From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Mon Dec 30 2002 - 17:29:31 MST
Science Frontiers 143, Sep-Oct, 2002, pp. 3 & 4
GEOLOGY
Three inner-earth heresies
<ital>Deep water.</ital> In the long term, the earth's oceans are going to
disappear. This prognostication is certainly counter to present global-
warming expectations. The reasoning behind this radical future is a bit
obscure.
It seems that the meteorites of the type believed to have aggregated to
form the primitive earth contained about 2% water. But today's oceans
make up only about 0.2% of the planet's mass. Where is that 99% of the
water initially bequeathed the earth?
Of course, some of the deficit is in shallow aquifers and deeper
crevicular structures. But K. Hirose, at the Tokyo Institute of
Technology, maintains that at least five times the volume of the
earth's surface water is locked up in the lower mantle 400-1,800
miles down. Tests of representative mantle rocks suggest that
the mantle contains vast reservoirs of water---unobtainable by
us but there nonetheless.
Unfortunately, as more of the great crustal plates are subducted
into the mantle, as hypothesized by plate tectonics, they drag
still more surface water with them down into the mantle. Hirose's
computer model predicts that in [?] billion years the oceans will
be sucked dry.
(Weinstock, Maia; "The Waters That Lie Within," <ital>Discover,</ital>
23:11, August 2002.)
<ital>Our planet is bleeding.</ital> Not blood, but oil and natural
gas. For example, satellite photos outline oil slicks many miles long
where no oil wells have been drilled. The floor of the Gulf of Mexico
is widely cracked with "cold seeps." Contrary to popular thought, some
oil fields believed depleted are now being refilled from below. This
"new" oil is most likely very old oil created tens of millions of years
ago. It is a light oil, quite different from that originally pumped.
(Cooke, Robert; "Some Oil Fields May Be Getting Refilled from Deeper
Reservoirs," <ital>Houston Chronicle,</ital> April 17, 2002. Cr. D.
Phelps)
Comments. There may be a lot more oil down there than pessimists
predict.
Some of the deep "new" oil may be abiogenic, as long maintained by
T. Gold. (SF#124)
<ital>The earth's core is a natural fission reactor.</ital> Virtually
all mainstream scientists subscribe to the theory that the heat leaking
up from the earth's interior is in part residual heat left over from the
planet's formation, with the remainder being heat released by the
radioactive decay of atoms in the mantle, such as potassium-40. Despite
the simplicity and reasonableness of this model, J.M. Herndon wants to
install a natural fission reactor at the earth's core. This reactor
would provide not only observed heat but also help explain solve [sic]
some long-standing geophysical puzzles.
Basically, Herndon posits a spherical fission reactor about 5 miles in
diameter composed of uranium-235 and uranium-238. Technically, this
would be a fast-neutron breeder reactor. Herndon may have few
supporters in the earth-science field, but he can posit to some facts
consistent with his theory.
#The remains of natural fission reactors have already been discovered
in the earth's outer crust at Oklo, in Gabon. (SF#121)
#The geomagnetic field is irregular in shape and has apparently
frequently reversed itself over geological time spans. Herndon's
seething core of molten metal could generate such a temperamental
field as it churns away, sometimes even temporarily ceasing operation
as accumulating reactor poisons shut off the fission reaction,
restarting as they dissipate.
#The helium-3 seeping outward from the earth's innards far exceeds what
geophysicists predict from primordial leftovers, but Herndon's reactor
would be a source of the overabundance of helium-3.
#Several other solar-system planets and moons are also exothermic and
without obvious sufficient heat sources. Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and
Jupiter's moon, Io, might also harbor nuclear reactors. Even our own
moon might!
(Lemley, Brad; "Nuclear Planet," <ital>Discover,</ital> 23:37,
August 2002.)
--
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com >
Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
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