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The Signposts PerspectivesA possible history of the mysterious
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Approximately 544,000,000 BC: Perhaps the last of three global glaciations extending even to the Earth's equator is realizedThe slow movement of tectonic plates may also be gathering continental masses around the southern pole, setting the stage for a righting of the axis tilt.
Around 544 million BC the Cambrian period began with a ten million year explosion in life diversity and size (previous to this most life consisted of microbes). It may be that the Earth's mantle shifted, imbalancing the planet and causing it to tilt on its axis.
North America began the period near to the South Pole but ended up (540 million BC- 515 million BC) on the equator. Antarctica, South America, Australia, India, and Africa were all one body called Gondwanaland, and traveled all the way across the southern half of Earth during the time (finishing the trip around 535 million BC- 500 million BC).
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 534,000,000 BC: A sudden mass imbalance within the Earth may set off rapid geologic changes worldwide now (with significant climatic consequences afterwards)The normal tectonic processes are vastly accelerated as a result of the imbalances brought on by this event. Within 15 million years all the continents have moved by some 90 degrees from their previous positions.
The unusual size and configuration of the subducted seafloor may also cause far more seawater than normal to be dragged downwards deep into the Earth as well.
Between 750 million BC and 2,000 AD the Earth's surface sea level will drop some 1,968 feet due to loss of water to subterranean regions.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 500,000,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include starfish, corals, and clam-like shellfish Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 490,000,000 BC: The Earth may have slowly reduced its previous tilt of 70 degrees from the vertical to some 20 or 30 degrees nowAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 450,000,000+ BC: After many false starts (species which failed to make the transition) finally one form of plant life manages to survive the change from water to dry land. I.e.,
the very first successful species of land plant now makes its debutBy the end of the 20th century there will be four different lineages of plants-- including fungi, which is more like a hybrid of plant and animal.
Three of the plant lines are basically categorized according to color: green, brown, and red. Fungi is in a class of its own.
A summary of the evolution of life by this point would be: Life begins in the ocean. Some life moves into freshwater, or which a portion will eventually move back to the sea. Some of the plant life which stays in freshwater eventually colonizes dry land.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 439,000,000 BC: The Ordovician mass extinction occurs, wherein......about 85% of all marine animal species are killed off (there were no land animals at this time)
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 425,000,000 BC: Portions of the continents are growing closer againEmerging lifeforms of this time include land scorpions, club mosses, clams, mussels, snails, and certain types of fungi and algae which will survive into the 21st century AD.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 395,000,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include sharks, amphibians, spiders, and fernsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 367,000,000 BC: The Devonian mass extinction takes place, and is apparently near the magnitude of the Ordovician event 72 million years before...An enormous comet (as big as three miles in diameter) smashed into Nevada around 370 million BC (the Alamo Impact). This region is largely under the Pacific Ocean at this time. This impact may have been but the first of many; a series of comet showers may have begun impacting the Earth around 370 million BC, ultimately bringing about the mass extinction of 367,000,000 BC...
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 364,000,000 BC: Something of a global extinction event takes place now...Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 350,000,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include insects, reptiles, mosses, and land snailsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 340,000,000 BC: A wiener-length, lizard-like creature has firmly established itself in a semi-aquatic environment...Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 360,000,000 BC- 250,000,000 BC: A cosmic impact in Australia now may be the cause of the worst extinction event(s) ever suffered by EarthAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 300,000,000 BC: The super continent Pangea takes shape; Vascular land plants like trees may have spread over the continents sufficiently by now to cause a worldwide increase in oxygen; Gigantic insects may roam the worldThese high oxygen levels last for about 100 million years. Note that under such conditions forest fires would have occured more easily and devastated far greater regions in single events (oxygen aids combustion).
Approximately 300,000,000 BC the super continent Pangea takes shape. Sometime later Pangea will split into Laurasia (north) and Gondwanaland (south).
Africa and North America are colliding. Europe and South America are also colliding with North America, to form Pangea.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 345,000,000 BC- 225,000,000 BC: The Carboniferous and Permian periods see lots of Gondwana (southern Pangea) ice-covered. Animal life is minimal in the region nowThe Universal Almanac 1996 offers 350,000,000 BC as a marker for the Carboniferous Period, and 290,000,000 BC for the Permian.
The Running Press Cyclopedia offers 345,000,000 BC- 280,000,000 BC as the range for the Carboniferous Period, and 280,000,000 BC- 225,000,000 BC for the Permian.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 247,000,000 BC: Something of a global extinction event takes place now...Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 252,000,000+ BC: At least some portions of the super continent Pangaea suffer an Ice AgeAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 252,000,000 BC- 2,000,000 BC: The Earth enjoys a lengthy warm and wet period mostly devoid of ice sheets and glaciersAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 250,000,000 BC- 245,000,000 BC: The Permian mass extinction...Even the insects almost don't survive this one. The actual die off may have occurred over a period of one million years or less. There may have been more than one cause for the extinctions, but one prime suspect is an enormous lava flow up to four km thick in Siberia, over a region as large as the future USA. In the 20th century the ancient hardened lava flow will be called the Siberian Traps. The volcanic gases released along with the lava may have helped plunge the world into a 'nuclear winter' type environment-- or, alternatively, they may have formed 'greenhouse gases' which effectively cooked the planet for a while. In the 'cooked' scenario much life would have had to take refuge towards the poles (higher latitudes), worldwide. Or, both circumstances could have taken place, only one after the other. First a colder period, then a hotter one. Which scenario actually transpires will remain a mystery to scientists circa 1999 AD.
Other factors could include a comet or asteroid strike during this period.
Life however bounces back stronger than ever some 80 million years later.
Perhaps it was a series or multitude of comet impacts over time which caused the extinctions. Or such a series may have combined with the gases emitted by the Siberian Traps above to have had the effect.
A fossilized forest in the central Transantarctic Mountains from the Upper Permian offers climatic evidence for its location which seems to conflict with long established ideas about the period.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 250,000,000 BC: Antarctica (like the other continents) is part of the super continent PangaeaAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 240,000,000 BC: Much of Gondwana is freed from its previous icy conditions, and animal life repopulates the regionAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 235,000,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include turtles, frogs, dinosaurs, and mammalsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 220,000,000 BC- 208,000,000 BC: The Triassic mass extinctionAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 200,000,000 BC: An enormous line of volcanic eruptions breaks the back of the super continent Pangaea nowPangea begins to break apart, starting the process of widening one rift into the Atlantic Ocean with which humanity will ultimately be familiar.
Horseshoe crabs have appeared. They will survive at least to 2,000 AD.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 200,000,000 BC: Insect evolution seems to be winding down-- most insect species designs appear to have already been perfectedAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 180,000,000 BC: Laurasia and Gondwanaland themselves begin to splinter into halves, helping widen the Atlantic Ocean
Another source puts the start of the breakup of Pangea at 180,000,000 BC. Whatever the timing of that event, a certain homogenization of plant and animal species over common latitudinal regional bands of Pangea now insures many of the child continents possess a similar starting stock of species with which to begin their individual evolutionary journeys. One example of this is the Glossopteris tree, of which seeds will be found circa 20th century AD in Antarctica, Australia, South America, Asia, and Africa.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC: The southern super continent Gondwanaland forms as North America and Eurasia move in other directionsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC: Laurasia breaks from PangaeaAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC: Anything which exists today on the sea floors of the Earth will be erased forever long before the time of 21st century humanityOf course, if a civilization were sufficiently far advanced technologically, and wished to leave a permanent calling card or artifact for whomever might explore the planet up to 150 million years or more later, they could conceivably construct a near indestructible cairn somewhere on the planet for this purpose, at this time.
But tectonic forces are not the only destructive elements on Earth. There's also volcanism, cosmic impacts, weathering, earthquakes, tidal waves, corrosion, and more. All things considered, a wise planner would likely not only make their artifact as near indestructible as possible, but also place it in a more durable location than the sea beds-- such as moderately deep underground in a continent, at a location judged more geologically stable than most others-- likely far from a tectonic plate edge, for instance. They would also try to choose a spot not so low in altitude as to be in danger of slipping undersea at some point, but also not so high as to perhaps be exposed by weathering within only 150 million years or so. The extra land mass mountains offer to help shield against cosmic impacts would be included in the design. Large mountain ranges far from tectonic plate edges and possessed of relatively light volcanic activity and slow development might be an ideal location under which to bury such an artifact. Such a range might be represented by the Appalachians in North America, or the Urals in Asia, both of which were formed around 200,000,000 BC-- if the planners could correctly deduce the long term status of sites at such an early date. Lastly, the planners would create more than one such artifact, as a further guarantee of perpetuity, and possible later discovery. Each artifact would be placed far from the others, for reasons of geographic accessibility for later discoverers, as well as increasing the likelihood of long range survival of the relic(s) beyond cosmic impacts and other threats.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC -100,000,000 BC: The super continent Pangaea is breaking apart to form all the separate continents with which 20th century humanity will be familiarThe first ants may appear on Earth during this period.
Around 150,000,000 BC there is a major asteroid impact in the Barents sea near the coast of Norway. This impact effects the entire globe via tidal waves, a climate-changing "nuclear winter", and extinctions.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 145,000,000+ BC: Small Velociraptor-like dinosaurs are mutating into the earliest bird-like formsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 150,000,000 BC- 50,000,000 BC: Gondwanaland splinters into all the southern continents of Earth, including the southernmost AntarcticaNote that their previous union means that up until now Antarctica likely shared many of the same plant and animal species of Gondwanaland as a whole-- which included primordial versions of New Zealand, Australia, South America, South Africa, and India.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 140,000,000 BC: Gondwana begins breaking up; 20th century-style Crocodiles have appearedAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 125,000,000 BC: 20th century type Gingko trees have appearedAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 144,000,000 BC- 66,000,000 BC: The largest living creature which will ever fly Earth's skies before the 21st century does so nowAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 110,000,000 BC: A continent one third the size of 1999 AD Australia has appeared in the southern hemisphereSome of the links on this search list may be helpful in visualizing the size and location of this continent that Earth will eventually lose to the sea.
Only the southern and central portions of the Kerguelen continent are created via volcanic eruption at this time (perhaps similarly to the more modern Hawaiian islands). Note that this includes the sections nearest Antarctica.
Another interesting aspect of Kerguelen is the 'clean slate' with which the continent likely begins its periods as a dry land mass, in terms of native life forms. Kerguelen would be populated and repopulated with life in ways similar to that of volcanically created sea islands, and those islands periodically wiped clean by severe ocean storms, tsunamis, and further volcanic eruptions and lava flows. That is, occasional surviving land plant and animal life would be washed up upon its shores by the sea, from other land masses. Birds would find the land mass on migrations over sea, or when pushed over it by storms. Birds would nest there, and also deposit via droppings seeds from food eaten on other islands or continents. Seals and penguins from Antarctica and elsewhere would find Kerguelen. A few land animals like lizards might swim there from nearby land masses, or be transported via storms.
There is also the relatively near proximity to Antarctica to consider. Kerguelen likely shares some climate similarities to portions of Antarctica throughout the shared history of the two continents, due to location and circumstance. It seems likely that a considerable migration of plant and animal forms could take place between Antarctica and Kerguelen-- especially over a span of millions of years.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 96,000,000 BC: Australia and Antarctica split apartNote that their previous union means that up until now Antarctica and Australia likely shared many of the same plant and animal species.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 90,000,000 BC- 85,000,000 BC: New Zealand and the super continent Gondwana go their separate waysApparently New Zealand loses a great deal of its land area in the aftermath of its split from Gondwana, which reduces its capacity to host a diversity of life forms. This means many dinosaur species (especially larger ones) either go extinct there, or shrink in size and numbers.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 84,000,000+ BC: Something rocks our worldAs of the time of the cited article above the roll had not yet been confirmed. If the roll did occur, it signifies an unusual event for which we might have insufficient clues as to the cause. A cosmic impact of sufficient magnitude to roll the planet would seem to have initiated a mass extinction as well-- especially in synch with the huge volcanic eruptions indicated too. Events which might bring about a sufficient mass shift without calamitous extinctions might include a massive earthquake rupturing the crust undersea, allowing a huge volume of seawater to be swallowed up by the mantle, in a way much more sudden than the normal subduction process. There is evidence of at least a couple of unusually large subterranean gulps of ocean water in Earth's past.
Between 750 million BC and 2,000 AD the Earth's surface sea level will drop some 1,968 feet due to loss of water to subterranean regions.
Of course, a large section of the sea floor sinking along with a vast gulp of seawater would further amplify the effects and possibly accelerate tectonic plate processes.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 80,000,000 BC- 75,000,000 BC: Antarctica may be sufficiently close or connected to South America to allow dinosaur migrations between the continentsNote that Antarctica and South America could have shared in other plant and animal species during this time as well, above and beyond the dinosaurs.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 76,000,000 BC: Australia and New Zealand split apartNote that their previous union means that up until now New Zealand and Australia likely shared many of the same plant and animal species.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 70,000,000 BC- 45,000,000 BC: Antarctica begins the period somewhat dry, but gradually becomes warmer and wetter; similar conditions or better may encompass KerguelenAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 66,500,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include rodents, primates, horses, and sycamoresAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 66,500,000 BC- 20,000,000 BC: Kerguelen boasts forests similar to those which will be seen in circa 2000 AD South AmericaNote that the presence of trees indicates that, at the very least, average windspeeds about Kerguelen are much more sedate now than they will be around the 20th century AD. Less wind would spell less wind chill too, thereby raising the effective temperatures in the region at least a bit too, compared to the later 20th century.
But there's more. Since the trees populating Kerguelen now resemble those of South America circa 2000 AD, it would appear that the climate would have to be similar to that of 2000 AD South America too-- making Kerguelen a much warmer place than its island remnants will be millions of years from now.
Warmer temperatures and a wealth of vegetation would seem to make the continent hospitable for a plentitude of animal life as well.
But where could such animal life come from, and/or how might it reach the continent in the first place?
Keep in mind Kerguelen has possibly been connected to virtually all the southern continents at one time or another, since its formation. Thus, various migrations of species from places like Antarctica, South America, Australia, and New Zealand could have richly populated Kerguelen with representatives long before it became a wholly separate land mass, with seas or oceans isolating it from the rest.
But other questions arise-- like how these species might evolve once Kerguelen did become permanently separated. Or did these species even get the chance to evolve? Might the regular killing sweeps of sea storms and tsunamis across the continent's vast lowlands have quickly reduced the continent to an eerily silent landscape, well stocked with trees and plant life most of the time, but virtually bereft of large land animals, for millions of years on end?
Well, we do know that in the much harsher climate of the Kerguelen remnants (islands) of the 20th century AD, animals like rabbits brought in by human beings will thrive against all odds there, even with considerable and somewhat advanced human efforts to eradicate them. It may be that the underground shelters of the burrowing mammals protect them from the worst aspects of the environment then-- and so it might also be for some animals in the Kerguelen past. Except for the periods of near continent-wide inundation, at least. When tsunamis sweep the immense lowlands of the whole continent perhaps every 100,000 years or so, many burrowing animals would surely drown. Of course, if the populations were sufficiently large (and/or were prolific breeders), some might float or swim in the flood long enough to survive until the waters receded, within a few hours or so-- and then begin repopulating an empty continent once more.
The few higher altitude spots on the continent would likely serve as islands of life to re-seed the remainder of the lands, post-tsunami. At least wherever they possessed species which could easily switch between the different altitudes in terms of climate and vegetation. So versatility might soon become an embedded characteristic of what Kerguelen life survived many of the periodic drownings.
Other life which will be known to thrive around Kerguelen in the 20th century AD will be marine life: seals and penguins. Birds too will prosper on the islands. Whales are known to frequent the area. So it might be suspected that prehistoric Kerguelen boasted such life forms as well, although perhaps in far greater abundance and diversity.
One of the few constants for Kerguelen throughout much of its span will be its close proximity to Antarctica. At its worst, there are times when some 500 km or less of open sea might separate the southernmost tip of the Kerguelen continent from the dry land of Antarctica-- and in whatever millennia climate and winds combine to allow ice sheets to form in the straits between the continents, animal life may still walk from one to the other, even if only seasonally. So it may be that here too is yet another way Kerguelen life might be replenished time and time again.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 65,000,000 BC: The Cretaceous mass extinction comes about, famous later for the decimation of the dinosaurs, but more importantly responsible for the end of about 76% of all life on Earth.It will be becoming more widely accepted circa 1999 AD that dinosaurs did not in fact die out, but simply evolved into the birds known to 20th century humanity. As of 1999 it will also be appearing that even the popular concept of dinosaurs as large lizard-like beasts survived in the flesh for some time beyond the cosmic impact catastrophe (perhaps half a million years)-- at least in some places on Earth, like southeastern China, which maybe not coincidentally existed on the opposite side of the planet from the impact point. From the scant evidence available so far, it appears some 45% of local Chinese dinosaur species may have been among the survivors of this time. Keep in mind we're talking numbers of different species here, not total population numbers (which might still have been suffering tremendous declines).
It does appear the effects of the meteor strike and massive volcanic eruptions were poisoning the environment, perhaps adversely affecting processes like egg-laying by the dinosaurs similarly as to how the pesiticide DDT was harming egg-laying by american eagles in the mid-20th century.
One effect of the meteor strike itself appears to have been a disasterous and massive release of flammable gas (methane) from the sediments of ocean depths which filled much of the Earth's global atmosphere and was set aflame by lightning or other means, resulting in a raging firestorm racing over much of the planet. The fire consumed perhaps ten percent of all plant life on Earth's dryland surfaces.
Methane hydrates could have been the source of the gas. Shock waves from the impact could have been large enough to free gas from this undersea source all over the Earth simultaneously.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 57,800,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include elephants, whales, camels, bats, penguins, weasels, cats, and dogsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 55,500,000 BC: Huge amounts of methane are added to the atmosphere, setting off a period of extensive global warmingIronically perhaps, this warming was itself triggered by a much more subtle long term warm up (over 4.5 million years). Now, that previous slow rise in temperature has apparently pushed the Earth past some critical point, thereby initiating a large release of gas (methane and carbon dioxide) from worldwide methane clathrates deposits in the sea floor.
Such gases are called 'greenhouse gases' because they help insulate the Earth from space and make it heat up.
Circa late 1999 AD, the Earth's hidden deposits of marine gas hydrates will be estimated at 14,000 gigatons.
During the LPTM sea temperatures rise between 7 and 14 degrees Fahrenheit in just one thousand years.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 55,000,000 BC: Color vision first appears in prosimians and other species (which eventually will begat primates)Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 50,000,000 BC: Ants begin agricultural pursuits (cultivating fungi)Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 50,000,000 BC: Antarctica is moving into the south polar position with which 20th century humanity will be familiar; Kerguelen must needs follow on its heelsKerguelen too must be suffering climatic changes like Antarctica-- though perhaps avoids the worst due to Kerguelen's relative location to the South Pole never matching that of Antarctica itself.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 45,000,000 BC: Some of the earliest emerging primates (predecessors to humanity) are astonishingly tiny creaturesThe tiny creatures are denizens of a rain forest, feasting upon sap and insects. A slightly larger species (weighing in at half an ounce-- roughly 20th century shrew-size) living in the same time and place may be a closer relative to later human beings than the first. The animals are nocturnal. More than a dozen different types of tiny primates will be documented in the find cited below.
Prior to the discovery described above, scientists believed primates didn't emerge until five million years later in Asia.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 40,000,000 BC: New Zealand begins growing in land area again, due to volcanism and plate tectonicsThis seemingly ideal last refuge for dinosaurs did not bring them into anything near historic times. The reason seems to be that New Zealand suffered significant changes in land area and climate over the full span of its existence. Apparently New Zealand lost a great deal of its land area in the aftermath of its split from Gondwana, only growing again to its 20th century size after plate tectonics and volcanism began expanding its boundaries once more around 40 million BC. Sometime later the most recent Ice Age came along to affect things too-- with enormous ice sheets sweeping the islands almost clean of life, but for the northern end of North Island.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 40,000,000 BC: Glaciers may be gradually covering Antarctica's Lake Vostok nowAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 36,600,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include monkeys, pigs, deer, and saber-toothed catsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 34,000,000 BC- 33,000,000 BC: Antarctica's massive ice sheets begin to formIs much of the Antarctic environment today something like the tundra of 20th century Alaska, or still warmer and more lush than that? Antarctica boasted tropical rainforests during some periods-- is this one of them? Or perhaps Antarctica possesses some regions of temperate environment, including deciduous forests similar to those USAmerica will display during the 20th century? In any event, note that the ice sheets are beginning to form now-- they do not yet dominate the continent. And so perhaps much of Antarctica at this time resembles North America prior to the Ice Age glaciers moving in.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 30,000,000 BC: The dolphins of this time are smarter than the current representatives of humanity; Antarctica is mostly ice covered nowAntarctica is near completely ice-covered by now.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 25,000,000 BC: Massive volcanic eruptions may be occuring in the region of Antarctica's Ross Sea-- perhaps even affecting global climate; Kerguelen climate is surely changed somewhat by the eventIt appears that the climatic effects of eruptions in this region will more strongly affect areas in or near the same latitudes as opposed to others. Thus, despite being almost on the other side of the world from the eruptions, Kerguelen is likely affected.
Note that catastrophic climate changes which fall short of driving a given species into utter extinction may actually accelerate the process of evolution in regards to that species. At least this will seem to be the case with humanity and other species later. Is it possible that certain Antarctic/Kerguelen species are now being accelerated evolution-wise via such a mechanism?
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 23,500,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include dolphins, apes, bears, seals, giraffes, hyenas, and grassesAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 22,000,000 BC: A veritable explosion in the numbers of primitive ape species inhabiting Earth takes placeAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 20,000,000 BC: A continent one third the size of 1999 AD Australia sinks beneath the seas in the southern Indian OceanNote that the previous boom in ape species two million years earlier means apes existed simultaneously with the last couple of million years of a dry Kerguelen continent. It seems that at the very least Kerguelen offered its animal residents an evolutionary environment similar to Australia/New Zealand of the same period, with perhaps some intriguing marsupial and flightless bird species and other exotic evolutionary niches all its own. Kerguelen may even have been an evolutionary paradise in some respects.
One caveat about higher life forms and evolution on the Kerguelen continent however was its mostly low altitude and featureless plains. There was little in the way of terrain features to protect Kerguelen life from raging sea storms or tidal waves spawned by earthquake, volcano, or large meteor strikes during the land mass' dry span. Thus, the continent may not have offered a level of bio-diversity comparable to New Zealand, Australia, Madagascar, or better, after all-- or, alternatively, the periodic widescale destruction may have served to accelerate evolution on the continent (it's a toss up).
It seems there would be a chance that some early forerunners of primates developed on or otherwise found their way to the lost continent, since Kerguelen enjoyed land links of one kind or another to virtually all the other southern continents at various times over the millions of years it existed as dry land.
Some of the links on this search list may be helpful in visualizing the size and location of this continent that Earth loses now to the sea.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 15,000,000 BC: Suddenly most competing ape lines go extinct, leaving only a handful of survivorsWhy the sudden extinctions of many ape lines at this time? That remains a mystery.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 14,000,000 BC: Antarctica enjoys a warm, ice-free period?How long does this period last? Is the Antarctic environment today something like the tundra of 20th century Alaska, or still warmer and more lush than that? Antarctica boasted tropical rainforests in the far past-- does it manage even a brief return to such conditions now?
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 13,000,000 BC: A 'mini-extinction' event may be afflicting life on EarthAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 5,200,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include australopithecines, Homo habilis, armadillos, giant sloths, and mammothsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 3,000,000 BC to 2,000,000 BC: A mysterious time of transformative evolution for the creature that someday will call itself "human"The climate is becoming dryer now, thereby making it necessary to cover more ground faster in search of food. Over generations, advanced hominids evolve longer legs, making them more efficient at hunting and gathering.
Note that much of 20th century humanity will find taller, longer legged people more attractive than others. The reason appears to be evolutionary.
Australopithecus africanus hominids may be eating at least a bit of meat from herbivores now-- or else eating large quantities of sedges and grasses to gain the same nutrients-- as supplements to their historic fruit and leaf diet, similar to that of 20th century chimpanzees.
The possible addition of meat at this time is important. Keep in mind hand tools do not seem to be in use as yet. So any meat acquisition is likely gotten from scavenging after kills by big cats, and in competition with other scavengers such as hyenas.
A couple million years in possession of powerful imitative speech capabilities has allowed these predecessors of human beings to learn some of the value of a chorus-- multiple voices applied in unison. Such actions can offer a pleasing if somewhat haunting feeling to the primates; a seemingly mysterious premonition of hidden talents, and greater things to come. At least, if such harmonies effect human ancestors in ways similar to how they will do their 20th century descendents.
Loud harmonies may provide a deep inner pleasure to the ape-people.
The use of chorus begins as random accidents of simultaneous calls achieving harmony, with they and their consequences eventually observed and emulated by the packs purposely later on. Choruses are seen to have unusual effects on not only the pack members themselves, but other packs who hear them, as well as even mighty beasts such as lions, bears, and wolf packs. Indeed, hints of the chorus can be detected in some of the sounds emanating from wolf packs too at times (Did early humans get one clue to chorus from the sounds of wolf packs? Does this signal the initial stirrings of kinship between humans and wolves, which will one day lead to the domesticated dog? Maybe. But keep in mind at this early date that wolves are both competitors and a constant predatory threat to humans in various regions of the world).
Over the millennia a few packs grasp the value of chorus techniques in battles against competing packs, as well as during hunts of great predators and other large beasts. A chorus can make a pack seem larger and stronger than they are-- a terrific survival advantage.
Over time the chorus technique spreads to virtually all of this class of primates, worldwide.
Note that as the use of the chorus spreads among these hominids, its value to a given group will be somewhat proportional to that group's ability to recognize and harmonize with the voices of others in the group-- and to distinguish members' sounds from those of animals which they might be preying upon (or hiding from).
As the power of the chorus spreads across all hominid groups, inter-group competition in related acoustic pattern recognition will intensify. After all, those best able to master and exploit the chorus technique will more often win various survival challenges than those that don't. Intra-group competition of course will also be present, from the very earliest point that the technique is recognized as beneficial to survival.
Does an intellectual 'bootstrapping' process of switching back and forth between marginal improvements in acoustic pattern recognition and trial-and-error tool-making begin to take place now? Could it be that the acquisition of speech and the earliest tool-making capacities are intimately linked?
Note one implication of the above citation is that human predecessors may be developing their sense of past and future in parallel with their struggle to speak and learn to create hand tools. This in turn demands greater conscious memory capacity...
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 2,300,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: A Stone Age "tool factory" is in operation in Kenya, and a possible 0.5+ km asteroid impact in the deep southeast Pacific Ocean may increase atmospheric water vapor sufficiently to eventually bring about the next Ice AgeHomo erectus will appear to be butchering animals trapped in a natural fissure with stone tools in the vicinity of eastern China around 2,250,000 BC.
Perhaps most intriguing are hints that Procynocephalus monkeys may be serving Homo erectus in a semi-domesticated fashion in this region and during this time-- or at least hanging around in a scavenger role much like some wolves may be doing later on. If such service or related scavenging is ever confirmed by other finds it could offer a myriad of surprising implications and new questions regarding human development. Keep in mind that much later in the game humans may tolerate wolf scavengers hanging about their camps because of various advantages they can offer, such as alerts to incoming threats at the periphery of camps, and a contingency food source in hard times. Monkeys too could offer similar benefits perhaps...
Fossils of Homo erectus and monkeys similar to Procynocephalus seem to be commonly found together in Asia and east Africa...
But if human predecessors and one or more species of monkeys early on worked together in some sort of substantive, long term, cooperative partnership, similar to that which would later develop between humans and wolves/dogs, what happened to that development? Did an unfortunate plague kill off the majority of the humans and/or monkeys participating in this arrangement, thereby ending the evolutionary experiment? Note that both would have been vulnerable to such a possibility-- especially if they were gathering together in large, concentrated communities-- like villages, towns, or cities. Or perhaps their cooperation began to turn more into a competition-- in which case they might part ways as enemies rather than friends, perhaps both losing precious evolutionary ground as a result. Indeed, there would have been plenty of opportunities for such an alliance to go wrong, as climatic disasters made food scarce, or one primate line found another they liked better than the previous partner (note that both the monkeys and human predecessors suffered competition from close relative species). Maybe it was even the growing fondness for wolves/dogs themselves that in the end displaced such monkey allies-- or some combination of several of the elements listed above.
Whatever the truth of the matter, if such a parallel monkey ally evolution ever occured (and lasted long enough), more discoveries on the subject could prove fascinating...
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 2,000,000 BC- 6000 BC: The Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice Age runs its courseThere are possibly ten separate cycles of cooling and rewarming during this period, during which the glaciers advance then retreat again. Sea levels may also decline and rise again in these cycles.
Four of the cycles are exceptionally harsh in the cooling stage. The most recent cooling stage may have begin around 56,000 BC- 48,000 BC.
During the cooling stages of the Pleistocene, the North American west is wetter than it will be circa 2000 AD.
Life diversity in New Zealand suffers greatly from the Ice Age.
Enormous ice sheets repeatedly sweep the islands almost clean of life, but for the northern end of North Island.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,600,000 BC: Emerging lifeforms of this time include Homo erectus, neanderthals, modern humans, giant beavers, giant bison, and many other species of hoofed mammalsAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 700,000 BC: A rare super meteor storm may be raging over the region of Australia and southeast Asia now...
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 420,000 BC- 400,000 BC: Antarctica is forming new ice which will last continuously until at least 2000 AD.Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 400,000 BC: The Earth warms up considerably and stays that way for at least 30,000 yearsNote that any long term hominid settlements in low lying coastal areas are being flooded and erased during this time worldwide, thereby forcing many potential innovations leading to agriculture or other characteristics of civilization to be postponed or forgotten as populations are repeatedly forced to move elsewhere to start again from scratch.
It appears the melting collapse of the entire western Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, as well as ten percent of east Antarctica's ice, was the cause of the global rise in sea levels of perhaps at least 13 meters.
The facts of past sea levels are muddled somewhat by fluctuations in the levels of the continents themselves, due to tectonic processes, and the varying weights of covering ice sheets (when present).
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 128,000 BC - 108,000 BC: The Earth enjoys a warm but stormy interglacial span (the Eemian period)
Note that global sea levels now are likely near the same as circa 1999 AD (or slightly higher), thereby insuring that land links such as the Bering landbridge (and many islands) are submerged. The greater southeast asian peninsula is also in large part underwater, presenting something a bit smaller than its circa 1999 AD incarnation to surface observation.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR: 118,000 BC to 8,000 BC: the last Ice Age; a third of Earth's surface is sheathed in ice for much of this period-- and world geography undergoes drastic changesFor the 15,000 years preceding this time, world sea levels never rose more than two meters above that of the sea level circa 1999 AD. But now sea levels worldwide drop to 1999 AD levels and significantly below between 118,000 and 8000 BC. This means there are greater chances for landbridges connecting islands and continents, and considerably more land exposed along the coastlines of continents and islands, among other things. All this extra dry land offers places where human civilizations might spend centuries or even millennia building cities and nations, and migrating over to explore new territories-- only to have the sea take them away again in the centuries to follow (and possibily leaving some folks permanently stranded on places like islands afterwards). In 1998 AD archaeologists will be discovering many human works submerged this way during prehistoric times.
Another implication of the great ice sheets are 'ice bridges' essentially offering yet another means of connection between many land masses during this time that would otherwise be inaccessible due to surrounding seas. Note that the Earth's north pole will have little or no exposed land area by 1998 AD; and yet it will be covered by an ice sheet sufficient to support lengthy migrations of human and animal species across the region. Thus, technically there exist paths allowing exploration of the americas and other regions for ancient hominids as far back as two million years or more as of 1998 AD. Such access ways may be as forbidding as deserts, or as temporary as seasonal sea ice, but they are there none-the-less. Indeed, early humans could theoretically explore almost every continent on earth now requiring little more than their feet for locomotion, due to ice sheets and lowered sea levels exposing various land bridges. No boats or rafts are required for most excursions. And yet, any humans intelligent enough to use floating constructions may trod the last few percentage points of the Earth's surface remaining out of reach of their land locked peers as well.
Unfortunately, towards the end of this period, when the ice sheets are retreating and the ocean levels rising again, volcanic action tends to increase as the weight of the ice sheets themselves seemed to have restrained them earlier. And the huge cataracts of flood waters released from melting glaciers and overflowing of sea-sized inland lakes during this time also wreak havoc on many regions.
Sudden large climate changes worldwide occurred during the last Ice Age. Apparently there were six events where immense numbers of ice bergs were created in Canada, which then flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. These spurred global climate changes.
Climates fluctuated substantially during the last Ice Age, between very cold and milder conditions. The frequency of these swings was on average once per 3,000 years. The warm ups are called interstadials. The northern and southern hemispheres often were not synchronized in the timing of their respective interstadials. Apparently these warm ups happened in the southern hemisphere roughly a thousand years ahead of the time they occurred in the northern.
Curiously, western Antarctica does show some synchrony with the interstadials of the north-- unlike the rest of the continent.
Orbital insolation may be the main culprit behind Ice Ages. This involves the Earth's tilt on its axis, possible changes in solar output, and cyclic changes in Earth's orbit about the Sun.
One of the cycles involved here is periodic (once in 41,000 years) wobbles in the tilt of Earth's axis of one to three degrees from normal (in the range of 22 to 25 degrees from vertical). The shape of the Earth's orbit shifts between a rough circle and a slight ellipse every 100,000 to 400,000 years. Once every 22,000 years there's a change in which hemisphere faces the sun when the Earth's orbit puts it nearest Sol.
All these factors affect the Earth's climate.
The mid-point of the interglacial period which preceded the present one was around 133,000 BC.
The ice sheets of Europe and North America began melting around 12,000 BC and were gone by around 6000 BC. Sea levels rose by roughly 350 feet in only 6000 years.
The Ice Age is also known as the Pleistocene Epoch, which began around 2,000,000 BC and ended about 6000 BC. There were possibly ten separate cycles of cooling and rewarming during this period, in which the glaciers advanced then retreated again. Sea levels may also have declined and rose again in these cycles.
Four of the cycles were exceptionally harsh in the cooling stage. The most recent cooling stage may have begun around 56,000 BC- 48,000 BC.
During the cooling stages of the Pleistocene, the North American west was wetter than circa 2000 AD.
Prior to the Pleistocene there was another Ice Age on the super-continent of Gondwana, in the southern hemisphere. There were 60+ cooling/warming cycles in that period. This Ice Age began around the end of the Paleozoic.
There was maybe 250 million years between the end of the Gondwana Ice Age and the beginning of the Pleistocene, during which no large ice sheets existed on Earth, and the entire planet was considerably warmer and more humid than 2000 AD.
It may be that Earth circa 2000 AD is subject to various cycles of orbit and axis-tilting/rotation that may coincide every 500,000 years to possibly trigger a new Ice Age.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
98,000 BC: A tsunami beginning with a height of possibly a quarter-mile strikes portions of coastal Australia and New Zealand (as well as miscellaneous other isles and possibly Antarctica)
A super nova explosion around this time in our vicinity creates a 200-600 lightyear diameter 'bubble' of space around us largely cleared of interstellar dust and gas. Our 'local bubble' is located on the inner edge of the Orion galactic arm. The Sagittarius galactic arm lies corewards from the Sun about 1500 parsecs away.
Our local bubble is but one of several such regions within 2000 lightyears. They are called Loops I, II, and III respectively. Each consists of a roughly spherical region a few hundred lightyears in diameter.
Though the bubbles possess a lower density of interstellar dust and gas than the regions outside them, they are not completely empty, but populated by very diffuse clouds, such as the Local Fluff, which our solar system will appear to be entering around the end of the 20th century. Aging bubbles also tend to slowly refill again, to eventually regain their original densities of dust and gas. Entering and exiting bubbles can expose solar systems to changes in cosmic ray environments.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
98,000 BC- 9,500 BC: Global sea levels are consistently lower now than they will be in the 20th centuryAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
69,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: A massive volcanic eruption now intensifies the current Ice Age via a 'nuclear winter' type effectWell, something similar can also be brought about by a sufficiently large asteroid or comet strike-- or even a sudden eruption of many small volcanos all at once (or one very big one).
Such a volcanic-inspired 'nuclear winter' may have occured around 69,000 BC. Immediately following on the heels of that winter was the worst 1000 years of the most recent Ice Age.
One anthropologist (Stanley Ambrose) even thinks he knows of a single super-volcanic eruption perhaps substantially responsible for all this havoc: Mount Toba in Sumatra (the eruption of which lasted around 6 years and affected global climate for maybe 1000 years afterwards).
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 174,000 BC - 53,000 BC: Human beings begin populating AustraliaThe Ice Age began lowering global sea levels a few thousand years before 114,000 BC, and continued to do so largely unabated throughout this period. Thus it would be easier to island hop now rather than earlier.
Recall that the lowered sea levels of today (50,000+ BC) mean the worst single barriers to man reaching Australia from the nearest other dry land is about 150 km (100 miles) of open sea.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 40,000 BC- 6000 BC: Antarctica is covered by iceAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 18,000 BC- 12,000 BC: Earth is bombarded five times by heavier than usual cosmic dust concentrations from spaceAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
15,000 BC to 3,000 BC: The Great Global Erasure of Much Evidence of Ancient Civilizations: World sea levels rise at least 325 feet over 12,000 years, erasing virtually all traces of any previous civilizations and technology use along many low lying continental and island coastlines, while glacial melt transforms many fertile inland valleys into new rivers and lakes; as if this wasn't enough, volcanic activity increases dramatically as well, ruining with fire and lava many works which may have escaped the flood watersRising global sea levels and catastrophic continental glacier meltdowns submerge the coasts and rich inland valleys where much of prehistoric civilization likely would have been developing up to now, leaving little more behind than a handful of isolated higher altitude inland settlements exhibiting technologies and practices often significantly inferior to those drowned by the rising water and flooding.
Vast regions of what had been dry and inviting land, riversides, and coastal areas around the planet gradually disappear beneath the rising oceans during this time, as the immense glaciers of the Ice Age retreat at last. Any and all settlements, villages, cities, harbors, trading centers, fortesses, roads, canals, and other traces of civilization built up in these areas during the past are now submerged and/or washed away.
The vast expanse of super Australia is broken up into the several considerably smaller landmasses which will be known in 1999 AD as Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania. Enormous chunks of previously dry Southeast Asia disappear beneath the waves, leaving only the remnants later to be known as Java, Indonesia, Borneo, India, Vietnam, China, and Korea to mark their passing.
The tundras spanning what someday will be known as the English Channel and Bering Strait are also inundated.
Around 10,500 BC global temperatures suddenly rises about 20 degrees Fahrenheit in only 50 years.
This sudden warming-- as well as much of the other temperature increases before and after-- may have been spurred in part by explosive eruptions of green house gases from the icy methane hydrates which normally lie dormant on the sea bottom throughout the world.
Some speculate that the decrease in the weight of the oceans above the deposits (caused by all that water being tied up on land in glaciers) may have caused spontaneous collapses of the icy materials into its constituent gases, which then erupted out of the oceans to add to the warming of the Earth.
At this point the mostly slow and gradual loss of most of civilized works along sea and river coastlines worldwide suddenly accelerates enormously. And this time even many inland areas previously insulated from the catastrophic inundation of the coasts are drowned as well-- as this sudden thaw melts vast glacial ice sheets much faster than during the previous 5000 years, creating vast new inland seas and causing previously existing pools to overflow their banks in floods of such magnitude that they would be unimaginable to 1999 AD humanity. We're talking destruction of inland cities and settlements here comparable to the worst tidal wave damage inflicted by the sea on coastal towns.
Oh yes-- there's also significantly increased volcanic activity worldwide too. For it seems that as the weight of the melting glaciers is removed from the land masses, many dormant volcanoes re-awaken. We'll never be able to know how many prehistoric Pompeiis were created during this great eruptive event-- but these too help steal away large chunks of civilized world history as they occur.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 12,000 BC- 6000 BC: The great ice sheets covering North America and Europe melt awayAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 8,000 BC: A long term melting of the Antarctic ice sheets is commencingAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 7,911 BC-7,090 BC: During this period there are perhaps seven substantial volcanic eruptions in various spots around the globeGiven that volcanically active areas are typically fertile and inviting to plant and animal life alike, and make for near ideal locales for human habitation, foraging, agriculture, and hunting-- and that humanity has been rapidly spreading over most of the world for thousands of years now-- there's a good chance these eruptions destroy one or more significant human settlements or cities.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 6,000 BC - 1 AD: Sometime during this period the Earth, along with the rest of the Solar System, enters a vast cloud of interstellar gasAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 4,000 BC -3,000 BC: Rising global sea levels finally stabilize at heights roughly equivalent to that of the late 1990s AD
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 2,354 BC: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastropheAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 2,200 BC: A global climate shift takes place nowAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,628 BC: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastropheAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,159 BC: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastropheAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 128,000 BC- 1,000 BC: World sea levels may be highly unstable throughout this entire periodNote that such changes as these may occasionally wreak havoc with coastal settlements and especially major sea harbors and ports of call.
Is it any wonder that many cities are deserted, then become buried in sediment or shifting sands-- or even submerged? At least a few instances of city losses may occur so fast many residents find themselves unable to escape.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 208 BC: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastropheAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 536 AD- 541 AD: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastropheThe period of climatic disaster following in the wake of the event looks to have lasted roughly 15 years.
One characteristic of the event is a record-breaking widespread and long-lived dry fog over Europe and the Mideast such as 20th century science will recognize as a sign of atmospheric ash and gases from large volcanic eruptions. Such fogs seem to afflict one or more areas of the world every few centuries.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,006 AD: Earth is struck by radiation from a relatively nearby supernova explosionAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,054 AD: Earth is struck by radiation from a relatively nearby supernova explosionAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,181 AD: Earth is struck by radiation from a relatively nearby supernova explosionAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,299 AD: Mysteriously, humanity seems not to notice a new object in the skies as bright as the full Moon at this time
There is also a smallpox epidemic in Europe at this time; one possible result of the epidemic among survivors is that a small portion of the population will one day have descendents enjoying immunity to a future scourge known as HIV-- which leads to AIDS.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,320 AD: Earth is struck by radiation from a relatively nearby supernova explosionAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,334 AD - 1,351 AD: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: The Black Death (Bubonic Plague) kills a third the population of europe (as well as others throughout Asia and northern Africa)
The death toll is staggering; some entire regions suffer severe depopulation. The ground of entire countries is littered with the dead. Coastline populations were devastated. Ships are found drifting in the Mediterranean with their entire crew complement dead.
A few locales escape virtually unscathed by the epidemic, such as Harem, Schisur, and Maara el nooman in Arabia. Elsewhere, Germany suffers far fewer losses proportionately than other European nations.
Religious fanaticism will grip Europe in the aftermath of such widespread death. Extremists will become so influential both the church and state will join forces to suppress them. Things in general will spin out of all control, with one consequence being ethnic and religious persecution soon beginning in full force, and being directed at groups like the Jews.
The Hohokam and Anasazi cultures of southwestern North America half a world away also begin a rapid deterioration now. Could it be contact with europe or asia has brought the plague to this part of the New World? Inhabitants of this region of North America will continue to suffer sporadic outbreaks of the disease even into the late 20th century.
The Bubonic Plague may have first appeared in Athens Greece around 430 BC.
As described elsewhere on this site, most ocean islands may get scrubbed clean of their inhabitants every other millennia or so by terrific storms or tidal waves. However, just as sufficiently heavy construction may weather even the winds of hurricanes, so too might it survive much of what tsunamis or a week or so of fierce wind-blown seas could mount against it. Such fortifications may have been what the builders of Nan Madol had in mind.
Nan Madol on Micronesian Pohnpei is a substantial complex of artificial islands with robust walled structures built atop them, in the Pacific Ocean. Besides offering the builders extra dry real estate where such stuff is rare, they also offer barriers against storm and wave otherwise not available in the vicinity.
The heavy duty construction appears to be completed (or interrupted) around 1,400 AD-1,500 AD-- which suggests the possibility that the bubonic plague has reached this most remote of places too by now.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,572 AD: Earth is struck by radiation from a relatively nearby supernova explosionAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
Approximately 1,604 AD: Earth is struck by radiation from a relatively nearby supernova explosionAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
1,908 AD: The Tunguska explosions occur in SiberiaAn unknown object seems to explode at 7.6 km in altitude above the landscape. Most scientists circa 1999 AD will believe it was an asteroid or comet. Since there is little residue left behind the object may have lost only a portion of its mass in the explosions with the remainder continuing on, skipping up and out of the atmosphere and back into space again. The lack of residue may also point to the object being a comet, since a composition largely of ice would simply have melted and merged with the Earth's own water supply in the aftermath. The blasts (there's more than one) level forests in a region "...more than half the size of Rhode Island..." with "...2,000 times the force of the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima in 1945...".
The Tunguska event is, to say the least, unusual. Details from local people and agencies of this time (1908 Russian and European) describe many visible strange effects in the skies over northern Europe for as much as a week preceding the event, and possibly a month afterwards. No craters are found, and virtually no conclusive debris of a non-terrestrial object. The sky wake of the object does not resemble that of typical meteors, but something more like the aurora borealis, or northern lights, which is a combination geomagnetic and solar energy phenomenon. A magnetic storm similar to that which will be observed in the aftermath of nuclear explosions many decades later occurs in the vicinity of Tunguska for more than four hours following the event.
Increasingly detailed investigations and analysis of the Tunguska event over succeeding decades also will not reveal any impact crater. But a tiny amount of particulate matter seemingly embedded in trees at the time will help convince some that the object was a stony meteorite. However, the absence of even small craters, plus the fact that the particulate matter found in the trees all seem made of terrestrial materials not uncommon to Siberia (and so perhaps lifted from local lands by the shock waves and then embedded in the trees), will still allow the event to be safely labeled as 'anomalous' and unresolved, circa 2000 AD.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
1,930 AD: Another Tunguska-like event takes place; this time rocking Brazil near the border of PeruJungle fires rage for months in the aftermath. The remote location of the incident leaves precious little record behind of its occurance.
It appears there may have been three separate bodies involved in the impact. And these were followed in 1935 by another impact in British Guyana.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
1994 AD: Catastrophism in action: Humanity watches in awe as comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashes piece-meal into Jupiter, incurring a string of explosions on the gas giant each larger than that possible by launching Earth's entire nuclear arsenal all at onceAntarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
1999 AD: 95+% of Antarctica is ice coveredBecause of its location and the tilt of the Earth, the Antarctica of this era never sees darkness fall. It is an extremely dry desert, severely dehydrating inhabitants which are not acclimated to the environment, or not adequately equipped with technological survival aids. The coasts of Antarctica are largely inhabited by penguins and seals. Killer whales cruise the waters off the coasts. The Antarctic Treaty prohibits permanent settlements of civilians from any nation on Antarctica at this time.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
1999 AD: Humanity is realizing that the undersea Kerguelen plateau was once a dryland continent....while they are also nearing the levels of wealth and technology necessary to explore the undersea mass...Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
2000 AD: By now humanity has explored something less than 2% of the deep oceans-- and less than 10% of the oceans overall50% of the surface of the Earth exists beneath 3000 to 6000 meters of ocean depth. Life in the deep ocean is at least as diverse as that in rainforests.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
250,000,000 BC through the Present: A regular 26 to 34 million year cycle of catastrophe for the Solar System may be in effectSupporting evidence for such periodic events include massive basaltic lava flows on average every 32 million years, and a cycle of 33 million years between geomagnetic field reversals.
A cosmic dust fall or asteroid/comet impact may also initiate a climate change which sufficiently rapidly (in geological terms) redistributes the weight of water on the Earth (by ice formation) that the rotation rates of crust and mantle are effected, and eventually lead to geomagnetic reversals, or the more common excursions (wandering of the poles).
There may be a time lag from initiating event to actual field reversal of many thousands of years. During part of the interim the field may be measurably weakening down to a certain plateau. Then, after perhaps more thousands of years have passed at or near the plateau, a relatively sudden reversal may take place.
Other possibilities include an extension of the Gaia Hypothesis: that the Earth itself qualifies as an enormous living organism, and regularly reverses its geomagnetic field as one consequence of internal life-related electrochemical processes.
There have been some indications that geomagnetic reversals may occur astonishingly fast-- such as within only a matter of months, according to one location of 16 million year old lava flows.
Antarctica and Kerguelen 544 million BC through today contents
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