Happy Easter with a (fake) Dozen Dinosaur Eggs

Roy Chapman Andrews was not only an intrepid explorer and palaeontologist, but also a gifted promoter. The Central Asiatic Expeditions in search of fossils of mammals and dinosaurs were accompanied by movie cameras to film their work. As the conditions were most time prohibitive -sandstorms, burning sun and arid climate - many scenes showing the discovery and excavation of fossils were probably staged after the real work had be done.

Many photos of the expedition-photograph John B. Shackelford show dinosaur nests filled with "Protoceratops*"eggs (*in fact Oviraptor eggs), superbly preserved. It seems unlikely that the eggs were in such good shape when first discovered. More strange is the common notion in popular culture that the nests contained exactly a dozen of eggs, believe probably influenced by photos of reconstructed nests.
In fact in Andrews's descriptions the number of eggs per nests varies, from three to nine, only in one case he mentions thirteen eggs, however embedded in a block of sediment.

Fig.2. Original 1923 photograph of dinosaur eggs found at the Flaming Cliffs. Fig.1 from True Comics #81, Parents’ Magazine Press (1950).

Bibliography:

DAVIDSON, J.P. (2008): A History of Paleontology Illustration. Indian University Press, Bloomington: 217

Tiny Plants Creating Big Rocks

Often enough the rocks determinate the presence and distribution of plants (as shown in the wonderful blog "In the Company of Plants and Rocks"), but sometimes it's the plant shaping the rocks. 

Plate showing the deposition of travertine* around single algae cells (ca. 1935). The high content of carbonic acid (white circles) dissolves carbonate (shown as schematic rhombohedra-crystals). Plants (like this alga) use the carbon dioxide for their metabolism and the water becomes less acid, the carbonate is deposited around the plant tissue. The final figure shows the soft water, with less dissolved carbonate.

The upper caption reads: 

"Tiny Plants
built the Travertine of Polling**
Substance in the water, they found
Sun gave them power"

This plate was drawn by the German Prof. Dr. Gustav Dunzinger (1868-1940), pharmacist and plant-physiologist. Dunzinger dedicated himself also to scientific-botanical illustrations.

Fig.2. Outcrop with travertine investigated by Dunzinger, old quarry near the German village of **Polling.

*Travertine is the general term in Germany for continental limestone, however in English it is referred to limestone from hot springs or deposited by inorganic processes. Calcareous tufa forms by precipitation of calcium carbonate from “cool” springs and river waters, helped by organic processes - the travertine of Polling is therefore a tufa.

Newton's Alchemy and early Geochemistry

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is today remembered for his contributions to optics, mechanics and gravity, but as a typical polymath of his time he was also interested in alchemy. And through his interest in this early predecessor of chemistry he became also involved in some geological research.

The theologian and naturalist Thomas Burnet submitted an early draft of his "Telluris theoria sacra" to Newton in 1680-1681 and Newton exchanged with Burnet some thoughts on the formation of the rocks, mountains and the earth. Based on his observations of crystallization of molten tin and saltpeter from water, but also curdling of milk when beer is added to it, Newton imagined earth's matter somehow crystallizing from the primordial, undifferentiated chaos.

Newton never published in full his geological ideas - but some surviving notes deal with (early) geochemical concepts. Two notes, dated to 1670, entitled "Of Natures Obvious Laws & Processes in Vegetation" and "Humores mineralis" deal with the "sal nitrum" theory.  The crystallization of saltpeter, or potassium nitrate (KNO3), is easily observable both in nature as in the laboratory and it was considered by many naturalist of Newton's time as ideal model to understand mineral growth and finally the genesis of ore veins in mountains. 

Alchemy regarded saltpeter even as a sort of philosopher's stone, able to transform into other minerals.

Fig.1. "The Alchymist, In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and prays for the successful Conclusion of his operation, as was the custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers", by Joseph Wright of Derby (1771).

This transformation could explain why minerals were abundant on earth, despite the perpetual dissolution by groundwater percolating into the underground, Newton explains in "Humores mineralis":

"with the metals continually drawn downwards, never ascending so long as they remain metals, it would be necessary that in a few years the greatest part would have vanished from the upper earth, unless they are conceded to be generated there de novo."

The term "vegetation" in the title of Newton's other note refers to the idea of a spontaneous force generating new metals in the centre of earth and injecting them into earth's crust - alchemy considered principles influencing the inorganic nature very similar (or even identical) to life processes. It's therefore no wonder that Newton describes fluids and vapours ("spirits") mating in earth's crust to give birth to the progenitors of metals:

"Indeed, these spirits meet with metallic solutions and will mix with them. And when they are in a state of motion and vegetation, they will putrefy [and] destroy the metallic form and convert [it] into spirits similar to themselves. Which can then ascend again and thus a perpetual circulation of metals takes place."

These progenitors derived from saltpeter, especially sulphur and mercury as most important elements in alchemy, will continue to migrate to the surface, where they transform and are deposited as other useful metals. Such metaphysical explanations for the origin of rocks will prevail for a long time in history.

Bibliography:

NEWMAN W.R. (2009): Geochemical concepts in Isaac Newton's early alchemy. In Rosenberg, G.D., ed., The Revolution in Geology from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Geological Society of America Memoir 203: 41-49

Geologizing with Darwin and Sedgwick

"Therefore on my return to Shropshire I examined sections and coloured a map of parts round Shrewsbury."

In 1831 Charles Darwin attended a life changing expedition - not considering the voyage on board of the "H.M.S. Beagle". The botanist John Stevens Henslow introduced the 22-year old Darwin to 46-year old Adam Sedgwick, self-educated naturalist and professor for geology and botany at Cambridge University (1785 - January 27, 1873). Even if Darwin was a student at Cambridge, he seems not to have attended Sedgwick´s lectures on geology, as he regrets in an autobiographic note that

"Had I done so I should probably have become a geologist earlier than I did."

At the time Sedgwick was studying the geology of Wales and invited Darwin to join him at a field trip from Shrewsbury, Darwin's hometown. Sedgwick was especially interested in the stratigraphic succession exposed in North Wales (Sedgwick will later use his observations to define the geologic epoch of the "Cambrian"), Darwin was interested to acquire the basics of geological field work. Darwin wrote in July to a friend

 "I am now mad about Geology & daresay I shall put a plan which I am now hatching, into execution sometime in August, …[]"

Darwin was well equipped for his geological field investigation. He purchased a new clinometer with an incorporated compass for structural analysis, a geological hammer for the collection of rocks and various copies of topographic and geological maps.

He visited Llanymynech (west of Shrewsbury) alone and started to colour a map, mapping outcrops of sandstone and coal measures.

Fig.1. Geology of North Wales, after WOODWARD 1904, REYNOLDS 1860, 1889, with the route of Darwin and Sedgwick after ROBERTS 2001. The first part of the route, starting from Shrewsbury, follows the contact of the Silurian limestone (pink-colored) and younger sediments (blue color; Carboniferous to Permian), as both geologist hoped to find the Old Red Sandstone formation. Sedgwick found it (dark-orange) only on the island of Anglesey (original map in public domain, click on the image to enlarge).

Sedgwick arrived to Shrewsbury on 2nd August, visiting in the next days some outcrops located south-west of the city, where he recognized limestone and volcanic rocks. It's not clear if he met Darwin already, for sure both geologist left Shrewsbury on 5th August venturing north. They spend a week trying to find Old Red Sandstone. Sedgwick was interested in the geological formations underlying the Old Red Sandstone (Silurian to Carboniferous in age), as the age of these rocks was still unknown and according to the large-scale geological map published by George Greenough in 1819 such rocks should be found in the area. However - despite their combined efforts - and a meeting in Llangollen with another great geologist, Robert Dawson, no Old Red Sandstone was found.

 In his autobiography Darwin affirms that he left Sedgwick at Capel Curig, however it seems reasonable to assume that he visited with Sedgwick the island of Anglesey and even made a short trip to Dublin (as Sedgwick did, on Anglesey he found also the Red Sandstone he was after). During his voyage on the Beagle, Darwin will recognize on the Cape Verde Islands Serpentine, this kind of rock he could have only previously seen on Anglesey.
 

Twenty pages of notes made by Darwin during this tour are still today conserved in the library of the Cambridge University. In his private autobiography he will later remember: "This tour was of decided use in teaching me a little how to make out the geology of a country…"
When Darwin returned to Shrewsbury on 29th August, a letter from Captain Robert FitzRoy was offering him a position as gentlemen companion on board of the Beagle. The rest is history.

Bibliography:

HERBERT, S. (2005): Charles Darwin, Geologist. Cornell University Press: 485
ROBERTS, M. (2001): Just before the Beagle: Charles Darwin's geological fieldwork in Wales, summer 1831. Endeavour Vol. 25(1): 33-37

John Joly tracking Oldhamia

John Joly (1857-1933) was an Irish professor of geology, trained as engineer, who made important contributions to geology, mineralogy, geophysics, tectonics, geochronology, but also optics, chemistry, photography, mechanics and laboratory equipment. He discovered his love for geology in 1880, during a field trip into the hills south of Dublin, where he collected various specimens of minerals and fossils. Seventeen years later he managed to convince the Trinity College that he, due his experience and expertise in the field, was the right man for the, at the time, vacant position as geology professor.

During a walk in County Wicklow in the winter of 1984 he observed how ice crystals had formed an intricate pattern in the muddy soil. The pattern reminded him of Oldhamia, a trace fossil of unknown origin he had collected in Cambrian (541-485 million years ago) rocks at Bray Head.

Could it be that these presumed fossils were in fact of inorganic nature? 

 "Elements of Geology" by C. Lyell (1871)

Joly tried to replicate the patterns in the laboratory by freezing various samples of soil and mud, and succeeded to reproduce a pattern resembling an ichnofossi - Oldhamia radiata. However he failed to reproduce other similar ichnofossils with a more complex pattern, like Oldhamia antiqua. He blamed his failure in part to problems to exactly reproduce the grain size distribution of the sediments preserving the traces.

Later Joyle realized some other problems in his hypothesis with the inorganic origin of the Oldhamia fossils. O. radiata was found in the field always as depression, O. antiqua in relief, probably resulting from the relationship between the bedding plane and the mechanism by which they were produced. 

An inorganic mechanism, like freezing, would probably show no such preferences. Today it is also known that the Cambrian sediments where Oldhamia fossils can be found were deposited in deep water, not as Joly imagined along shores or tidal flats, where the mud could freeze.

 
Bibliography:

JACKSON, P.N.W. (2011): History of Ichnology: John Joly (1857-1933) on Oldhamia: Poetic and Scientific Observations. Ichnos 18(4): 209-212

At the Earth's Core

Some days ago the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program announced a new "record" of the scientific vessel "Chikyu" (Japanese for "earth") - the at time deepest (scientific) borehole with 2.300 meters below the seafloor was completed in the 1.180 meters deep, blue sea off Shimokita-Peninsula. The longest rig ever done from board of the Chikyu was 7.740 meters long, however in the open sea the greatest problem is not the water, but drilling in the ground. 

Since old times people - especially geologists - were interested to know about the interior of Earth. The Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) imagined an allegoric center of the Earth: a frozen wasteland, not reached by the divine light, where Lucifer is entrapped in eternal ice.

Fig.1. Illustration to Dante's "The Divine Comedy" from the "Codice Urbinate Latino 365" (1480) showing the frozen center of Earth.

The French Sci-Fi author Jules Gabriel Verne (1828 - 1905) based an imaginary "Lost World" in "A Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1864) on more scientific ground. In his novel Verne uses the hollow conduit of an Icelandic volcano to venture inside earth, an idea supported by the geologic models of volcanoes proposed at the time - a single or a series of magma chamber(s) with conduits connecting them to the surface. Geologists assumed that during an eruption the magma reservoir becomes empty and large voids and caverns were left behind. 

Fig.2. This schema, published in the book by German professor of geophysics August Sieberg "Einführung in die Erdbeben- und Vulkankunde Süditaliens" (1914), shows the anatomy of a stratovolcano, with a main conduit, various lateral dikes and a large sill connected to the magma reservoir. In contrast to the sketch, the conduits for magma are in reality only a few meters wide - too small for travel the Center of the Earth.

Verne's vision inspired the wonderful U.S. movie of 1959 "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and was reused in the mediocre "At The Earth´s Core" (1976), even if the last movie was based on the novel "At the Earth's Core*" (1914) by Edgar Rice Burroughs (*considering the display of the "Mole"-vehicle, the supposed cavern with the mythical land of "Pellucidar" is situated in the transition zone of Outer Core - Lower Mantle).



Also the first movie featuring "Superman" touches the subject of a deep-earth civilisation. In "Superman and the Mole Men" (1951) the Mole Men invade earth's surface from the deepest oil well of the world (more than 6 miles/ 9 kilometers deep!).
In fact the deepest boreholes in the real world stopped at more than 12 kilometers - however that's just 0,2% of the radius of earth.
In May 1970, to celebrate the birthday of Lenin, the former Soviet Union initiated the secret project "SG-3" on the Kola-Peninsula. The drilling project planned to study the Mohorovičić discontinuity, situated at 15 kilometers below the surface of the continents. The project was continued until 1989, when technical and especially financial problems, stopped the drill at 12.261 meters forever.
The United States initiated a similar ambitious project, but decided to drill the thinner oceanic crust (5-10 kilometers thick). Project Mohole started in 1961 and was abandoned in 1966, after recovering 170 meters long cores from the ocean floor in 3.500 meters depth. Modern commercial boreholes reach depths of 2.000-3.000 meters.
 
"Gentleman, the truth is that all our theories are just that, theories. None of us has the least idea of how the earth was really formed. Because the distance between the earths crust and its core is over 6.500 kilometres, and no men has ever descended to a depth of more than 3 miles. So it's obvious, we will never have a glimmer of true knowledge, until we are able to reach a depth of at least a 100 leagues.
- What's your opinion Professor Lindenbrook?
- Well gentlemen, at one point at least I agree with Professor Christophe, the materials of the geologists are not charts, chalk and chatter, but the earth itself. We should never know the truth, until we are able to make that journey, and see for ourselves."
Dialogue from the movie adaption "The Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth" / "Where Time Began" (1976), a Spanish version of Jules Gabriel Verne's novel.

Bibliography:

CARLSON, D.H.; PLUMMER, C.C. & HAMMERSLEY, L. (2009): Physical Geology - Earth Revealed. McGraw-Hill Publ, 9th ed.: 645
SCHICK, R. (2002): The Little Book of Earthquakes andVolcanoes. Springer/Copernicus Books, New York: 164

Unidentified Sedimentary Object

These large (hammer is 20cm long) vertical structures are found in lacustrine sediments (homogeneous fine-grained sand with dropstones, left of picture) of the Alpine last glacial maximum.
They show a sharp contact to the surrounding sediments, seem to be layered vertically - note however that the longest axis of the pebbles seem to be oriented horizontally - origin: unknown.