Notes on “The Heat Within”
The Miracle Planet video
The heat within Earth is apparent all over the world even though we can’t travel to the
core of the Earth like Jules Verne in Journey to the Center of the Earth
The deepest place is in the world humans have ventured is in South Africa
the Western Deep Levels Gold Mine
50 miles from Johannesberg
looking for gold in ultra deep deposits
11,738 feet below Earth’s surface
Greatest challenge working there is the heat
Where does the heat come from?
11,000 degrees Fahrenheit
Energy released by the impact of planetessimals, small bodies of rock, which
rained down on Earth billions of years ago and turned the surface of the Earth into
hot molten rock
Radioactive decay inside Earth produces heat
Iceland is the world’s largest volcanic island.
Much of it is covered by glaciers but beneath the ice, land is formed by lava
Unusual landforms- hexagonal columns 65 feet tall
Underground hot springs melt the ice, which becomes rivers
Lakagigar Crater formed from volcanic eruption in 1783
Krafla area is now more volcanically active
9/24/84 eruption lasted 1 week
Occurred along a fissure where Earth cracked open in a long line
Thingvellir- largest Icelandic fissure
25 feet wide, 50 feet deep
Unmistakable evidence of the heat within
1974, near the Azores, French and American scientists studied the floor of the Atlantic
Littered with strange round rocks similar to those seen in Hawaii, when lava
poured into the ocean.
Called pillow lava, caused by sudden chilling of lava
No sediment on pillow lava indicates volcanic activity had been recent.
Eastern Pacific, Alvin submarine
Eerie chimney like structures “Black Smokers”
Chimneys made out of minerals
Abundance of life, anaerobic bacteria provide foundation for rich food chain.
Off British Columbia, Canadian researchers found new types of smokers
White or colorless vents hot enough to melt lead
There is more volcanic activity on seafloor than on dry land. The heat within our planet
is constantly flowing to the surface, forcing up ocean floor and causing fissures in the
surface.
Mid-oceanic ridge- magma heats rock on either side, seafloor is dissipating heat
Undersea mountain ranges stretch throughout oceans
45,000 mile long volcanic range
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars all formed in similar manner
Cooling processes different.
Mars- the red planet- 4th planet closest to sun
Olympus Mons- largest volcano known in solar system
10,000 years ago eruptions ended
Mercury- closest to sun
Cooled quickly, surface shows cracks
Djibouti, small country in Africa, part of Afar Triangle
Daytime temp 122 degrees F
Evidence that land is in process of being reshaped- unusual rock formations
Travertines, 200 feet high, give off steam and hot water in midst of dessert.
Stand in rows, floolowing line of underground fissures
Resemble chimney-like smokers
Made of calcium carbonate
Were formed by billowing smokers on bottom of lake
EQs frequent in area
Northern end of Great Rift Valley- Earth is sinking from Red Sea to Mozambique
Tanzanias Lake Natron water is blood-red
Soda rich water is forced to surface by hot magma below
Alkaline water kills everything except red-colored bacteria
The Blanket Effect: land mass of large continent holds heat in better than the thinner
ocean crust. As heat builds, continent rises, fissures result. Oceans fill the valleys.
Pangaea- rifts opened, fissures formed, filled with water
Africa is breaking up.
As continents pull apart somewhere, they must come together someplace else.
Andes, Alps, and Himalayas formed by tectonic plates colliding.
Himalayas- tallest range on Earth- K2, Annapurna, Mt. Everest
2000 miles E to W
Sanscrit name “abode of snow”
Evidence that rocks on top of Himalayas were once at bottom of the sea:
Bivalves fossils,
sea-lily- relative of sea urchin and starfish
Foraminofer- species of plankton,
Snails
impression of waves preserved in stone
bellamites- tube-shaped squid-like swea-dweller that lived in
Mesozoic era, 220-70 mya.
Ammonites- species of cuttlefish extinct 65 mya
Thrived during time of dinosaur.
India crashed into Asia, seafloor got squished, archipelago formed, which
got pushed up as India slid under Asia.