The Australian Diamonds That No One Can See

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRXZU-G5FhSwdKj9b91TuHOT0q4BNk7xhDgdYAZ6pglMRb5tiAg38uwfp2TGu8c0TRPkxDKOHq-m4zba5VfFPSxhGU9YbDuvZVWddVuMHxqswtBDGB0guDeIvr1cfTVptfUmja1PWVPTRr1KowvNLdGRrRdjUmZuhLKFbJ-2x94svMice95o_IX73/s1215/Star-OrionSouth-HighValueStones%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1215" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRXZU-G5FhSwdKj9b91TuHOT0q4BNk7xhDgdYAZ6pglMRb5tiAg38uwfp2TGu8c0TRPkxDKOHq-m4zba5VfFPSxhGU9YbDuvZVWddVuMHxqswtBDGB0guDeIvr1cfTVptfUmja1PWVPTRr1KowvNLdGRrRdjUmZuhLKFbJ-2x94svMice95o_IX73/w640-h426/Star-OrionSouth-HighValueStones%20(1).jpg" title="The Australian Diamonds That No One Can See" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from:  Star Diamond Corp<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><p>Researchers working at the Clarke River Fault, west of Paluma in north Queensland, found the first metamorphic diamonds in rocks in Australia.<br /><br />In a paper published in the journal<i> Science Advances</i>, the scientists point out that the diamonds are invisible to the naked eye. <br /></p><p>A trio of researchers from James Cook University, working with a colleague from the University of Adelaide, has found metamorphic diamonds in rocks near Australia's northeast coast. In their paper published in the journal <i>Science Advances</i>, Alexander Edgar, Ioan Sanislav, Paul Dirks and Carl Spandler, describe how they found the tiny diamonds and why they believe the find will help reveal more about the early history and formation of Australia.<br /><br />Metamorphic diamonds are very rare, they only form in very specific places. They are also very small—from microscopic down to nano-sized. The unique diamonds form in subduction zones—the pressure of opposing plates grinding against one another over millions of years results in the creation of diamonds so small they cannot be seen with the naked eye, which is why they are so very rarely found. They have only ever been found in six other places on Earth. <br /><br />In this new effort, the researchers found a bunch of them inside of rocks along the Clarke River Fault, which came about when crustal blocks were pushed together approximately 500 million years ago.<br /><br />The researchers began investigating the rocks along the fault line after they were told by one of their students of some rock formations they had observed that looked like they might have been revealed when one of the tectonic plates pushed them above the surface of the ground around them.<br />   <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA6iQKqCqo9X1p4jph4lBLsbEXyKUKvJOK83kEodM5sb5bLPoxsjIKbBJDZw6VvQfxbcIs7trCMi0etvdRY7Tg6RgGYcPKm6aaVutFojDedzutvogIDiLWLwoSJ8K8cPobXJj9ihYoQGvs3xLAlvcC64lU5FuIlI68N4SRzGKP8GGYx8IECYs1TaK5/s862/A%20photo%20taken%20from%20a%20microscope%20showing%20metamorphic%20diamonds%20in%20rocks%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="862" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA6iQKqCqo9X1p4jph4lBLsbEXyKUKvJOK83kEodM5sb5bLPoxsjIKbBJDZw6VvQfxbcIs7trCMi0etvdRY7Tg6RgGYcPKm6aaVutFojDedzutvogIDiLWLwoSJ8K8cPobXJj9ihYoQGvs3xLAlvcC64lU5FuIlI68N4SRzGKP8GGYx8IECYs1TaK5/w640-h360/A%20photo%20taken%20from%20a%20microscope%20showing%20metamorphic%20diamonds%20in%20rocks%20(1).jpg" title="A photo taken from a microscope showing metamorphic diamonds in rocks.(AAP Image/Supplied by James Cook University )" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A photo taken from a microscope showing metamorphic diamonds in rocks.(AAP Image/Supplied by James Cook University )</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The researchers ventured to the site and collected some of the rocks and brought them back to their lab for study. There they sliced them into very thin slabs and used Raman spectroscopy to help identify the minerals held within. In so doing, they found evidence of silica, amphibole, apatite, lamella of rutile, coesite, quartz and most importantly, metamorphic diamonds.<br /><br />The researchers note that the diamonds they observed were the first to be found in the Gondwana-Pacific part of the Terra Australis Orogen. They also suggest that because metamorphic diamonds can only be created under very specific conditions, the study of them and the locations where they are found could provide more clues about how Australia was formed.</p><p> </p><p><i><u>The study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9269889/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Science Advances.</a></u></i><br /></p>

The Australian Diamonds That No One Can See

Image from:  Star Diamond Corp Researchers working at the Clarke River Fault, west of Paluma in north Queensland, found the first metamorphi...

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The Largest Pink Diamond in 300 Years Has Just Been Unearthed

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNOw9SEG5ukjIkftLlP7qq6K7lC04k_KhIBuaK7flgWWqRIS7nwO8vTDMtzVRF7a6VmHGBrrmMz1YUJ6FzLPf6KGxj-gKOtp5XDpxd59c3EndK8PLgxSyZPPon-8Nqo6e66vDz6EMPoJTWycN89K95LCf2RZ-KWAeyBAtodtsFiHLeonFmERQp_Gb/s1562/The%20Largest%20Pink%20Diamond%20in%20300%20Years%20Has%20Just%20Been%20Unearthed%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The Largest Pink Diamond in 300 Years Has Just Been Unearthed" border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="1562" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNOw9SEG5ukjIkftLlP7qq6K7lC04k_KhIBuaK7flgWWqRIS7nwO8vTDMtzVRF7a6VmHGBrrmMz1YUJ6FzLPf6KGxj-gKOtp5XDpxd59c3EndK8PLgxSyZPPon-8Nqo6e66vDz6EMPoJTWycN89K95LCf2RZ-KWAeyBAtodtsFiHLeonFmERQp_Gb/w640-h360/The%20Largest%20Pink%20Diamond%20in%20300%20Years%20Has%20Just%20Been%20Unearthed%20(1).jpg" title="The Largest Pink Diamond in 300 Years Has Just Been Unearthed" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Largest Pink Diamond in 300 Years Has Just Been Unearthed. The ‘Lulo Rose’, a 170-carat pink diamond discovered at the Lulo mine in Angola's diamond-rich northeast region. Photograph: Lucapa Diamond Company Limited/AFP/Getty Images</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><p>A big pink diamond of 170 carats has been discovered in Angola and is claimed to be the largest such gemstone found in 300 years.<br /><br />Called the “Lulo Rose,” the diamond was found at the Lulo alluvial diamond mine in the diamond-rich Lunda Norte region of Angola, the mine’s owner, the Lucapa Diamond Company, said on Wednesday on its website.<br /><br />“Only one in 10,000 diamonds is coloured pink. So you’re certainly looking at a very rare article when you find a very large pink diamond,” Lucapa’s chief executive, Stephen Wetherall, said.<br /><br />The pink gemstone is expected to fetch a high price when auctioned but Wetherall said he did not know what kind of premium would be paid because of its colour.<br /></p><div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> <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> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div><br />Since 2015, the Lulo mining project has uncovered 27 diamonds weighing more than 100 carats, including the largest diamond ever found in Angola: the 404-carat "4th February Stone," which sold for US$16 million in 2016.<br /><br />The Lulo Rose, the fifth-largest diamond found at Lulo, is expected to sell for an even higher price.<br /><br />Pink diamonds are relatively rare, and scientists still aren't certain about the phenomenon that gives these stones their rosy hue.<br /><br />In 1999, miners in South Africa uncovered a rough 132-carat pink diamond that was later named The Pink Star. For nearly two years, experts slowly cut and ground the rock into a 59-carat jewel, and in 2013, The Pink Star sold for roughly US$83 million at auction, becoming the single most expensive gemstone ever sold.<br /><br />The Lulo Rose also will have to be cut down from its rough form, which could result in its weight dropping by up to half, according to the statement. But even if the Lulu Rose is reduced to 85 carats, the vivid pink stone looks primed to set a new sales record of its own. <br /><br />Humans have been collecting and trading diamonds since 2500 BCE, Live Science previously reported. For millennia, their dazzling appearance and extreme rarity made them a sought-after status symbol that only the world's wealthiest could afford.<br /><br />Diamonds form deep underground – typically 100 miles (160 kilometers) or more beneath Earth's surface – when carbon deposits are exposed to the extreme heat and temperatures of the inner Earth. Some diamonds may burst to the surface during volcanic eruptions, but today most are found through mining efforts around the world. <br /><br />Approximately 90 million carats of rough diamonds are mined for jewelry every year, generating more than US$300 billion in revenue worldwide; however, conditions for mining diamonds are often hazardous, and the industry has been associated with the displacement of Indigenous peoples, worker exploitation, pollution and human rights abuses, according to a report released in 2018 by the nonprofit Human Rights Watch. <p></p><p> </p><p> <br /><i><u>The above post is reprinted from <a href="https://www.livescience.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Live Science</a>.</u></i></p>

The Largest Pink Diamond in 300 Years Has Just Been Unearthed

The Largest Pink Diamond in 300 Years Has Just Been Unearthed. The ‘Lulo Rose’, a 170-carat pink diamond discovered at the Lulo mine in An...

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Study Details The Origins And Diversity Of Every Known Mineral On Earth

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjeb8O3FRoP2SMVVktlZgo-LLqX-rmGwtMLDMHLcONNkzOxyKVCBBUkStk0iNt8dD1J9BM7HPpFSWIlq-j1htDBEGJ1757-BmjUSc69sQngClXbXR1MkW514A7ZKNmRiO_ULfDRSDLNKqUkbfjCILx9OX0IploU_SoMbxywKeoP7DEPAzMRXYrG7i/s1035/Malachite%20%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Study Details The Origins And Diversity Of Every Known Mineral On Earth" border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjeb8O3FRoP2SMVVktlZgo-LLqX-rmGwtMLDMHLcONNkzOxyKVCBBUkStk0iNt8dD1J9BM7HPpFSWIlq-j1htDBEGJ1757-BmjUSc69sQngClXbXR1MkW514A7ZKNmRiO_ULfDRSDLNKqUkbfjCILx9OX0IploU_SoMbxywKeoP7DEPAzMRXYrG7i/w618-h640/Malachite%20%20(1).jpg" width="618" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Study Details The Origins And Diversity Of Every Known Mineral On Earth. Malachite is an example of a mineral that formed after life created atmospheric oxygen about 2.5 billion years ago. They are among hundreds of beautiful blue and green copper minerals that form near Earth's surface as ore deposits weather. Credit: ARKENSTONE/Rob Lavinsky.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Scientists have detailed the origins and diversity of every known mineral on Earth.<br /><br />The landmark body of work will help reconstruct the history of life on Earth and guide the search for new minerals and deposits, researchers say.<br /><br />A 15-year study led by the Carnegie Institution for Science details the origins and diversity of every known mineral on Earth, a landmark body of work that will help reconstruct the history of life on Earth, guide the search for new minerals and ore deposits, predict possible characteristics of future life, and aid the search for habitable planets and extraterrestrial life.<br /><br />In twin papers published today by American Mineralogist and sponsored in part by NASA, Carnegie scientists Robert Hazen and Shaunna Morrison detail a novel approach to clustering (lumping) kindred species of minerals together or splitting off new species based on when and how they originated.<br /><br />Once mineral genesis is factored in, the number of “mineral kinds” -- a newly-coined term -- totals more than 10,500, a number about 75% greater than the roughly 6,000 mineral species recognized by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) on the basis of crystal structure and chemical composition alone.<br /><br />“This work fundamentally changes our view of the diversity of minerals on the planet,” says Dr. Hazen, Staff Scientist with the Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC.<br /><br />80% of Earth’s minerals were mediated by water<br /><br />“For example, more than 80% of Earth’s minerals were mediated by water, which is, therefore, fundamentally important to mineral diversity on this planet. By extension, this explains one of the key reasons why the Moon and Mercury and even Mars have far fewer mineral species than Earth.”<br /><br />“The work also tells us something very profound about the role of biology,” he adds. “One third of Earth’s minerals could not have formed without biology – shells and bones and teeth, or microbes, for example, or the vital indirect role of biology, such as by creating an oxygen-rich atmosphere that led to 2,000 minerals that wouldn't have formed otherwise.” <br /><br />“Each mineral specimen has a history. Each tells a story. Each is a time capsule that reveals Earth's past as nothing else can.”<br /><br />40% of Earth’s mineral species formed in more than one way<br /><br />According to the paper, nature created 40% of Earth’s mineral species in more than one way – for example, both abiotically and with a helping hand from cells – and in several cases used more than 15 different recipes to produce the same crystal structure and chemical composition. <br /><br />Of the 5,659 recognized mineral species surveyed by Hazen and colleagues, nine came into being via 15 or more different physical, chemical and/or biological processes -- everything from near-instantaneous formation by lightning or meteor strikes, to changes caused by water-rock interactions or transformations at high pressures and temperature spanning hundreds of millions of years.  <br /><br />And, as if to show she has a sense of humor, Nature has used 21 different ways over the last 4.5 billion years to create pyrite (aka Fool’s Gold) -- the mineral world’s champion of diverse origins. Pyrite forms at high temperature and low, with and without water, with the help of microbes and in harsh environments where life plays no role whatsoever.<br /><br />Composed of one part iron to two parts sulfide (FeS2), pyrite is derived and delivered via meteorites, volcanos, hydrothermal deposits, by pressure between layers of rock, near-surface rock weathering, microbially-precipitated deposits, several mining-associated processes including coal mine fires, and many other means.<br /><br />To reach their conclusions, Hazen and Morrison built a database of every known process of formation of every known mineral. Relying on large, open-access mineral databases (mindat.org and rruff.ima/info), amplified by thousands of primary research articles on the geology of mineral localities around the world, they identified 10,556 different combinations of minerals and modes of formation, detailed in the paper, “On the paragenetic modes of minerals: A mineral evolution perspective.”<br /><br />In all, minerals have come into being in one or more of 57 different ways, according to that paper and a sister paper published simultaneously by the same journal, “Lumping and splitting: toward a classification of mineral natural kinds,” co-authored by Drs. Hazen and Morrison in collaboration with mineralogists Sergey Krivovichev of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Robert Downs of the University of Arizona.<br /><br />The goal of their efforts: “To understand how the diversity and distribution of minerals have changed through deep time and to propose a system of mineral classification that reflects mineral origins in the context of evolving terrestrial worlds.”<br /><br />Distinguishing minerals based on how and when each kind appeared through Earth's 4.5 billion+ year history<br /><br />In earlier studies over more than a century, thousands of mineralogists worldwide have carefully documented almost 6,000 different “mineral species” based on their unique combinations of chemical composition and crystal structure. Dr. Hazen and colleagues took a different approach, emphasizing how and when each kind of mineral appeared through more than 4.5 billion years of Earth history.<br /><br />“No one has undertaken this huge task before,” says Dr. Hazen, honoured by the IMA with its 2021 medal for his outstanding achievements in mineral crystal chemistry, particularly in the field of mineral evolution. <br /><br />“In these twin papers, we are putting forward our best effort to lay the groundwork for a new approach to recognizing different kinds of minerals. We welcome the insights, additions, and future versions of the mineralogical community.”<br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">A few other interesting takeaways from the study:</h4><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The oldest minerals were dated to 7 billion years ago, billions of years before our solar system formed. They came from meteorites.</li><li>97 minerals are only known from meteorites.</li><li>72 minerals were formed directly due to the urine or fecal matter of birds and bats.</li><li>The oldest mineral on Earth is 4.4 billion years old (zircon crystal).</li><li>41 rare elements are involved in the formation of 2,400 minerals.</li><li>296 minerals are thought to predate Earth itself.</li><li>600 minerals were created by human activity, including mining and coal mine fires.</li></ul><p>Journal References:  “On the paragenetic modes of minerals: A mineral evolution perspective,” and “Lumping and splitting: toward a classification of mineral natural kinds.”<br /><br /><br /><u><i>The above story is based on <a href="https://carnegiescience.edu/news/crushed-zapped-boiled-baked-and-more-nature-used-57-recipes-create-earths-10500-mineral-kinds" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a class="article-byline__link" href="http://www.ciw.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Carnegie Institution for Science</a>.</i></u><br /></p>

Study Details The Origins And Diversity Of Every Known Mineral On Earth

Study Details The Origins And Diversity Of Every Known Mineral On Earth. Malachite is an example of a mineral that formed after life created...

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Mysterious Seafloor Holes Stump Ocean Scientists

<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis7mssk5R3-81rLEoOOpfeVRPlzCxDmGkp8bQ2ieYh_XrMzmU38iC9EHI-54axdrtS3Nd9xQ6pomX4bdVYU_J_ekIbC0-e4q8dr87uNd1B0IGA8UwCtN52Tyuitg3RaVhNYyf8OY2piAfmT8UpdtXRG7IOL2LLud5bxaR11JA9XdeeciQLP84guFqE/s1229/Mysterious%20Seafloor%20Holes%20Stump%20Ocean%20Scientists%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="1229" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis7mssk5R3-81rLEoOOpfeVRPlzCxDmGkp8bQ2ieYh_XrMzmU38iC9EHI-54axdrtS3Nd9xQ6pomX4bdVYU_J_ekIbC0-e4q8dr87uNd1B0IGA8UwCtN52Tyuitg3RaVhNYyf8OY2piAfmT8UpdtXRG7IOL2LLud5bxaR11JA9XdeeciQLP84guFqE/w640-h360/Mysterious%20Seafloor%20Holes%20Stump%20Ocean%20Scientists%20(1).jpg" title="A ets of holes in the seafloor. NOAA" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NOAA's ocean explorers spotted these regular, perforation-like holes in the seafloor.<br />. Photo: NOAA<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Scientists have discovered a series of mysterious holes on the Atlantic Ocean floor and asked internet users to offer their theories as to how these holes were formed. <br /><br />During Dive 04 of the second Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition, we observed several sublinear sets of holes in the sediment on the seafloor at a depth of approximately 2,540 meters (1.6 miles). While the holes look almost human made, the little piles of sediment around them suggest they had been excavated. </p><p>We attempted but were not able to take a peek into the holes and poke them with the tools on the remotely operated vehicle. It was also not apparent as to whether the holes were connected beneath the sediment surface.</p><p><b>NOAA invited the public to come up with a possible solution to the mystery.</b></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">On Saturday's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Okeanos?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Okeanos</a> dive, we saw several sublinear sets of holes in the seafloor. The origin of the holes has scientists stumped. The holes look human made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by...something.<br /><br />What's YOUR hypothesis? <a href="https://t.co/iGezxV9TK8">pic.twitter.com/iGezxV9TK8</a></p>— NOAA Ocean Exploration (@oceanexplorer) <a href="https://twitter.com/oceanexplorer/status/1551659318637760512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p></p><p></p><p>Scientists are not certain as to the origin of these holes, so we put it out to followers on social media platforms such as Twitter  and Facebook , to see what hypotheses members of the public might have as to how these holes formed. We got a variety of responses, from aliens to an unknown crab species to gas rising up from below the seafloor…and more.<br /></p><div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> <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> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div><br />This was not, however, the first time that scientists had encountered these mysterious holes. In July 2004, while exploring at a depth of 2,082 meters (6,831 feet) during an expedition along the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, scientists discovered several sets of these holes. <p></p><p>A paper by scientists Michael Vecchione and Odd Aksel Bergstad  highlights how these unusual holes point to gaps that exist in our basic understanding of mid-ocean ridge ecosystems. In the paper, the scientists address some of the hypotheses shared on social media.<br /><br />While Vecchione and Bergstad were not able to definitively determine the source of the holes or how they were constructed, they hypothesize that the raised sediment may indicate excavation by an organism living in the sediment or digging and removal, perhaps via a feeding appendage of a large animal on the sediment surface. </p><p>They used the term “lebensspuren” to describe the holes, which translates to “life traces” and refers to patterns in surface sediments resulting from bioturbation (or the disturbance of sediment by living organisms). These lebensspuren are reminiscent of ichnofossils reported from deep marine rocks.<br /><br />The ultimate origin of the holes still remains a mystery and indeed the unknowns we encounter are often as deep and mysterious as the ocean itself. With each expedition to map and explore ocean depths, however, we learn more about this ecosystem that is so vital to all of our lives.</p><p> </p><p><i><u>The above story is based on <a href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/news/oer-updates/2022/mysterious-holes-seafloor/mysterious-holes-seafloor.html?fbclid=IwAR10OFDVRWuftI8gP5PYJovGsup1teSscrl0RS3d1M-ePzgd_MDdwAM_O3w" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/welcome.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NOAA Ocean Exploration.</a></u></i><br /></p>

Mysterious Seafloor Holes Stump Ocean Scientists

NOAA's ocean explorers spotted these regular, perforation-like holes in the seafloor. . Photo: NOAA Scientists have discovered a series ...

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China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCD7tvRFckq9SFo9RO8zwNNFpM9n2gvNa0Z1ayJYM2NjPhx6b5mZ9rZLZDgPVICcob7dKnluPllgS4dKT8TJO5xMVCY7Ag_71ixRepvhJ0HDiCHKYA4J4btMZFZ0GAbaHg-9Z9IyjUSBsNvqzrx4qpFL1-EGzFzjXIV_Ir5UqwFZa3wRtmGpIaN7F/s1744/China%E2%80%99s%20Mysterious%20Egg-Laying%20Mountain%20That%20Spews%20Out%20Stone%20Eggs%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1744" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCD7tvRFckq9SFo9RO8zwNNFpM9n2gvNa0Z1ayJYM2NjPhx6b5mZ9rZLZDgPVICcob7dKnluPllgS4dKT8TJO5xMVCY7Ag_71ixRepvhJ0HDiCHKYA4J4btMZFZ0GAbaHg-9Z9IyjUSBsNvqzrx4qpFL1-EGzFzjXIV_Ir5UqwFZa3wRtmGpIaN7F/w640-h294/China%E2%80%99s%20Mysterious%20Egg-Laying%20Mountain%20That%20Spews%20Out%20Stone%20Eggs%20(1).jpg" title="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs The "egg-laying" cliff in Sandu, Guizhou province,</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>A rural and small Chinese village has been in the media spotlight because of a mysterious cliff face that is said to lay 'eggs'.<br /><br />The so-called 'egg-laying cliff', situated in south-east China, regularly produces large round rocks as heavy as 660 pounds, according to the locals.</p><p><br />It's said that the 'stone eggs' would drop from the cliff once every three decades or so. Scientists are yet to give an official explanation to the phenomenon.<br /><br />The unusual mountain is located in the Guizhou Province in the Gulu Zhai village, where the minority Shui People have lived for about 1,000 years.<br /><br />The 'egg-laying cliff', or 'chan dan ya' in Chinese, is an area measuring 20 metres long (66 feet) and six metres wide (20 feet) on an unnamed mountain in the village.<br /></p><div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> <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> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div><br />'Stone eggs' would reportedly grow from the cliff face and eventually drop to the ground.<br /><br />Every so often, about once every 30 years, the 6-meter (19 foot 8 inch) high cliff appears to “shed” an egg and it falls to the floor. The eggs are no more than 20 to 40 centimeters (8 to 16 inches) in diameter. According to the locals, there are other smaller "stone eggs" nearby.<br /><br />The largest of the stones have even been found to weigh over 600 pounds (272 kg)!<br /><br />The cliff is made of a common type of calcareous rock that was formed about 500 million years ago in the Cambrian period. The eggs, on the other hand, are concretions made of tougher, heavier sediment deposits. This means that the cliff face tends to erode away quicker than the eggs during prolonged rainfall or sudden landslides. The roundness of the “eggs” is likely due to running water, however it isn’t clear how or why so many became embedded in the rocks.<p></p><p>  </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03qRTjIh1tAB_2994eUQCtQIRV5nImqQ3HwMTgoZwyg_y3RrMKwencRX9CXxggWRENrj0qtXFQ9EWKnH3abUpIGbD7uaoYoS0MlFJGoSONT_jCvB3JSQzQqh2ZtevFkB-SHTVTyLPnyO08yxkcGH4nrAs20o-wn5EqoQ9eASzHXZo1PHzgZLEpwGf/s1260/China%E2%80%99s%20Mysterious%20Egg-Laying%20Mountain%20That%20Spews%20Out%20Stone%20Eggss%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs" border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1260" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj03qRTjIh1tAB_2994eUQCtQIRV5nImqQ3HwMTgoZwyg_y3RrMKwencRX9CXxggWRENrj0qtXFQ9EWKnH3abUpIGbD7uaoYoS0MlFJGoSONT_jCvB3JSQzQqh2ZtevFkB-SHTVTyLPnyO08yxkcGH4nrAs20o-wn5EqoQ9eASzHXZo1PHzgZLEpwGf/w640-h426/China%E2%80%99s%20Mysterious%20Egg-Laying%20Mountain%20That%20Spews%20Out%20Stone%20Eggss%20(1).jpg" title="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "egg-laying" cliff in Sandu, Guizhou province, May 12, 2010. [Photo/VCG]</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why Does the Cliff 'lay Eggs'?</span></h4><p>Over the years, geologists in China have provided some possible explanations to the cause of the phenomenon. However, none official ones have been announced.  <br /><br />The 'stone eggs' were lumps formed by calcium carbonate molecules in the deep sea around 500 million years ago during the Cambrian Period, claimed Dr. Wang Shangyan from the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development of Guizhou.<br /><br />In a book, called 'Scary Phenomena', Dr Wang said the deep sea turned into high mountains over time, and these lumps became lodged in the mountains.<br /><br />And because mudstone, which forms the mountains, weathers more quickly than the lumps, it appears that the cliff is giving birth to the 'eggs'.<br /><br />Dr Wang's opinion was largely agreed by Professor Xu Ronghua from Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science.<br /><br />But Prof. Xu said the lumps were made with silicon dioxide. <br /><br />In explaining why the objects are round, Prof. Xu told DW News: 'A sphere has the smallest superficial area compared to other shapes with the same volume. As such, it would take the least effort for the molecules to form a sphere than the other shapes. '<br /><br />Prof. Xu said running water could also be a factor why the lumps are round.<br /><br />He added that similar phenomena had been observed in Beidaihe, north China, and Xinjiang, north-west China.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmZscPZ5ARfQe8BzWVTLyUEjmXZIU9W5VfG5sXuCO6k28wED_D6geRuamPmy2W5vns6MCxfQH-IHF3MgiNJFwl5BvLttkp292Tn970BfWpjtlD4q_0P-G9ialomsywo19yJlZ-wWmOsgK-jlI0iCyFPUPaQBsklmSz7xND-drnHQjCynjv-zXpxI3/s722/Untitled%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs" border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="722" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmZscPZ5ARfQe8BzWVTLyUEjmXZIU9W5VfG5sXuCO6k28wED_D6geRuamPmy2W5vns6MCxfQH-IHF3MgiNJFwl5BvLttkp292Tn970BfWpjtlD4q_0P-G9ialomsywo19yJlZ-wWmOsgK-jlI0iCyFPUPaQBsklmSz7xND-drnHQjCynjv-zXpxI3/w400-h268/Untitled%20(1).jpg" title="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs" width="400" /></a></div>  <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6ByDjLZv-qPLU1yM3-mAkSsnkkzc5H8isyqmo4GjnD-1HcmtrCB50-bI9QKicHhlA18RwJE-EngCv6vMpdUYIUsTRb76BSeJSISAMF0BwKU6z_pBP7-KDUrVkw4ryNzDBN-RluapZBYoJSsOZXvJA7ALxiu1XlK72Q7dBWE_0P0TopSio6tMSpIA/s703/China%E2%80%99s%20Mysterious%20Egg-Laying%20Mountain%20That%20Spews%20Out%20Stone%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs" border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="703" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM6ByDjLZv-qPLU1yM3-mAkSsnkkzc5H8isyqmo4GjnD-1HcmtrCB50-bI9QKicHhlA18RwJE-EngCv6vMpdUYIUsTRb76BSeJSISAMF0BwKU6z_pBP7-KDUrVkw4ryNzDBN-RluapZBYoJSsOZXvJA7ALxiu1XlK72Q7dBWE_0P0TopSio6tMSpIA/w400-h266/China%E2%80%99s%20Mysterious%20Egg-Laying%20Mountain%20That%20Spews%20Out%20Stone%20(1).jpg" title="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mou" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifstgQXFMxuW7uZhs5mmGI5_azmxkxJ3GQa-iXItI_I6Urzm3PxOWbXTRa90CWQhJ-Q_TfFTRH2tHksicBIcYYXWgFrcJJmXeM24SWY8NUzYOJwdW6n5yv6qmfcGTKgyQbLCZ53lvN31U6pB5yMresmc2-9blpfhy2N33WSFnzVWLd0UCwP9lmeVmm/s700/2484242-46%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs" border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifstgQXFMxuW7uZhs5mmGI5_azmxkxJ3GQa-iXItI_I6Urzm3PxOWbXTRa90CWQhJ-Q_TfFTRH2tHksicBIcYYXWgFrcJJmXeM24SWY8NUzYOJwdW6n5yv6qmfcGTKgyQbLCZ53lvN31U6pB5yMresmc2-9blpfhy2N33WSFnzVWLd0UCwP9lmeVmm/w400-h266/2484242-46%20(1).jpg" title="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain" width="400" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSBJ1lFZDhXjeXsEfDUfC_lisrjLLcNdmBv8VZqdhO7mOZbVfslT_yJJRLf_wTouJf84ZYoQOC3zwOQq04XAOvzaJV-7t9fq5zk2eC-QKBR6KmU7gaIOlr9LsulfXgoJ7wPTcd0nLrCcdscaxVx2YJbRGmScUC2_DVdAxxssYqhiIg6JZoxmK_JvhB/s900/China%E2%80%99s%20Mysterious%20Egg-Laying%20Mountain%20That%20Spews%20Out%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSBJ1lFZDhXjeXsEfDUfC_lisrjLLcNdmBv8VZqdhO7mOZbVfslT_yJJRLf_wTouJf84ZYoQOC3zwOQq04XAOvzaJV-7t9fq5zk2eC-QKBR6KmU7gaIOlr9LsulfXgoJ7wPTcd0nLrCcdscaxVx2YJbRGmScUC2_DVdAxxssYqhiIg6JZoxmK_JvhB/w400-h266/China%E2%80%99s%20Mysterious%20Egg-Laying%20Mountain%20That%20Spews%20Out%20(1).jpg" title="China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That S" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tourist takes a picture of the "egg-laying" cliff in Sandu, Guizhou province. <br />[Photo/VCG]</td></tr></tbody></table><br />

China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs

China’s Mysterious Egg-Laying Mountain That Spews Out Stone Eggs The "egg-laying" cliff in Sandu, Guizhou province, A rural and sm...

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A Wasp, Flower, And Fly Trapped in Amber Reveal 30-Million-Year Old Microcosm

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTbLNxGvZaKbz3462q1JNkl-L3XcoT8-A-_cvnt7cuFLb3j5KLQ5SPUEhmcVHG9H1FWyhci-TKKWU8hnx-S8h7FZexiPWA-TldyDyZDRv9XiB-J9ApWU0AdiVT7jRfRAsCUjDWaXoFJDbhZt_MltDqFAf9MHYeqSEaPjSC9ttaOPnj41UADtSnfYFu/s1057/amber_art_nouveau%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="1057" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTbLNxGvZaKbz3462q1JNkl-L3XcoT8-A-_cvnt7cuFLb3j5KLQ5SPUEhmcVHG9H1FWyhci-TKKWU8hnx-S8h7FZexiPWA-TldyDyZDRv9XiB-J9ApWU0AdiVT7jRfRAsCUjDWaXoFJDbhZt_MltDqFAf9MHYeqSEaPjSC9ttaOPnj41UADtSnfYFu/w640-h446/amber_art_nouveau%20(2).jpg" title="The flower next to the wasp is preserved in amber. (George Poinar, Jr., 2022, Historical Biology)" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flower next to the wasp is preserved in amber. (George Poinar, Jr., Historical Biology)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>A newly-discovered plant, a recently-discovered wasp, and a developing fly larva have been found trapped in amber, in an exquisitely-preserved moment of prehistoric ecology. <br /><br /></p><p>Oregon State University fossil research has revealed an exquisite merger of art and science: a long-stemmed flower of a newly described plant species encased in a 30-million-year-old tomb together with a parasitic wasp.<br /><br />“Based on interests, background and current environment, everybody has their own way of interpreting visual images in the natural world,” said George Poinar Jr. of the OSU College of Science. “Thus an organism can be described, given a scientific name and then stored away in a taxonomic hierarchy. The same organism can be regarded as an art object and even assigned to a particular art period.”<br /><br />The study by Poinar, published in Historical Biology, reports the first description of a fossil flower of the Euphorbiaceae family in amber, in this case amber from the Dominican Republic, home to some of the world’s clearest fossilized tree resin.<br /><br />Members of Euphorbiaceae, also known as the spurge family, grow worldwide, with 105 of its 300 genera, and 1,800 species, found in tropical regions of the Americas.<br /><div style="width:100%;margin: 0px auto"> <script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block; text-align:center;" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="in-article" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1021498709184325" data-ad-slot="6157425841"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div><br />“Fossil flowers of members of this family are quite rare,” Poinar said. “I could only find one previously known fossil, from sedimentary deposits in Tennessee.”<br /><br />Examples of members of this family include the rubber tree, the castor-oil plant and the poinsettia. Many members contain a milky latex while some species are useful as a source of oil or wax.<br /><br />Poinar, an international expert in using plant and animal life forms preserved in amber to learn about the biology and ecology of the distant past, named the new flower Plukenetia minima. It’s the first record of the genus Plukenetia on the island of Hispaniola, home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and also the first fossil record of the genus.<br /><br />Poinar said the mature female flower is noteworthy for its small size but lengthy stalk, which at the tip has four distinct capsules.<br /><br />The wasp, Hambletonia dominicana, was described by Poinar as a new species in a separate paper published in 2020 in Biosis: Biological Systems. It’s an encyrtid, a group of wasps known for attacking a wide range of insects.<br /><br />In the current study, the flower has already bloomed and contains four maturing seed pods or capsules. One of the pods contains a developing fly larva.<br /><br />“In many cases, unrelated organisms become entombed together in amber just by chance,” Poinar said. “But I feel that in this case, the wasp was attracted to the flower, either for obtaining nectar or in attempts to deposit an egg on the capsule that contains the fly larva.”<br /><br />The wasp egg would then hatch, enter the pod and devour the fly larva, Poinar said, enabling the wasp to survive in the ecological niche created by the vegetation and flower heads of Plukenetia.<br /><br />“Both of the fossils can be associated with two 20th-century art movements that appeared in fine art, design and architecture,” Poinar said. “The ‘petite’ flower represents the Art Nouveau style that emphasizes elegant curves and long lines. The ‘dancing’ wasp represents the Art Deco style that stresses sharp angles and decorative shapes.”</p><p> <br /><i><u>The above story is based on <a href="https://earthenvironmentcommunity.nature.com/posts/light-and-heavy-noble-gases-identify-billion-year-old-fluid-residence-times-and-diffusive-transport-of-light-components-are-a-feature-of-the-deep-crust-globally" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Oregon State University.</a></u></i><br /></p>

A Wasp, Flower, And Fly Trapped in Amber Reveal 30-Million-Year Old Microcosm

The flower next to the wasp is preserved in amber. (George Poinar, Jr., Historical Biology) A newly-discovered plant, a recently-discovered ...

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Unique Titanosaur Egg-Inside-Egg Found in India

<p></p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfoQ3qHhBQyoulnRdWuKSgR2-eXZSteRVv45bCCDWX584iCloTE_t_hFBqxvGWfrNXFrzbs7eNEdN-RYD63uZA_c3eJVcSj3doER8AtlG1r1O5DyquLb5baJ5BmAQ8ZWjM7eVkRc3DGimgdnuHUOf-XMv8XuSSvmfLb7uv9ZXoEP746auwPON0266/s1200/Fossilized%20Egg%20Inside%20An%20Egg%20Is%20A%20First%20For%20Dinosaurs%20And%20Reptiles%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="1200" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfoQ3qHhBQyoulnRdWuKSgR2-eXZSteRVv45bCCDWX584iCloTE_t_hFBqxvGWfrNXFrzbs7eNEdN-RYD63uZA_c3eJVcSj3doER8AtlG1r1O5DyquLb5baJ5BmAQ8ZWjM7eVkRc3DGimgdnuHUOf-XMv8XuSSvmfLb7uv9ZXoEP746auwPON0266/w640-h358/Fossilized%20Egg%20Inside%20An%20Egg%20Is%20A%20First%20For%20Dinosaurs%20And%20Reptiles%20(1).jpg" title="Ovum-in-ovo was thought to be unique to birds. Credit: H Dhiman et al, Scientific Reports" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ovum-in-ovo was thought to be unique to birds. Credit: H Dhiman et al, Scientific Reports </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"> Fossilized Egg Inside An Egg Is A First For Dinosaurs And Reptiles<br /></h4><p>Paleontologists have found a fossilized egg within another egg — a condition known as ovum-in-ovo — of a titanosaurid dinosaur in central India. The 68-million-year-old find demonstrates that ovum-in-ovo pathology is not unique to birds but also present in dinosaurs. This underscores the fact that reproductive biology of titanosaurids and other sauropod dinosaurs is more similar to that of crocodiles and birds (archosaurs) than to non-archosaurian reptiles.<br /><br />A trio of researchers, two with the University of Delhi and a third with the Dhar District, Higher Secondary School, has found the first-ever example of an ovum-in-ovo dinosaur egg. In their paper published in <i>Scientific Reports</i>, Harsha Dhiman, Guntupalli Prasad and Vishal Verma describe the dinosaur egg they found and why they believe it suggests at least one type of dinosaur reproduction was more like modern birds than reptiles.<br /><br />The fossilized egg was found in the Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh, in a central western part of India and was in good enough condition to allow the researchers to see that it was ovum-in-ovo, or egg-in-egg. In birds, such eggs are created when one egg is pushed back into the body of the bird and into the reproductive system, where it becomes embedded in another egg still in the process of forming. <br /></p><div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> <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> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div><br />Such egg formations are not seen in reptiles; thus, the find suggests that the reproductive system of the dinosaur that laid the egg, a titanosaur, was more similar to modern birds than to reptiles. Dating of the nesting site where the egg was found showed it be from approximately 66 to 100 million years ago.<br /><br />The egg was found at a location called Nest p7 at the dig site where several other dinosaur fossils, including eggs, have been found—all titanosaurs. Fossils of such dinosaurs, which were a type of sauropod, are widespread, found on all modern continents. Prior evidence has also shown that the titanosaurs were thriving right up until the extinction event that wiped them out, along with all the other non-bird dinosaurs.<br /><br />The researchers noted that the fossilized egg had two complete shells, one inside the other, separated by a small gap—a clear sign that it was ovum-in-ovo. The researchers were able to capture cross-sectional images of the egg and found it to be remarkably similar to ovum-in-ovo found in modern birds. They suggest that the dinosaur was part of a group that had evolved to lay eggs sequentially and that ovum-in-ovo is not exclusive to birds.<p></p><p> “The present discovery of an ovum-in-ovo pathological egg in a titanosaurid dinosaur nest is the first of its kind in dinosaurs and demonstrates its presence in reptiles as well,” wrote the authors.<br /><br /></p><p><u><i>The study was published in the journal<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13257-3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Scientific Reports</a>.</i></u><br /></p>

Unique Titanosaur Egg-Inside-Egg Found in India

  Ovum-in-ovo was thought to be unique to birds. Credit: H Dhiman et al, Scientific Reports  Fossilized Egg Inside An Egg Is A First For Din...

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A 4-Billion-Year-Old Piece of Earth's Crust Has Been Identified Beneath Australia

<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIr6Mnga7vSzVKLYRaTwYopf-KFGqxWZkssj1C1EJp_m3R3ZqhEnq5uXGPdy-tJMS5AeOag6iZftFKAJjj_b0TfLKLYQYdRHscloStsANmy9CivVPA9wpB26hHTqL0CQ2TTe5O5eMQgsGLqLJZaUZMYGyRwsjv9raynvUB02zilro9E66RsMbWQyz-/s1200/Close%20up%20of%20a%20clay%20wall.%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIr6Mnga7vSzVKLYRaTwYopf-KFGqxWZkssj1C1EJp_m3R3ZqhEnq5uXGPdy-tJMS5AeOag6iZftFKAJjj_b0TfLKLYQYdRHscloStsANmy9CivVPA9wpB26hHTqL0CQ2TTe5O5eMQgsGLqLJZaUZMYGyRwsjv9raynvUB02zilro9E66RsMbWQyz-/w640-h426/Close%20up%20of%20a%20clay%20wall.%20(1).jpg" title="A 4-Billion-Year-Old Piece of Earth's Crust Has Been Identified Beneath Australia" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of a clay wall. Image: Martins Krastins © <br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <br /></p><p>Scientists can use various clues to figure out what's under Earth's surface without actually having to do any digging – including firing super-fine lasers thinner than a human hair at minerals found in beach sand.<br /></p><p>By firing lasers finer than a human hair at tiny grains of a mineral extracted from beach sand, Curtin researchers have found evidence of an almost four billion-year-old piece of the Earth’s crust that lies beneath the South-West of WA.<br /><br />In a new finding that helps explain the planet’s evolution from uninhabitable to life supporting, lead researcher and PhD student Maximilian Droellner, from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the lasers were used to vaporise portions of individual grains of the mineral zircon and revealed where the grains were originally eroded from, as well as the geological history of the region.<br /><br />“There is evidence that an up to four billion-year-old piece of crust about the size of Ireland has been influencing the geological evolution of WA for the past few billions of years and is a key ingredient of rocks formed in WA across this time,” Mr Droellner said.<br /><br />“This piece of crust has survived multiple mountain-building events between Australia, India and Antarctica and appears to still exist at tens of kilometres of depth under the South-West corner of WA.<br /><br />“When comparing our findings to existing data, it appears many regions around the world experienced a similar timing of early crust formation and preservation.<br /><br />“This suggests a significant change in the evolution of the Earth some four billion years ago, as meteorite bombardment waned, crust stabilised and life on Earth began to establish.”<br /><br />Research supervisor Dr Milo Barham, also from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said no large-scale study of this region had been done before and the results, when compared with existing data, had revealed exciting new insights.<br /><br />“The edge of the ancient piece of crust appears to define an important crustal boundary controlling where economically important minerals are found,” Dr Barham said.<br /><br />“Recognising these ancient crustal remnants is important for the future of optimised sustainable resource exploration.<br /><br />“Studying the early Earth is challenging given the enormity of time that has elapsed, but it has profound importance for understanding life’s significance on Earth and our quest to find it on other planets.”<br /><br /> </p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><i><u>The above story is based on <a href="https://news.curtin.edu.au/media-releases/lasers-light-the-way-to-discovery-of-ancient-crust-beneath-wa/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials </a>provided by<a href="https://global.curtin.edu.au/responsive-assets/img/logo-curtin-university.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Curtin University. </a></u></i></span><br /></p>

A 4-Billion-Year-Old Piece of Earth's Crust Has Been Identified Beneath Australia

Close up of a clay wall. Image: Martins Krastins ©   Scientists can use various clues to figure out what's under Earth's surface wit...

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Tiny Gemstones Show When Earth's Crust First Started Moving

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHnI078Y7O1dyVnx1A9-XOUsy92ADp76SJJuAdSGv4VzSeCJx80Jcs2Mnyu9itPo57Qm_AbZ5_mG9hmJjDdYeo0y1kzYIcrNC1lP8IAzT8a4UPmtFRR6H1dwan6e5j5SYwQh1h55lrLff6GVIC2JtejkOU1U7bbZ--DZ3GTSlwWeYj0TLxu2RoNaV0/s1215/Types-of-tectonic-plate-boundaries-1024x1024%20(1).jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="1215" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHnI078Y7O1dyVnx1A9-XOUsy92ADp76SJJuAdSGv4VzSeCJx80Jcs2Mnyu9itPo57Qm_AbZ5_mG9hmJjDdYeo0y1kzYIcrNC1lP8IAzT8a4UPmtFRR6H1dwan6e5j5SYwQh1h55lrLff6GVIC2JtejkOU1U7bbZ--DZ3GTSlwWeYj0TLxu2RoNaV0/w640-h394/Types-of-tectonic-plate-boundaries-1024x1024%20(1).jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cognac-colored Crystal of Zircon Perched on a Sugary, Tan Matrix of Calcite. <br />Locality: Gilgit, Gilgit District, Northern Areas, Pakistan <br />Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky</td></tr></tbody></table> <br /><p></p><p>A thin layer of rock and dirt covers the Earth. Known as the crust, it may have begun moving roughly 3.8 billion years ago. That’s the finding of a new study.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">A handful of ancient zircon crystals found in South Africa hold the oldest evidence of subduction, a key element of plate tectonics, according to a new study published today in AGU Advances, AGU's journal for high-impact, open-access research and commentary across the Earth and space sciences.<br /><br />These rare time capsules from Earth's youth point to a transition around 3.8 billion years ago from a long-lived, stable rock surface to the active processes that shape our planet today, providing a new clue in a hot debate about when plate tectonics was set in motion.<br /><br />Earth's crust and the top layer of mantle just under it are broken up into rigid plates that move slowly on top of viscous but mobile lower layers of mantle rock. Heat from Earth's core drives this slow but inexorable motion, responsible for volcanoes, earthquakes, and the uplift of mountain ranges.<br /><br />Estimates for when this process revved up and modern crust formed range from over 4 billion years ago to just 800 million years ago. Uncertainty arises because the geologic record from Earth's youth is sparse, due to the surface recycling effect of plate tectonics itself. Almost nothing remains from the Hadean Eon, Earth's first 500 million years.<br /></p><div style="margin: 0px auto; width: 100%;"> <script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> <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> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div><br />"The Hadean Earth is this big mystery box," said Nadja Drabon, a geologist at Harvard University and the lead author of the new study.<br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tiny time capsules</span></h4><p style="text-align: left;">In an exciting step forward in solving this mystery, in 2018 Drabon and her colleagues unearthed a chronological series of 33 microscopic zircon crystals from a rare, ancient block of crust in the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa, that formed at different times over a critical 800-million-year span from 4.15 to 3.3 billion years ago.<br /><br />Zircon is a relatively common accessory mineral in Earth's crust, but ancient representatives from the Hadean Eon, 4 to 4.56 billion years ago, are exceedingly rare, found in only 12 places on Earth, and usually in numbers fewer than three at each location.<br /><br />Hafnium isotopes and trace elements preserved in the Greenstone Belt zircons told a story about the conditions on Earth at the time they crystalized. Zircons 3.8-billion-years-old and younger appeared to have formed in rock experiencing pressures and melting similar to modern subduction zones, suggesting the crust may have started moving.<br /><br />"When I say plate tectonics, I'm specifically referring to an arc setting, when one plate goes under another and you have all that volcanism -- think of the Andes, for example, and the Ring of Fire," Drabon said, describing a classic example of subduction.<br /><br />"At 3.8 billion years there is a dramatic shift where the crust is destabilized, we have new rocks forming and we see geochemical signatures becoming more and more similar to what we see in modern plate tectonics," Drabon said.<br /><br />In contrast, the older zircons preserved evidence of a global cap of "protocrust" derived from remelting mantle rock that had remained stable for 600 million years, the study found.<br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Signs of global change</span></h4><p style="text-align: left;">The new study found a similar transition to conditions resembling modern subduction in zircons from other locations around the world, dating to within about 200 million years of the South African zircons.<br /><br />"We see evidence for a significant change on the Earth around 3.8 to 3.6 billion years ago and evolution toward plate tectonics is one clear possibility." Drabon said.<br /><br />While not conclusive, the results suggest a global change may have begun, Drabon said, possibly starting and stopping in scattered locations before settling into the efficient global engine of constantly moving plates we see today.<br /><br />Plate tectonics shapes Earth's atmosphere as well as its surface. Release of volcanic gasses and production of new silicate rock, which consumes large amounts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, temper large temperature swings from too much or too little greenhouse gas.<br /><br />"Without all of the recycling and new crust forming, we might be going back and forth between boiling hot and freezing cold," Drabon said. "It's kind of like a thermostat for the climate."<br /><br />Plate tectonics has, so far, only been observed on Earth, and may be essential to making a planet livable, Drabon said, which makes the origins of plate motions of interest in research into the early development of life.<br /><br />"The record we have for the earliest Earth is really limited, but just seeing a similar transition in so many different places makes it really feasible that it might have been a global change in crustal processes," Drabon said. "Some kind of kind of reorganization was happening on Earth." </p><p><br /></p><p><u><i><span style="font-family: times;">The above story is based on <a href="https://news.agu.org/press-release/earliest-geochemical-evidence-of-plate-tectonics-found-in-3-8-billion-year-old-crystal/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Materials</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span> </span>provided by<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.agu.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><b style="border-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;">American Geophysical Union</b></a></span></i></u></p>

Tiny Gemstones Show When Earth's Crust First Started Moving

Cognac-colored Crystal of Zircon Perched on a Sugary, Tan Matrix of Calcite. Locality: Gilgit, Gilgit District, Northern Areas, Pakistan Pho...

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30-Million-Year-Old Baltic Amber Reveals Lacewing That Looks Like Mantis

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95gKuBmYezhYxQCkJsYa4d1qs9se3rYf9T5ukKKOCvgdKDjLKmw8IN8RuQOfGLPPeqabUz3lcaHj1t-sGVcVEWEDyljDNLK2J5XfQ3gBN6pglU7XG89R2Mew2B9vsErs71djd3Ac1JLKDE2Wx8IHk7Qt_oxWQ3uf1gkavV7KZc4Oy5KVVCSeOeJFq/s1211/The%20fossil%20in%20amber.%20iktor%20Baranov%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1211" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95gKuBmYezhYxQCkJsYa4d1qs9se3rYf9T5ukKKOCvgdKDjLKmw8IN8RuQOfGLPPeqabUz3lcaHj1t-sGVcVEWEDyljDNLK2J5XfQ3gBN6pglU7XG89R2Mew2B9vsErs71djd3Ac1JLKDE2Wx8IHk7Qt_oxWQ3uf1gkavV7KZc4Oy5KVVCSeOeJFq/w640-h412/The%20fossil%20in%20amber.%20iktor%20Baranov%20(1).jpg" title="The fossil in amber. (Viktor Baranov)" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fossil in amber. (Viktor Baranov)</td></tr></tbody></table> <br /><p></p><p>The study of a 30-million-year-old block of amber has revealed a lacewing fossil – not in the usual lacewing form, with large eyes and four long wings, but with grasping or raptorial legs that make it look much like a praying mantis.<br /><br />Unless you're a lacewing expert, you might not know these insects have a long history of resembling the praying mantis. It's the result of what's known as convergent evolution, where two organisms evolve similar traits because they're adapting to similar conditions.<br /><br />Fossil records of mantis lacewings (or Mantispida) go all the way back to the Cretaceous period, stretching back 145 million years. However, this is the first adult mantis lacewing fossil to be recovered from the Cainozoic (or current) geological era.<br /><br />"Here we report the first adult of Mantispidae from Baltic amber and place it into a larger framework regarding the quantitative morphology of raptorial forelegs across the lineage in terms of extant and extinct diversity," write the researchers in their published paper.<br /><br />A study of the fossil revealed that it was very like the extant genus <i>Mantispa</i>, but a covering of white film – common in Baltic amber fossils – means it's hard to be sure. To acknowledge the uncertainty, researchers have inserted a question mark and called the new species <i>Mantispa</i>? <i>damzenogedanica</i>.<br /><br />Almost 2 centimeters (0.79 inches) in length, the specimen was studied through a combination of techniques including microscopy and X-ray microtomography, where X-rays are used to build up a cross-section and 3D model of an organism.<br /><br />The research raises a number of questions about how Mantispidae may have evolved over the past 66 million years – when the Cainozoic period began – and why so few of them have been preserved from this particular era.<br /><br />"These morphometric comparisons serve as a proxy for the breadth of ecologies and predatory behaviors within Mantispidae during different episodes of their evolutionary history," write the researchers.<br /><br />Baltic amber deposits preserve history dating back more than 34 million years ago in northern Europe, when the region would have been reasonably warm and temperate. It's unlikely that inhospitable conditions are the reason that so few mantis lacewings were left for us to discover.<br /><br />The answer may lie in a trend that the researchers noticed: a decrease in the diversity of mantis lacewing legs since the Cretaceous. It's possible this points to a more general lack of diversity in the species and a less than abundant population. The diversity of shape in these insects has never really recovered.<br /><br />Scientists continue to make intriguing discoveries from the time machines that are amber, and it's not the first time that we've been able to learn more about this group of insects, known as Neuroptera, from their remains.<br /><br />"The record presented herein illustrates a striking decline in the Mantispidae morphological diversity over the course of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic," conclude the researchers. "This trend illustrates yet another case of the drastic decline of the morphological diversity in an ingroup of Neuroptera."</p><p> <br /><i><u>The research has been published in <a href="https://fr.pensoft.net/article/80134/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fossil Record.</a></u></i><br /></p>

30-Million-Year-Old Baltic Amber Reveals Lacewing That Looks Like Mantis

The fossil in amber. (Viktor Baranov)   The study of a 30-million-year-old block of amber has revealed a lacewing fossil – not in the usual ...

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