's cloud-fomations with formations in earth's rocky landscapes. It's thrilling, really. What really dumbfounds me, is the tremedous plasticity of the rocks this presupposes. It's difficult to grasp. But thank you, Andrew. You rock!

[JP Michael]

I'm even more surprised someone hasn't gone and tried to replicate it in laboratory conditions by exposing rock to extreme electric fields/currents. I'm 100% certain basalt could be turned back into lava if enough electric charge were pumped into it, and sandstone would bend like plastic under adequate electrical stress. Exactly what those stresses are remains unexplored, to my knowledge.

Jacob Gable has done a lot of experiments in a vacuum chamber with sand (and gloriously wet sand), but I don't think he has done anything with solid rock yet.

It all seems interrelated from my perspective. What is happening above the ground via interaction with extremely electrified winds in ancient superstorms is also happening simultaneously underground as electric current in the earth's crust tries to find its own way of balancing itself out. This is mostly via explosive volcanism, the earth's version of cometary 'cosmic jets' seen so clearly in Gable's apparatus.

[Osmosis]

I recall that some extreme pressure experiments were done on dolomite (I think) at the University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, in about 1970. I don't know if they saw plasticity in rock, at that time.
Osmosis

[GaryN]

In an EU model this would be magneto[plasticity and electroplasticity.

[Woodbeef]

Gosh, there's so much to read up on in this. This will take like forever... But I guess that's what paradigm-shifts is about; the entire understanding needs to be re-shaped.

Jacob Gable has done a lot of experiments in a vacuum chamber with sand (and gloriously wet sand), but I don't think he has done anything with solid rock yet.

Is it me, or do we see hints of double layers in the sparks on the hot-spots in Jacob Gable's experiment there - like we saw on the Safire Sun when they increased the power? In case: Could one expect some of the same effects like they've seen, as in finding previously undetected atomic elements? I mean.. produced 'naturally' in the earth's crust?

[Edit: - and could geologists search for those in nature to find cross-disciplinary and empirical support for the theory?]

[JP Michael]

finding previously undetected atomic elements? I mean.. produced 'naturally' in the earth's crust?

[Edit: - and could geologists search for those in nature to find cross-disciplinary and empirical support for the theory?]

Very much so. Andy mentions in one of his videos (Electric Earth - EU2017 - 39:09 and following), that during the process of a geological mineral survey the geologists deliberately search for specific features known as 'karst' or 'breccia pipes', demarkated by their signature dipolar magnetism. Hall posits that they are associated with subterranean-surface electrical discharge channels. It is those locations that they will typically find heavy and rare earth metals in abundance. You can read further discussion and experiments here.

The reason all the metals get attracted to those discharge channels is simple physics. Metals, and especially heavy metals, have lower ionisation potentials. They will be the first to get ionised and carried along by a subterranean electrical discharge of considerable magnitude. When the channel discharges into the atmosphere (violently as a volcano, usually), the ground charge balances (somewhat, even if temporarily) and the metallic ions still caught in the upward channel return to their solid state in-situ as the electrical energies calm. And that is where the geologists still find them today.

I suspect the core of earth may actually be a super-dense plasma, consisting mostly of iron ions with many other heavy and rare earth elements also present.

[Woodbeef]

Oh, I must dive into that one. Thank you, JP!

So, dipolar magnetism in karst and breccias is a signature for a discharge locality. And if they dig on discharge-spots for present day lightning, and find a pristine ('freshly made') channel or spot - and dipolar magnetism, then one could expect to find heavy and rare earths elements...? ...or not, as modern day discharges are not like those from primordial times... But then one could at least quantify this effect from the lightning power on different substrates. And possibly estimate the degree of novel formation of rare earths and heavy metals?

I guess you know the aphorism saying we are all made of 'star-stuff,' meaning there are elements here that could only have been made by the sun. - which hasn't gone nova yet (fortunately... hehe). If those elements can be found in pristine lightning-spots, and be reasonably explained as been formed right there, then we won't need an hypothetical nova or aphorism to explain their presence.

But my guess is that... those, whoose shoulders we all stand on, already thought of this. Which is a nice thought, really...

[JP Michael]

And if they dig on discharge-spots for present day lightning, and find a pristine ('freshly made') channel or spot - and dipolar magnetism, then one could expect to find heavy and rare earths elements...? ...or not, as modern day discharges are not like those from primordial times... But then one could at least quantify this effect from the lightning power on different substrates. And possibly estimate the degree of novel formation of rare earths and heavy metals?

The issue is magnitude. The currents that pulsed through the earth and accumulated material in primordial times were many magnitudes more powerful than a lightning bolt from today's terrestrial thunderstorms. While I won't discount the possibility that one can find accumulation of metals in a fulgurite (lightning strike), the magnitude is such that you will not find anything worth mining.

The primordial currents were something else besides, leaving significant pockets of minerals in easy-discernable locations. Unless we see a return of planetary catastrophism and its intense electrical phenomenon, we will not see a return of this magnitude of metal deposition by electrical current in the earth's crust. It is important to realise that current flows in the earth just as much as it flows in the atmosphere (air). Its manifestations are different; air breeds storm cells and lightning; earth breeds magma, earthquakes and volcanism.

I happen to believe we will see a return of such catastrophism in the near-future, but that is a discussion for another thread.