Scientists have linked mass extinctions and climate change over the past 260 million years to massive volcanic eruptions and Earth’s astronomical cycles. The study highlights the role of CO2 emissions in climate change and reveals a complex relationship between Earth’s geology and position in space that is distinct from modern anthropogenic climate change.
New research reveals that Earth’s geological history is tied not only to the planet’s interior, but also to its astronomical movements.
The team of scientists concluded that it has occurred over the past 260 million years and that the mass extinction of life caused during these periods was primarily caused by large-scale volcanic eruptions and the resulting environmental crisis.
The analysis published in the magazine earth science reviews indicate that these eruptions released large amounts of carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in extreme greenhouse climate warming and creating lethal or deadly conditions on Earth.
Astronomical cycles and Earth’s climate
Importantly, these phenomena occur every 26 to 33 million years and coincide with significant changes in the orbits of the solar system’s planets, which follow the same periodic pattern, the researchers added.
“Earth’s geological processes, long thought to be strictly determined by events inside the planet, may actually be controlled by the solar system and Earth’s astronomical cycles. milky way Galaxy,” says Professor Michael Lampino. new york university Department of Biology and senior author of the paper. “Importantly, these forces have converged many times in Earth’s past to predict dramatic changes in climate.”
The researchers, including Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science and geologist Sederia Rodriguez of Barnard College, say their conclusions are unrelated to climate change in the 20th and 21st centuries, and that scientists believe that human It warns that it shows that it is caused by activity. The last studied pulse of volcanic eruptions occurred about 16 million years ago.
But they added that the analysis nevertheless supports the well-established impact of carbon dioxide emissions on climate warming.
Volcanic eruptions and geological phenomena
Researchers have identified Continental Flood Basalt (CFB) eruptions, the largest volcanic eruptions on Earth with lava flows covering nearly 500,000 square miles, and other major geological events over the past 260 million years. focused. These include ocean anoxic events (periods during which the Earth’s oceans are depleted of oxygen, thereby producing toxic water) and the hyperthermal climate pulse, a sudden increase in global temperature and the resulting ocean and periods of mass extinction of non-marine life. .
They found that CFB eruptions frequently coincided with these other deadly geological phenomena, revealing the larger impact of volcanic activity. Its relevance to astronomy is evidenced by its regular, multimillion-year cycles of volcanic activity and extreme weather events, and its similarities with the known orbital periods of the Earth in our solar system and Milky Way galaxy.
The authors found that the correspondence between geological and astrophysical cycles was too close to be a mere coincidence. The big problem they were left with was how The astronomical movements of the planets disrupt the geological engines inside the Earth.
“This is an unexpected connection and predicts a convergence of both astronomy and geology. Events that occur on Earth occur within the context of our astronomical environment,” Rampino said. Observe.
References: “Periods of ~32.5 My and ~26.2 My in correlated episodes of continental flood basalts (CFBs), hyperthermal climate pulses, anoxic oceans, and mass extinctions over the past 260 My years: geological and astronomical cycles. Relationships” by Michael R. Rampino, Ken Caldeira, and Cederia Rodriguez, September 25, 2023. earth science reviews. DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104548
Source: scitechdaily.com
