Tag Archives: deposits

Incredible Amber Deposits Have Preserved Insects Since the Dinosaur Era

Posted on by
Reply

Amber-preserved midge discovered in Ecuador

Mónica Solórzano-Kraemer

A remarkable collection of insects and a spider web encased in amber from 112 million years ago has been discovered in quarries within the Amazon rainforest.

Xavier Delclòs from the University of Barcelona, along with his team, learned that amber—resulting from fossilized tree resin—had been unearthed from the Genobeva quarry in eastern Ecuador’s Oriente Basin, prompting them to investigate the site in 2022.

The amber from this region is believed to originate from the resin of coniferous trees from the Araucaria family, prominent when modern-day Ecuador was part of the ancient Gondwana Supercontinent.

Amber deposits are sourced from two primary origins: the tree crown and the roots. Substances from the ground may entrap remnants of insects and other organisms in resin, later turning into amber—a process known as Bioin Crucion.

While most amber found in the quarry originated from underground sources, during initial diggings, the team collected 60 notable pieces of ground amber for further study in the lab.

Over a third of these specimens showcased the bioencapsulation of various insects, plants, and even spider webs, dating back to the Cretaceous period, particularly from the Mozazo era. “This is the first time [Mesozoic] amber with insects and spider biopackages has been discovered in South America, and they are certainly new species,” states Delclòs.

The insect specimens included diverse species of flies, bees, beetles, and mosquitoes. All thrived in a humid forest environment during the age of dinosaurs, likely near abundant lakes, rivers, and marshes necessary for some species’ life cycles.

Polypore beetle encased in amber discovered in Ecuador

Enrique Peñalver

Visitors to the site are definitely advised to use insect repellent. “And perhaps look for a way to avoid encounters with carnivorous dinosaurs,” he humorously suggests.

“Some mosquitoes exhibit blood-feeding behavior, implying that they at one time relied on vertebrate blood, possibly from birds or non-avian dinosaurs,” he notes.

However, the dinosaur DNA that mosquitoes may have ingested from amber is likely compromised by the chemical properties of resin. “We cannot recreate a Jurassic Park from Cretaceous amber, certainly not with current techniques,” Delclòs remarks.

Dinosaur exploration in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Join an exciting and immersive expedition into the remains of dinosaurs in the vast expanse of the Gobi Desert, known for its rich paleontological history.

Topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Cretaceous Marine Deposits Reveal Evidence of a Massive Ancient Tsunami

Posted on by
Reply

Significant amber deposits found in northern Japan may have been propelled from the forest into the sea by tsunamis occurring between 116 million and 114 million years ago during the early Cretaceous period. This is according to a recent study conducted by geological surveys at Japan and Chuo University.

Amber deposits from Sichuan Quarry in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Image credit: Kubota et al. , doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-96498-2.

Identifying traces of ancient tsunamis can be challenging, as the powerful waves tend to reshape coastlines. The sediment left behind often resembles deposits created by other high-energy events, like storms.

Nevertheless, amber, which originates on land and is then transported to the sea, acts as a historical record of tsunami occurrences, illuminating the physical processes influencing sediment movement during these events.

“A tsunami is a destructive ocean wave primarily caused by significant changes in submarine or coastal crust, as well as impacts from asteroids,” explains Dr. Aya Kubota, a researcher at geological surveys at Japan and Chuo University.

“They have been extensively studied during the Holocene (the last 11,700 years) due to their relevance in disaster prevention.”

“Aside from asteroid sediments, accurately identifying ancient tsunamis before major vegetation growth is extremely difficult for two key reasons.”

“First, coastal tsunami deposits are easily eroded in their dynamic environments. Second, well-defined criteria for identifying tsunami deposits have not been established, as they can be difficult to differentiate from other high-energy coastal events, such as cyclones.”

In their research, Dr. Kubota and colleagues examined amber-rich silica deposits from the Shiko River Quarry in northern Hokkaido, which formed during the early Cretaceous period around 115 million years ago.

Using fluorescence imaging, the authors discovered that the amber samples exhibited clear deformation in what is known as the flame structure. This occurs when the amber is still pliable at the time of deposition, allowing it to change shape before solidifying.

This suggests that a substantial quantity of amber was swiftly transported from land into the open ocean due to the backwash from one or more tsunamis, experiencing minimal exposure to air.

The amber then settled at the seabed, becoming covered with a layer of silt, which helped to preserve it.

“Other terrestrial sediments carried into open water could be instrumental in studying significant ancient catastrophic events, such as tsunamis,” the researchers concluded.

Their study was published in the journal Scientific Reports on May 15th.

____

A. Kubota et al. 2025. Amber, a deep-sea sediment from the Cretaceous period, reveals a massive tsunami. Sci Rep 15, 14298; doi:10.1038/s41598-025-96498-2

Source: www.sci.news

The abundance of ice deposits on the Moon is greater than initially believed

Posted on by
Reply
Previous studies have found signs of ice in permanently shadowed regions near the moon’s south pole, including areas within the Cabeus, Howarth, Shoemaker, and Faustini craters. A new analysis of data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) shows there is widespread evidence of water ice outside Antarctica, at least within a permanently shadowed region toward 77 degrees south latitude. Ta.

This figure shows the distribution of permanently shadowed regions (blue) toward the moon’s poles at 80 degrees south latitude. They are overlaid on a digital elevation map of the lunar surface (gray) from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Instrument aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: NASA / GSFC / Timothy P. McClanahan.

Ice may have been embedded in the lunar regolith by comet or meteor impacts, emitted as steam (gas) from the moon’s interior, or formed by chemical reactions between hydrogen in the solar wind and oxygen in the regolith. there is.

Permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) typically occur in topographic depressions near the moon’s poles.

Due to the low angle of the sun, these regions have not seen sunlight for billions of years and are constantly in extremely cold conditions.

Ice molecules are thought to be repeatedly stripped from the regolith by meteorites, cosmic radiation, or sunlight, traveling across the lunar surface and landing on the PSR, where they become trapped in the extreme cold.

The PSR’s continuously cold surface could store ice molecules near the surface for perhaps billions of years, accumulating in sediments large enough for mining.

“Our models and analysis show that the largest ice concentrations are near the coldest parts of the PSR below 75 Kelvin (minus 198 degrees Celsius, or minus 325 degrees Fahrenheit) and on poleward-facing slopes of the PSR. It is expected to occur near the base of the Dr. Timothy McClanahan, researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

“It is not possible to accurately measure the volume of ice deposits in the PSR or determine whether they are buried beneath a dry layer of regolith.”

“However, we expect it to be 1 m for each surface.2 If present above these deposits, there should be at least about 5 liters of ice within the top meter of the surface compared to the surrounding area. ”

McClanahan and his colleagues used LRO’s Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) instrument to detect signs of ice deposits by measuring moderately energetic “exothermal” neutrons.

Specifically, they used LEND’s Collimating Sensor for Exothermal Neutrons (CSETN), which has a fixed field of view of 30 km (18.6 miles) in diameter.

Neutrons are produced by high-energy galactic cosmic rays that come from powerful deep space events, such as exploding stars, and impact the moon’s surface, destroying regolith atoms and scattering subatomic particles called neutrons.

Neutrons originate from depths of up to about 1 meter (3.3 feet) and ping-pong through the regolith, colliding with other atoms. Some are guided into space and detected by LEND.

Since hydrogen has approximately the same mass as a neutron, neutrons lose relatively more energy in collisions with hydrogen than in collisions with the most common regolith elements.

Therefore, if hydrogen is present in the regolith, its concentration will correspondingly reduce the number of medium-energy neutrons observed.

“We hypothesized that if all PSRs had the same hydrogen concentration, CSETN should detect hydrogen concentrations proportionally depending on their area,” Dr. McClanahan said.

“Therefore, more hydrogen should be observed towards the larger area of the PSR.”

of findings this week, Planetary Science Journal.

_____

TP McClanahan others. 2024. Evidence of widespread hydrogen sequestration within the lunar south pole cold trap. planet. Science. J 5, 217; doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ad5b55

This article has been adapted from the original release by NASA.

Source: www.sci.news

Chloride-containing deposits found on Mars by ESA’s Trace Gases Probe

Posted on by
Reply

Chloride deposits are indicators of the presence of water on early Mars and have important implications for understanding the Martian climate and habitability. Color and Stereo Surface Imaging Systems Using the spacecraft (CaSSIS) aboard the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Trace Gases Explorer (TGO), planetary researchers conducted a planet-wide search for chloride-bearing deposits in Terra Sirenum and other parts of Mars.

This CaSSIS/TGO image shows chloride-bearing deposits (purple-colored scaly waves) in Terra Sirenum on Mars. Image credit: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS.

“Mars is currently a desert world, but around 3.5 billion years ago it was covered by rivers, lakes and possibly oceans,” said University of Bern researcher Valentin Bickel and his colleagues.

“The Cold Period began as Mars lost its magnetic field, could no longer retain its atmosphere, and water evaporated, froze, or became trapped within the surface.”

“Over time, the water disappeared, leaving behind mineral fingerprints on the surface.”

In this study, the researchers used neural networks to map potential chloride-bearing deposits in CaSSIS images across a large portion of Mars.

They identified a total of 965 potential chloride deposits ranging from 300 to 3,000 metres in diameter.

“These salt deposits probably formed from shallow pools or brines that evaporated in the sun,” the scientists said.

“Similar methods are used in saltwater pools on Earth to produce salt for human consumption.”

“Highly salty water could be a haven for life and an indicator of habitable parts of Mars,” the researchers added.

“Due to the high salinity, the water remains liquid even at minus 40 degrees.”

“The presence of chloride deposits, pictured above, and their direct association with liquid water, make areas like Terra Sirenum good targets for future robotic missions to search for signs of life.”

“While chloride-bearing terrains are not noticeable in regular black-and-white images, they show up as a distinct purple color in color infrared images, making CaSSIS a unique tool for studying the distribution of salts across Mars.”

“Our paper contains never-before-seen data that will help us better understand the distribution of water on Mars' distant past,” they said.

“TGO continues to image Mars from orbit to understand the planet's ancient past and potential habitability.”

“Not only will the spacecraft send back stunning images, it will also provide the best inventory of atmospheric gases and map water-rich areas on the planet's surface.”

“Understanding the history of water on Mars and whether it once allowed life to thrive is at the heart of ESA's ExoMars mission.”

Team paper Featured in this month's journal Scientific Data.

_____

VT Bickel others2024. Global dataset of potential chloride deposits on Mars identified by TGO CaSSIS. Scientific Data 11,845;doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03685-3

Source: www.sci.news

Water ice deposits found on tropical Mars volcanoes

Posted on by
Reply

Using high-resolution color images from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Trace Gases Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express missions, planetary researchers have found evidence of morning frost deposits in the calderas of the Tharsis volcanoes on Mars (Olympus Mons, Arsia Mons, Ascleius Mons and Ceraunius Turus).

This image, taken with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano not only on Mars but in the entire Solar System. Image credit: ESA / DLR / Free University Berlin.

The Tharsis region of Mars contains numerous volcanoes, including Olympus Mons and the Tharsis Mountains (Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons).

Many of these volcanoes are enormous, towering above the surrounding plains at heights between one (Mont Pavonis) and three times (Mont Olympus) higher than Earth’s Mount Everest.

At the summit of these volcanoes are large cavities called calderas, which were formed when magma chambers were emptied during past eruptions.

“We thought it would be impossible for frost to form near the equator on Mars because of the relatively high temperatures both on the surface and on mountain tops, caused by a combination of sunlight and a thin atmosphere. On Earth, we would expect frost to form on mountain tops, but that would not be the case near the equator on Mars,” said Dr. Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University.

“Its presence here is intriguing and suggests that there are exceptional processes at work that allow frost to form.”

The frost patches appear for a few hours before and after sunrise, then evaporate in the sunlight.

Although it is thin, perhaps only one-hundredth of a millimeter thick (about the thickness of a human hair), it covers a vast area.

The amount of frost is equivalent to about 150,000 tonnes of water that moves between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere every day during the cold season, which is roughly the equivalent of filling about 60 Olympic swimming pools.

The researchers propose that air circulates in a special way above Tharsis, creating a unique microclimate within the volcano’s caldera there and allowing the frost patches to form.

“Winds move up the mountain slopes, carrying relatively moist air from close to the surface to higher altitudes, where it condenses and falls as frost,” said Dr Nicolas Thomas from the University of Bern, principal investigator of TGO’s Colour Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS).

“We actually see this happening on Earth and other parts of Mars, where the same phenomenon causes the seasonal elongated clouds on Mars’ Arsia Mons.”

“The frost we see on the summits of Martian volcanoes appears to have accumulated in the shadowed parts of the calderas, where temperatures are particularly cool.”

Scientists have found frost on the Tharsis volcanoes of Olympus, Arsia, Mount Ascraeus and Ceraunius Turus.

By modeling how these frosts form, scientists could potentially unlock more of Mars’ mysteries, like where any remaining water on Mars resides, how it moves between reservoirs, and even understanding the dynamics of the planet’s complex atmosphere.

This knowledge is essential for future exploration of Mars and the search for signs of extraterrestrial life.

“The discovery of water on the surface of Mars is always an exciting prospect, both for scientific interest and for its implications for human and robotic exploration,” said Dr Colin Wilson, ESA’s project scientist for both ExoMars TGO and Mars Express.

“Even so, this discovery is particularly intriguing because Mars’ low atmospheric pressure creates the unusual situation where Martian mountaintops are typically less cold than the plains. But moist air blowing up the mountain slopes can still condense into frost, a phenomenon that is clearly similar to Earth.”

“This discovery was made possible thanks to successful collaboration between ESA’s two Mars rovers, as well as additional modelling.”

“Understanding exactly which phenomena are the same and which are different on Earth and Mars will really test and improve our understanding of the fundamental processes occurring not only on our home planet but elsewhere in the universe.”

of Investigation result Published in the journal Nature Chemistry.

_____

A. Valantinus othersEvidence for episodic morning frost accumulation at the Tharsis volcano, Mars. National GeographyPublished online June 10, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01457-7

Source: www.sci.news

New Evidence of Ice-Rich Layered Deposits Found at Medusae Fossai by Mars Express

Posted on by
Reply

Over 15 years ago ESA's Mars Express spacecraft studied the Fossae Formation of Medusae and revealed mysterious deposits up to 2.5 km deep. These early observations left it unclear what the sediment was made of, but a new study provides an answer.

This image shows a height map of the surface of Mars, with the lowest land areas shown in blue and the highest land areas shown in white. Image credit: ESA.

of Formation of medusae fossa (MFF) – a huge and unusual soft rock deposit near Mars' equator – is about one-fifth the size of the continental United States and 100 times the mass of the largest explosive volcanic deposits on Earth.

It consists of several wind-carved features hundreds of kilometers in diameter and several kilometers high.

This feature, discovered at the boundary between highlands and lowlands on Mars, is probably the largest single source of dust on Mars.

Initial observations from ESA's Mars Express spacecraft show that the MFF is relatively transparent to radar and has low density, both characteristics seen in ice deposits.

But planetary scientists couldn't rule out the possibility that the terrain is actually drier, a huge accumulation of windblown dust, volcanic ash, or sediment.

“When we reexamined the MFF using new data from Mars Express's MARSIS radar, we found that the deposits were even thicker than we thought,” said Dr. Thomas Watters, a planetary researcher at the Smithsonian Institution. It's up to 3.7 kilometers thick,” said Dr. Thomas Watters, a planetary researcher at the Smithsonian Institution.

“Interestingly, the radar signal is consistent with what we would expect to see from layered ice, and is similar to the signal seen from the polar caps of Mars, which we know are very ice-rich.”

“If it were to melt, the ice trapped in the MFF would cover the entire planet in a layer of water 1.5 to 2.7 meters deep. This would be the largest amount of water ever discovered in this region of Mars. That's enough to fill Earth's Red Sea.”

“This is where the new radar data comes in. Given its depth, if the MFF is just a huge dust pile, we would expect it to be compressed under its own weight,” says the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics. said researcher Dr. Andrea Cicchetti.

“This will produce something much denser than what we're actually seeing with MARSIS.”

“And when we modeled how different materials behave without ice, nothing reproduced the properties of MFF. We need ice.”

“The new results suggest that there is instead a layer of dust and ice, topped by a protective layer of dry dust or ash hundreds of meters thick.”

In this image, the white line on Mars' surface (top) indicates the stretch of land scanned by Mars Express's MARSIS radar. The graph below shows the topography and subsurface structure of the land, with layers of dry sediment (likely dust or volcanic ash) shown in brown and layers of likely ice-rich sediment shown in blue. I am. The graph shows that the ice deposits are thousands of meters high and hundreds of kilometers wide. Once all the suspected water ice in the MFF melts, Mars will be covered by an ocean of water up to 2.7 meters deep. Image credit: CReSIS / KU / Smithsonian Institution.

“This latest analysis challenges our understanding of the MFF and raises as many questions as it answers,” said ESA Project Scientist for Mars Express and the ESA ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. said Dr. Colin Wilson.

“How long ago did these ice deposits form? What was Mars like at that time?”

“If confirmed to be water ice, these giant deposits could change our understanding of Mars' climate history.”

“Any ancient water reservoir would be an attractive target for human or robotic exploration.”

Result is, journal Geophysical Research Letters.

_____

thomas watters other. 2024. Evidence for ice-rich layered deposits in the Medusa Fossa Formation on Mars. Geophysical Research Lettersin press.

Source: www.sci.news