|
Home |
The Internet Corner for Books, Poems and everything! |
|||
|
Writer's Block Corner |
||||
| - -The Next Generation In Publishing - - | ||||
 |
 |
 |
||
| Fiction Books Non-fiction Books Short Stories Poetry Internet & Business Related Books Accessories |
||||
|
NaturalHealthNewsletters.com provides one of the most complete collections of
Free Newsletters for Natural Health and Alternative Medicine on the internet.
You can receive Free articles, book reviews, Recipes and more on topics ranging
from Nutrition, Fitness to Herbal Remedies and Holistic Medicine The Ideal place
to go to learn how to improve your health. |
||||
|
This article was originally written for a paranormal magazine called The Paranormal Journal, it became known as The Underground Files covering ghosts, ufos, cryptozoology, and government conspiracies amongst others. I no longer write for the magazine and it is no longer in existence. Bring Me Sunshine The second largest extinction in the history of the planet, the annihilation of two thirds of all species, may have been cause by ultraviolet radiation from the sun after gamma rays destroyed the Earth’s ozone layer. Astronomers are suggesting a supernova exploded within 10,000 light years of the Earth, destroying the chemistry of the atmosphere and allowing the sun’s ultraviolet rays to burn fragile, unprotected life forms. This is said to have happened some 440 million years ago and led to what is known as the Ordovician extinction, the second most severe of the planet’s five great periods of extinction. “The prevailing theory for that extinction has been the ice age,” said Adrian L. Melott, a University of Kansas astronomer. “We think there is very good circumstantial evidence for a gamma ray burst.” Melott is the leader of a team, which includes some astronomers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, who presented the theory Wednesday, 7th January 2004, at the national meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Fossil records for the Ordovician extinction show an abrupt disappearance of two thirds of all species on the planet. Those records also evidence an ice age that lasted more than a half million years began in the same period. Melott reckons a gamma ray burst would explain away both phenomena. He said a gamma ray beam striking Earth would break up molecules in the stratosphere, causing the formation of nitrous oxide and other chemicals that would destroy the ozone layer, shrouding the planet in brown smog. “The sky would get brown, but there would be intense ultraviolet radiation from the sun striking the surface,” he said. The radiation would be at least 50 times above normal, powerful enough to kill exposed life. Why worry about dirty bombs! In a second effect, the brown smog would cause the Earth to cool, triggering an ice age, Melott said. The extinction “could have been a one-two punch,” said Bruce S. Lieberman, a palaeontologist at the University of Kansas and a co-author of the theory. “Our theory builds on earlier theories,” that included an ice age. Before the extinction, the Earth was unusually warm. Melott said climate experts have been unable to find a model that would explain the sudden rise of massive glaciers. “They need something to jump start the ice age,” he said. “The gamma ray burst would have done it.” Jere H. Lipps, a paleobiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, states gamma rays as a source of the Ordovician extinction, though should be regarded as only one of many theories. “It is a hypothesis that should be tested,” Lipps said. He went on to say the widely accepted theory of the dinosaurs being wiped out by an asteroid 65 million years ago started out as a “wild idea” but that it gained wide support after other research. Most of the life killed in the Ordovician extinction was primitive sea creatures. Those that lived near the surface would be at greater risk from the ultraviolet radiation. Melott said the species killed lived in shallow waters or reproduced with larvae spending part of its life near the water surface but animals living in deep water were unharmed. There were only primitive plants on land but they would have been affected too, he said. Melott said it is almost certain that the Earth has been hit by a gamma ray several times in its 4.5 billion year history. “You can expect a dangerous gamma ray burst every few hundred million years,” he said. “It could happen tomorrow or it could be millions of years.” Osama Bin Laden could be out of luck on that one then. Supernovae, the source of gamma rays, usually leave behind remnant clouds of dust, shock waves and black holes that can be detected for millions of years. Melott said there is no evidence of such a supernova, but that in 440 million years the Milky Way would have turned almost twice and traces of the explosion could have been moved during that time. The Ordovician extinction was the first of five great extinctions in history. The Devonian, 360 million years ago, killed 60 percent of all species. The Permian-Triassic, 250 million years ago, killed 90 percent of all life. The late Triassic (its clock was five minutes slow), 220 million years ago, killed half of all living species. The Cretacious-Tertiary event paid for the dinosaurs and half of all other living species on the planet about 65 million years ago. So Bob’s your uncle, watch those rays in the sky, folks, though Melanoma cancer seems the most likely of worries for you in the time period described above…! Bring Me Sunshine written by Bill Barber |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
|
|
||||
|
BACK TO Poetry OR Short Stories OR Articles |
||||
|
Home Our Aims Bookcase Book Shop |
||||