Scylla Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 fossil firmament flip flopped frequently?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46799635/ns/technology_and_science-science/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Huh...I wonder if they have any guesses as to the duration of the cycles? It seems to me that their margin of 100 million years between the deposition of the rocks they sampled, and the stabilization of the atmosphere by cyanobacteria, is a terribly small increment of time compared to the 2.5-2.65 billion year age of the rocks...the individual cycle layers must span periods close to their capability to measure them! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 (edited) Nat geo version says "every few million years" http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/19/early-earth-turned-methane-haze-on-and-off/ Edited March 20, 2012 by Scylla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xonenine Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 maybe ocean overturn events drove the cycle... "Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile." Lepidus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Maybe an unmoderated, unbuffered oscillation between methane producers and methane consumers? Solar light levels reaching the surface could have tipped the scales each way in turn. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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