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Himalayan Oceans

23 December 2023
Catastrophism, Geology

Geology throws up some odd data. A lot of it is an interpretation based on theory – or geological gradualism. Plate Tectonics theory is at the heart of this one -go to https://iflscience.com/600-million-year-old-time-capsule-of-ancient-ocean-found-in-the-himalayas-70098 … which begins by saying drops of water found inside mineral deposits are the remnants of an ocean that disappeared 600 million years ago. The minerals in question are a kilometre above sea level. Not even Noah territory.

Around 650 millions years ago, on the geochronology column, the earth experienced a couple of extensive ice ages. The theory of Snow Ball Earth came on the back of this discovery – without actually investigating sites from all around the world. The bigger question is – how did life survive during Snow Ball Earth? Luckily, soon after this cold interval, the so called Second Great Oxygenation Event occurred. It amounts to a rapid increase in atmospheric oxygen – which may be related to a catastrophic event. Mainstream say the source of all that oxygen is also unknown. Geologists looking for clarification journeyed to the Himalayas to find calcium and magnesium carbonate deposits with the  water droplets inside. The rocks, it is believed, matched the time of Snow Ball Earth. What they found was a long period, on the basis of uniformitarian dating of the said rocks, with a diminished amount of calcium. They attributed that to reduced river flow into the sedimentary basin  where the rocks formed. In other words, their findings agree with the idea of Snow Ball Earth locking up water as ice. The rocks had an increased amount of magnesium – and it was those rocks that trapped the water droplets. Looks like Snow Ball Earth is now consensus.

At https://www.iflscience.com/grand-canyons-gap-in-time-a-legacy-of-continental-break-up-60733… as mentioned in previous posts there is more than a billion years of geological history missing from parts of the grand canyon – and some geologists go so far as to say it is also missing in much of the rest of the world. Be  that may one can visualise a major catasttrophic event removing geological layers via water action. This process probably happened on many occasions. However, a billion years is a long time to lose.  Something is amiss. A new study of this conumdrum has a stab at an explanation. It is the result of the break up of the supercontinent Rodinia 700 million years ago. Previously, the gap was known as the Great Unconformity. Other explanations have blamed Snow Ball Earth. Neo-Catastrophists might look at it differently, as unconformities exist elsewhere in the geological record. The Greast Unconformity is however a very big one. Glaciation in Snow Ball Earth looks reasonable – but the break up of continental land masses involve a lot of volcanic and seismic upheaval as well. These studies are useful as they open different doors and it is good to know what modern geologists have to say about these problems.

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