Geology IN

Study Discovers Why Fossilized Hairs Are So Rare

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kkhJd8jff3Y/Wb_ps6WPC-I/AAAAAAAANbk/3QFp-vFifFg1Nk0ibFU2XXPuYqXb8JjeQCLcBGAs/s1600/Study%2BDiscovers%2BWhy%2BFossilized%2BHairs%2BAre%2BSo%2BRare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1178" height="460" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kkhJd8jff3Y/Wb_ps6WPC-I/AAAAAAAANbk/3QFp-vFifFg1Nk0ibFU2XXPuYqXb8JjeQCLcBGAs/s640/Study%2BDiscovers%2BWhy%2BFossilized%2BHairs%2BAre%2BSo%2BRare.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mammalian hair Fossil inclusion in Baltic amber. Photo: AmberInclusions.eu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When most people hear the word fossil, they probably think of gigantic leg bones or sharp teeth. But, given the right conditions, after an animal dies even delicate body coverings like skin, hair and feathers can be preserved.</span></i><br />
<br />
New research led by The University of Texas at Austin has found that when it comes to preserving these body parts, fossilized hair is rare -- five times rarer than feathers -- despite being an important tool for understanding ancient species. This finding has researchers trying to determine if the lack of hair in the fossil record has to do with physical traits that might make it more difficult for hair to fossilize, or an issue with scientists' collection techniques that could lead to them missing important finds.<br />
<br />
"This pattern of where and when we do find fossilized feathers and hairs can be used to inform where we look for future fossil discoveries," said first author Chad Eliason, a researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History who conducted the research while a postdoctoral fellow at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences.<br />
<br />
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Co-authors include Julia Clarke, a professor in the Jackson School's Department of Geological Sciences who led the study, and three Jackson School undergraduate students, Leah Hudson, Taylor Watts and Hector Garza.<br />
<br />
Fossils of body coverings contain unique data on the ecology and lifestyle of extinct animals, including what color they might have been. They also might affect our understanding of when kinds of body coverings, such as feathers and hair, evolved. In this study, the researchers used data on fossil type and age to determine that hair probably evolved much earlier than current fossil samples indicate.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br />
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><br /></div>
Fossil beds that preserve soft tissues like hair and feathers are called lagerstatte ('fossil storehouses' in German) and are rare on their own. The researchers were interested in understanding how frequently different types of body coverings were found preserved in these exceptional sites, which include the Yixian Formation in China and the Green River Formation in the western United States.<br />
<br />
Eliason and his collaborators assembled the largest known database of fossilized body coverings, or integument, from land-dwelling vertebrates, a group known as tetrapods, collected from lagerstatte. They found that unlike feathers, hairs are extremely rare finds.<br />
<br />
"Mammal hair has been around for more than 160 million years yet over that time we have very few records," Eliason said.<br />
<br />
The rarity might be explained by feathers and hair containing different types of the protein keratin, which may impact the likelihood of fossilization. However, the study notes that the lack of hair samples could have nothing to do with fossilization, and be explained by the collecting behavior of paleontologists, with a single feather usually being much easier to identify than a single hair.<br />
<br />
The database also allowed the researchers to conduct a type of statistical method called gap analysis, which models the probability of finding a fossil in a given time. The team found that feathers appear to have evolved very close to the earliest known examples in the fossil record, about 165 million years ago. However, hair and hair-like filaments found on pterosaurs probably evolved far earlier in the fossil record than currently known.<br />
<br />
"The hunt is on," said Clarke. "These data suggest we might expect to find records up to 100 million years earlier potentially."<br />
<br />
The team also applied a statistical approach called a time series analyses to study if climatic factors might explain gaps in the fossil record. They found that soft tissue preservation was most common when ancient sea levels were high.<br />
<br />
"There is still a lot we don't know about the chemistry of these deposits and why they are so uneven through time," Clarke said. "But we can say that their uneven distribution across the world -- most [sites] are in North America or Eurasia -- is an artifact of where paleontologists looked. We have a lot more work to do."<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above story is based on <a href="http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2017/09/ut-austin-study-raises-question-why-are-fossilized-hairs-so-rare/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of Texas at Austin</a>.</span></u></i></div>

Study Discovers Why Fossilized Hairs Are So Rare

Mammalian hair Fossil inclusion in Baltic amber. Photo: AmberInclusions.eu When most people hear the word fossil, they probably think...

Ancient ‘Hell Ant’ with Metal Horns & Trap Jaw Found Inside Amber

1 amber, Earth History 7:48 PM

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8Piq6nqE738/WbwC8WcviZI/AAAAAAAANa4/9U2uTYupuJYf6p6Q1zqyISppm1xb3efKQCEwYBhgL/s1600/View%2Bhell%2Bant%25E2%2580%2599s%2Bhead%2Band%2Bthorax..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="900" height="528" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8Piq6nqE738/WbwC8WcviZI/AAAAAAAANa4/9U2uTYupuJYf6p6Q1zqyISppm1xb3efKQCEwYBhgL/s640/View%2Bhell%2Bant%25E2%2580%2599s%2Bhead%2Band%2Bthorax..jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View hell ant’s head and thorax. © P. Barden, H.W. Herhold, D.A. Grimaldi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
Scientists have discovered a new type of 'hell ant' - a species with terrifying spiky mouthparts reinforced with metal and used for drinking the blood of its enemies.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, these insects have been extinct for a while, but a 98-million-year-old amber specimen has now revealed stunning detail of the prehistoric species, including a curious metal component in its jaws. The newly described Linguamyrmex vladi belongs to a group known as 'hell ants' or haidomyrmecines, an extinct bunch that lived in the Cretaceous period and characterised by strange, vertically moving mouthparts.<br />
<br />
Hell ants aren't actually the ancestors of the tiny critters we see today, and instead belong to a stem-group which went extinct before the common ancestor of all modern ants appeared on the scene to start its lineage. And given how scary some of those hell ant features sound, we're almost grateful that the worst we have to deal with these days are "just" bullet ants and fire ants.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br />
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><br /></div>
Instead of plain old downward-facing mandibles, L. vladi sported giant blade-like scythes that pointed upward - a feature you won't find in any ant living today. It appears that these spiky jaws were surrounded by trigger hairs which are similar to those used by trap-jaw ants today - the same ones that help an ant's jaws to snap shut at a horrifying speed.<br />
<br />
This ant also had a reinforced horn-like appendage or 'paddle' on top of its jaws, and it's possible it used that to clamp down on its prey once it thrusted the upward-facing mandibles into the prey's body. The researchers, led by Phillip Barden from New Jersey Institute of Technology, also discovered a tube-like channel between the mandibles, and think the ants probably sucked on their food rather than chewed it, since the weird jaws wouldn't really accommodate for chewing action.<br />
<br />
"The mandibles and paddle of Linguamyrmex may have functioned to puncture soft-bodied prey and feed on the haemolymph," the team writes in the study.<br />
<br />
Helpfully, the specimen was found in its ambery grave next to a large larva of a beetle, which would have been perfect soft-bodied prey for a liquid-sucking predator such as this one. The diagram above shows the placement of the two specimens (the red circle shows the location of the paddle horn). The jaws of the ant weren't actually embedded in the larva, but the researchers note that its placement is "consistent with this being prey."<br />
<br />
And if you haven't had enough of these gruesome details, here comes perhaps the weirdest part - an X-ray scan of the amber specimen revealed that the underside of that paddle horn on its head is reinforced with metal particles. Now, the bug didn't actually fashion a little war helmet for itself - instead, it appears to have had the awesome ability to collect trace metals from its diet into parts of the body that needed reinforcement.<br />
<br />
"Insects are known to sequester metals – in particular, calcium, manganese, zinc, and iron – in ovipositors and mandibles, to increase strength and reduce wear," the team writes in the study. Having a metal-infused spike would have allowed the hell ant to withstand the wriggling of its prey if it missed a hit with its jaws, or perhaps made it easier to jam its spikes into the soft-bodied food, the researchers think.<br />
<br />
"Until we find a specimen with the prey item trapped, which is probably a matter of time, we're left to speculate," Barden told Josh Gabbatiss at New Scientist. As the amber specimen came from a rich excavation area in Myanmar, it might just be a matter of time until we find more horror spike bugs... er, hell ants.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The new species was described in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/syen.12253/full" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Systematic Entomology</a>.</span></u></i></div>

Ancient ‘Hell Ant’ with Metal Horns & Trap Jaw Found Inside Amber

View hell ant’s head and thorax. © P. Barden, H.W. Herhold, D.A. Grimaldi Scientists have discovered a new type of 'hell a...

Explorers Probe Hidden Continent of Zealandia

0 earth, Tectonic 5:29 PM

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OU-ZGLej7io/WbadU4H7SJI/AAAAAAAANZk/Z2xUMlLU5k8Z0Vdx1d7gwnzpY2N3ACJfACLcBGAs/s1600/Explorers%2BProbe%2BHidden%2BContinent%2Bof%2BZealandia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OU-ZGLej7io/WbadU4H7SJI/AAAAAAAANZk/Z2xUMlLU5k8Z0Vdx1d7gwnzpY2N3ACJfACLcBGAs/s640/Explorers%2BProbe%2BHidden%2BContinent%2Bof%2BZealandia.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Zealandia made global headlines earlier this year when scientists announced that it counts as a new continent.</span><br />
<br />
Now it is coming under closer scientific scrutiny. We are currently halfway through an expedition to drill into this vast underwater plateau of continental crust, and we can already reveal that Zealandia’s geography changed more dramatically and more recently than anyone had thought.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Earth’s hidden continent</span></b><br />
<br />
There are seven continents on Earth: Eurasia, North America, South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia and now Zealandia. Zealandia is about two-thirds the size of Australia, but 94% of it lies deep below the southwest Pacific Ocean. Its only major landmasses are New Zealand to the south and New Caledonia to the north.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br />
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><br /></div>
Very little is known about it, because most of it lies more than a kilometre deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. The Zealandia continent also encompasses some smaller bits of land, including Norfolk Island, the Lord Howe group and some sub-antarctic islands. These islands were discovered hundreds of years ago, but the submerged part was only recognised as a continent in recent decades. It remains sparsely surveyed and sampled. We have better maps of the moon.<br />
<br />
We are a team of 32 scientists from 12 different countries and our expedition is part of the International Ocean Discovery Program, which coordinates seagoing explorations of Earth’s history recorded in sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor. Our ship, the Joides Resolution is a floating village and laboratory, equipped with a drill rig that can take core samples from the seafloor. The samples we have collected so far show clear signs of major geographic changes and volcanic eruptions that were related to formation of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a chain of undersea volcanoes, ocean trenches, seamounts and hydrothermal vents that formed some 40 to 50 million years ago.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Zealandia exposed</span></b><br />
<br />
There is a buzz of excitement on the ship. After more than a month at sea we are mid-way through our expedition and have drilled into the seabed at four sites. You can’t beat the old-fashioned thrill of exploration and discovery. We are re-writing the geological history of Zealandia on our voyage. Zealandia was first recognised about 50 years ago and ideas for how it formed were published then, but the only previous expedition that has drilled deep enough into the seabed to collect useful evidence was undertaken in 1971.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br />
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><br /></div>
It appeared back then that Zealandia separated from Australia and Antarctica about 80 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. It then subsided deep beneath the waves and was lost. However, fossils and volcanic rocks show that northern Zealandia, an area about the size of India, was radically affected by formation of the Pacific Ring of Fire.<br />
<br />
Our preliminary observations suggest that regions now under more than 1000 metres of water became land or shallow seas, and other regions that are now under 3000 metres of water may have been much shallower, or even land. Changes in geography were massive, and may help explain how the unique plants and animals of the southwest Pacific were able to disperse and evolve.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Undersea exploration</span></b><br />
<br />
Explorers are normal people doing extraordinary things. Exploration isn’t easy. Not everything goes to plan. The hours are long, you share a small room with someone you didn’t know before the voyage, and you miss your family and friends. Sea sickness is not your friend if you spend 14 hours a day looking down a microscope at fossils that are so small you could fit hundreds on the head of a pin. So why do we do it?<br />
<br />
It is hard to describe the excitement of discovery. Every time we get a new core on deck it is like unwrapping a present. What will it be? A curiosity to keep you busy for another few days, or key evidence to reconstruct the history of a hidden continent? Our goals are to understand why Earth’s surface moves (the study of plate tectonics) and how greenhouse climate systems work (climate change). The southwest Pacific location makes Zealandia ideal for testing ideas on how the earth works.<br />
<br />
The formation of the Pacific Ring of Fire changed the way our planet moved: new volcanoes and mountains grew, natural resources formed, and the changes had long-term effects on global climate. Zealandia was closer to the South Pole 50 million years ago, but had a warm climate. How was this possible? If computer models can’t predict such warm conditions in the past, could models of future global warming also be underestimates?<br />
<br />
The answers to these and many more questions lie beneath the waves, recorded in sediment layers that have accumulated over millions of years.<br />
</div>

Explorers Probe Hidden Continent of Zealandia

Zealandia made global headlines earlier this year when scientists announced that it counts as a new continent. Now it is coming und...

The Mysterious Flashes Light Up Sky in Mexico After Earthquake Explained

0 Earthquakes, Tectonic 7:24 PM

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9JFl8WPSUk8/WbVmHfy_HEI/AAAAAAAANY0/QeWuLCjVKuMx7ds5MDF7p1GIoBZZCg6uwCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BMysterious%2BFlashes%2BLight%2BUp%2BSky%2Bin%2BMexico%2BAfter%2BEarthquake%2BExplained.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9JFl8WPSUk8/WbVmHfy_HEI/AAAAAAAANY0/QeWuLCjVKuMx7ds5MDF7p1GIoBZZCg6uwCLcBGAs/s640/The%2BMysterious%2BFlashes%2BLight%2BUp%2BSky%2Bin%2BMexico%2BAfter%2BEarthquake%2BExplained.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mysterious flashes of light lit up the sky in Mexico after the country was struck by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake on Friday. Photo: courtesy Independent</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<a href="https://www.geologyin.com/2017/09/deadly-powerful-earthquake-hits-off.html" target="_blank">The recent Mexico earthquake</a> resulted in videos of blue and green flashes emanating from around Mexico. The flashes appear similar to lightning and could result from massive releases of energy from the ground as a result of an earthquake. Alternatively, it could be due to major electric system explosions. Both are possible, but it's hard to pinpoint which was the cause for the earthquake that just hit Mexico.<br />
<br />
We know of lights reported before or after earthquakes in many instances in the past. For example in 1975 the Kalapana earthquake was reported to produce auroras with a white and blue hue. More recently, the phenomenon was caught on camera during the 2007 Peru earthquake. One thing all of these earthquakes have in common is that they're commonly large in magnitude (>5).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-do-lights-sometimes-appear-in-the-sky-during-an-earthquake-180948077/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Studies</a> have found the generation of lights as a result of earthquakes could be due to the ionization of oxygen to oxygen anions. Once this ionization occurs, the ions can travel through the rocks through small cracks and fissures until they reach the atmosphere forming plasma light.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br />
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><br /></div>
An <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998JaJAP..37.5016T" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">alternative study</a> points to an intense electric field caused by the movement of rocks containing quartz minerals. Another study found that when two rocks rub against one another than are separated, there is a positive voltage spike that could, on a large scale, produce earthquake lights.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="es">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/temblor?src=hash" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">#temblor</a> de los machines y el cielo lo sabe <a href="https://t.co/IgAj6i4lHO" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/IgAj6i4lHO</a></div>
— Hebertuz Maximuz (@hebertuz) <a href="https://twitter.com/hebertuz/status/906049954627682304" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">September 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
Some studies have suggested the lights occur when two rocks rub against one another, once the rocks are separated it causes a positive voltage spike, which on a large scale, produce earthquake lights.<br />
<br />
In 2001, NASA scientist Friedmann Freud discovered that "if the stress level (between the rocks) is high, there are electronic loads that momentarily transform insulation rock into a semiconductor." Freud added that the electrical loads are not easy to measure, as they "move with impressive speed, as high as 300 meters per second.<br />
<br />
In an interview with <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140106-earthquake-lights-earthquake-prediction-geology-science/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">National Geographic</a>, he stated: "In the past, people often interpreted [earthquake lights] in religious terms, and in modern times they thought of UFOs, although there is a completely rational physical explanation that we are working on." <br />
<br />
Interestingly, similar incidents have also occurred in the past. The Kalapana earthquake in 1975 produces auroras with white and blue hue. More recently, the phenomenon was caught on camera during the Peru earthquake in 2007.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="es">
Así el cielo durante el <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sismo?src=hash">#Sismo</a> <a href="https://t.co/zlcPA7YSDM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/zlcPA7YSDM</a></div>
— L4L0 (@lalocedeno) <a href="https://twitter.com/lalocedeno/status/906022311731462144" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">September 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /></div>
</div>

The Mysterious Flashes Light Up Sky in Mexico After Earthquake Explained

Mysterious flashes of light lit up the sky in Mexico after the country was struck by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake on Friday. Photo: court...

Secret Life May Thrive Under Warm Antarctic Caves

1 Antarctic, caves, earth 8:11 PM

Secret Life May Thrive Under Warm Antarctic Caves

A glacial cave in Antarctica. Antarctica’s Hidden Caves Could Be Home to 'New World' of Plants and Animals The cave systems...

Geophysicist: Weight of Harvey Rains Caused Houston to Sink

1 earth, Tectonic 5:45 PM

Geophysicist: Weight of Harvey Rains Caused Houston to Sink

Houston man Searches Flooded Cars A California geophysicist says the sheer weight of the torrential rains brought by Harvey has cause...

Deadly, Powerful Earthquake Hits Off Mexico; Tsunami Waves Observed

0 Earthquakes, News, tsunami 4:59 PM

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W5gM9ktpw-o/WbKh3sQbgnI/AAAAAAAANYA/-mpjp-t-QwcNB_O6Fo1bGWpD_BwUqCBSwCLcBGAs/s1600/This%2Bphoto%2Bprovided%2Bby%2Bthe%2BUnited%2BStates%2BGeological%2BSurvey%2Bshows%2Bwhere%2Ba%2Bmagnitude%2B8.1%2Bearthquake%2Bstruck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="920" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W5gM9ktpw-o/WbKh3sQbgnI/AAAAAAAANYA/-mpjp-t-QwcNB_O6Fo1bGWpD_BwUqCBSwCLcBGAs/s640/This%2Bphoto%2Bprovided%2Bby%2Bthe%2BUnited%2BStates%2BGeological%2BSurvey%2Bshows%2Bwhere%2Ba%2Bmagnitude%2B8.1%2Bearthquake%2Bstruck.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="irc_asc">
<span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">This photo provided by the United States Geological Survey shows where a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The most powerful earthquake to hit Mexico in 100 years struck off the nation’s Pacific Coast late Thursday, rattling millions of residents in Mexico City with its violent tremors, killing at least 32 people and leveling some areas in the southern part of the country closest to where the quake occurred.<br />
<br />
About 50 million people across Mexico felt the earthquake, which had a magnitude of 8.2, the government said. In the capital, the force of the temblor sent residents of the megacity fleeing into the streets at midnight, shaken by the alarms blaring over loudspeakers and a full minute of tremors. Windows broke, walls collapsed, and the city seemed to convulse in terrifying waves; the quake even rocked the city’s landmark Angel of Independence monument.<br />
<br />
While Mexico City seemed to have been spared extensive damage to infrastructure, according to the government’s preliminary assessment, the effects in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca were probably more severe. The tally of damage — and death — probably will be difficult to assess initially, given the remote nature of many areas.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br />
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><br /></div>
Alejandro Murat, the governor of Oaxaca, told the Televisa network that at least 23 people had died in the state, and local officials said residents were buried under the rubble of buildings.<br />
<br />
Luis Manuel García Moreno, the secretary of civil protection for the state of Chiapas, said the toll there had risen to seven, and two children died in the state of Tabasco, one when a wall collapsed, the other after a respirator lost power in a hospital.<br />
<br />
The effects were also felt in Guatemala, where at least one person died and homes along the border with Mexico were leveled.<br />
<br />
Mexico is situated near several boundaries where portions of the earth’s crust collide. The quake on Thursday was more powerful than the one that killed nearly 10,000 people in 1985.<br />
<br />
But while the quake on Thursday struck nearly 450 miles from the capital and off the coast of Chiapas State, the one in 1985 was much closer to the city — so the shaking, coupled with Mexico City being situated on an ancient lake bed, proved much more deadly.<br />
<br />
After the 1985 disaster, construction codes were reviewed and stiffened. Today, Mexico’s construction laws are considered as strict as those in the United States or Japan.<br />
<br />
After the quake hit, people in Mexico City streamed out of their homes in the dark, wearing nightclothes, standing amid the apartment buildings, cafes and bars in upscale neighborhoods and the dense warrens of the city’s working-class communities. In the Condesa area, neighbors watched in awe as power lines swayed alongside trees and buildings. In several neighborhoods, the power was out, though it was restored within an hour, at least in the wealthier parts of the capital.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br />
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><br /></div>
For a city used to earthquakes, Thursday’s quake left a lasting impression on residents, for both its force and duration.<br />
<br />
“The scariest part of it all is that if you are an adult, and you’ve lived in this city your adult life, you remember 1985 very vividly,” said Alberto Briseño, a 58-year-old bar manager in Condesa. “This felt as strong and as bad, but from what I see, we’ve been spared from major tragedy.”<br />
<br />
“Now we will do what us Mexicans do so well: Take the bitter taste of this night and move on,” he added.<br />
<br />
The quake occurred near the Middle America Trench, a zone in the eastern Pacific where one slab of the earth’s crust, called the Cocos Plate, is sliding under another, the North American, in a process called subduction.<br />
<br />
The movement is very slow — about three inches a year — and over time stresses build because of friction between the slabs. At some point the strain becomes so great that the rock breaks and slips along a fault. This releases vast amounts of energy and, if the slip occurs under the ocean, can move a lot of water suddenly, causing a tsunami.<br />
<br />
Subduction zones ring the Pacific Ocean and are found in other regions as well. They are responsible for the world’s largest earthquakes and most devastating tsunamis. The magnitude 9 earthquake off Japan in 2011 that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the magnitude 9.1 quake in Indonesia in 2004 that spawned tsunamis that killed a quarter of a million people around the Indian Ocean are recent examples.<br />
<br />
Those quakes each released about 30 times as much energy as the one in Mexico.<br />
<br />
Mexico’s government issued a tsunami warning off the coast of Oaxaca and Chiapas after Thursday’s quake, but neither state appeared to have been adversely affected by waves in the aftermath. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the largest wave recorded on Mexico’s Pacific Coast measured less than four feet.</div>

Deadly, Powerful Earthquake Hits Off Mexico; Tsunami Waves Observed

This photo provided by the United States Geological Survey shows where a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck The most powerful earthqua...

Newly Found 5.7 Million-year-old Human Footprints Fossil May Challenge History of Human Evolution

2 Earth History, evolution 7:42 PM

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hHvW8yb8DKI/Wawwc_H5JnI/AAAAAAAANU0/HItamaOEJNkER-vTFUenpk0HoLNeBjJIgCLcBGAs/s1600/Fossil%2Bfootprints%2Bchallenge%2Bestablished%2Btheories%2Bof%2Bhuman%2Bevolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="988" height="406" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hHvW8yb8DKI/Wawwc_H5JnI/AAAAAAAANU0/HItamaOEJNkER-vTFUenpk0HoLNeBjJIgCLcBGAs/s640/Fossil%2Bfootprints%2Bchallenge%2Bestablished%2Btheories%2Bof%2Bhuman%2Bevolution.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A trail of 5.7 million-year-old fossil footprints discovered in Crete could upend the widely accepted theories on early human evolution. The new prints have a distinctly human-like form, with a similar big toe to our own and a ‘ball’ in the sole that’s not found in apes<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Newly discovered human-like footprints from Crete may put the established narrative of early human evolution to the test. The footprints are approximately 5.7 million years old and were made at a time when previous research puts our ancestors in Africa - with ape-like feet.</span></i><br />
<br />
Ever since the discovery of fossils of Australopithecus in South and East Africa during the middle years of the 20th century, the origin of the human lineage has been thought to lie in Africa. More recent fossil discoveries in the same region, including the iconic 3.7 million year old Laetoli footprints from Tanzania which show human-like feet and upright locomotion, have cemented the idea that hominins (early members of the human lineage) not only originated in Africa but remained isolated there for several million years before dispersing to Europe and Asia. The discovery of approximately 5.7 million year old human-like footprints from Crete, published online this week by an international team of researchers, overthrows this simple picture and suggests a more complex reality.<br />
<br />
Human feet have a very distinctive shape, different from all other land animals. The combination of a long sole, five short forward-pointing toes without claws, and a hallux ("big toe") that is larger than the other toes, is unique. The feet of our closest relatives, the great apes, look more like a human hand with a thumb-like hallux that sticks out to the side.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;">
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-slot="6157425841" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></ins><br />
<script>
     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script><br /></div>
The Laetoli footprints, thought to have been made by Australopithecus, are quite similar to those of modern humans except that the heel is narrower and the sole lacks a proper arch. By contrast, the 4.4 million year old Ardipithecus ramidus from Ethiopia, the oldest hominin known from reasonably complete fossils, has an ape-like foot. The researchers who described Ardipithecus argued that it is a direct ancestor of later hominins, implying that a human-like foot had not yet evolved at that time.<br />
<br />
The new footprints, from Trachilos in western Crete, have an unmistakably human-like form. This is especially true of the toes. The big toe is similar to our own in shape, size and position; it is also associated with a distinct 'ball' on the sole, which is never present in apes. The sole of the foot is proportionately shorter than in the Laetoli prints, but it has the same general form. In short, the shape of the Trachilos prints indicates unambiguously that they belong to an early hominin, somewhat more primitive than the Laetoli trackmaker. They were made on a sandy seashore, possibly a small river delta, whereas the Laetoli tracks were made in volcanic ash.<br />
<br />
"What makes this controversial is the age and location of the prints," says Professor Per Ahlberg at Uppsala University, last author of the study. At approximately 5.7 million years, they are younger than the oldest known fossil hominin, Sahelanthropus from Chad, and contemporary with Orrorin from Kenya, but more than a million years older than Ardipithecus ramidus with its ape-like feet.<br />
<br />
This conflicts with the hypothesis that Ardipithecus is a direct ancestor of later hominins. Furthermore, until this year, all fossil hominins older than 1.8 million years (the age of early Homo fossils from Georgia) came from Africa, leading most researchers to conclude that this was where the group evolved.<br />
<br />
However, the Trachilos footprints are securely dated using a combination of foraminifera (marine microfossils) from over- and underlying beds, plus the fact that they lie just below a very distinctive sedimentary rock formed when the Mediterranean sea briefly dried out, 5.6 millon years ago. By curious coincidence, earlier this year, another group of researchers reinterpreted the fragmentary 7.2 million year old primate Graecopithecus from Greece and Bulgaria as a hominin. Graecopithecus is only known from teeth and jaws.<br />
<br />
During the time when the Trachilos footprints were made, a period known as the late Miocene, the Sahara Desert did not exist; savannah-like environments extended from North Africa up around the eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore, Crete had not yet detached from the Greek mainland. It is thus not difficult to see how early hominins could have ranged across south-east Europe and well as Africa, and left their footprints on a Mediterranean shore that would one day form part of the island of Crete.<br />
<br />
"This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate. Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen," says Per Ahlberg. <br />
<br />
<br />
<u><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study was published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001678781730113X" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.</a></span></i></u></div>

Newly Found 5.7 Million-year-old Human Footprints Fossil May Challenge History of Human Evolution

A trail of 5.7 million-year-old fossil footprints discovered in Crete could upend the widely accepted theories on early human evolution. ...

Iron Carbonates in Earth's Mantle Help Form Diamonds

0 Carbonate, Diamonds, earth, Geochemistry 9:52 PM

Iron Carbonates in Earth's Mantle Help Form Diamonds

Iron Carbonates with SiO4 Under the peculiar conditions present deep in the Earth's mantle, iron carbonates can play a role in fo...

Geology IN

[New][slider2][recent][6]

Study Discovers Why Fossilized Hairs Are So Rare

Ancient ‘Hell Ant’ with Metal Horns & Trap Jaw Found Inside Amber

Explorers Probe Hidden Continent of Zealandia

The Mysterious Flashes Light Up Sky in Mexico After Earthquake Explained

Secret Life May Thrive Under Warm Antarctic Caves

Geophysicist: Weight of Harvey Rains Caused Houston to Sink

Deadly, Powerful Earthquake Hits Off Mexico; Tsunami Waves Observed

Newly Found 5.7 Million-year-old Human Footprints Fossil May Challenge History of Human Evolution

Iron Carbonates in Earth's Mantle Help Form Diamonds

[Dinosaurs][vertical][recent][3]

[Volcanoes][vertical][recent][3]

[Minerals Gallery][slider1][random][77]

[Plate Tectonic][simple][recent][4]

[Paleontology][simple][recent][4]

[Structures Gallery][slider1][random][14]

Popular Posts

Blog Archive