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... of ocean water * Skipping in fossil record * Valleys of death * Prismatic sandstone from Missouri 335 pages, hardcover, $18.95, 55 illustrations, 5 indexes 1989. 1260 references, LC 89-90680, ISBN 915554-23-2 , 7x10 format. Neglected Geological Anomalies: A Catalog of Geological Anomalies Sorry: Out of Print. No longer available. Neglected but far from insignificant are the anomalies cataloged here. Do we really know how concretions and geodes form, where tektites come from, whence the immense deposits of superficial debris all over our globe ? [Picture caption: Mace-shaped and sand-spike concretions from the Colorado delta] Typical subjects covered: Concretions and geodes * Tektites and microtektites * Erratic boulders and gravels * Polystrate fossils * Bone caves and bone beds * Giant basalt flows * Natural glasses * Surging glaciers * Driftless regions * Stretched pebbles * Crystal inclusions * Rarity of fossil meteorites and tektites * Elevated erratics * Stone rivers and rock glaciers 333 pages, hardcover, $18.95, 80 illustrations, 5 indexes 1990. 1030 references, LC 90-60568, ISBN 915554-24-0 , 7x10 format. Unknown Earth: A Handbook of Geological Enigmas Out of print Hardcover, 833 pages, January 1980, ISBN: 0-915554-06-2 Astronomy Catalogs For a full list of astronomy subjects, see here . The Moon and the Planets; A Catalog of Astronomical Anomalies Sorry: Out of Print. No longer available. From our own moon's cratered surface to the red, rock-strewn plains of ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 129: MAY-JUN 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Hidden 'Gardens'Some of the world's strangest "gardens" appear as green dots on the simmering deserts of the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. These green dots are not your usual oases. Rather, they are springs that once fed long chain-well systems that carried water to villages at their lower ends. Called "qanats," these multimile subterranean structures were invented about 750 B.C . for trans-porting water efficiently in the dry desert climes of the Middle East. Cross section of a typical Iranian qanat. Unlike the exposed spring of the Bahrainian qanat, the water source here is at the bottom of a deep well. (From: Ancient Infrastructure) In our recent catalog, Ancient Infra-structure , we describe the qanats of Iran. (See figure.) Some of these shaft-tunnel structures run for miles and re-present a prodigious amount of labor. How prodigious? In Iran alone there are about 37,500 qanats with an aggregate length of some 100,000 miles! Qanats rank right up there with the Inca roads and the Great Wall of China as wonders of the ancient world. After reading our catalog section on Iranian qanats, E. von Fange informs us that the qanats of Bahrain pose a set of different problems. The Bahrainian qanats are easy to follow across the desert because the access shafts protrude a few feet above the sand. ...
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... 400 feet, and are believed to be of aeolian origin during the Pleistocene. (See ETM7 in Carolina Bays ) Being a modern analog of the ancient Gobi, the Nebraska Sand Hills might provide some insights as to what happened long ago in the Gobi. An important clue occurs during the summer, when heavy thunderstorms sometimes trigger avalanches of wet sand called "debris flows". These sandslides may be 900 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. Although they have occasionally partly buried ranch buildings, they are too slow and small to endangerlivestock and wild animals. But what if they were much larger and faster? Back on the Gobi, geologists remarked that the rich fossil deposits were found in structureless sandstone; i.e ., there was none of the cross-bedding seen in sandstones elsewhere in the region. Furthermore, fossils were extremely rare in the cross-bedded sandstones, which were built up over long periods of time. It looked as if the structureless, fossiliferous sandstones were sandslides differing from those in Nebraska in their much greater magnitude. But why were the Gobi sandslides so much larger and, apparently, faster? The next clue came from the recent devastating mudflows in California and Central America caused by heavy rains. These debris flows were made deadly when the infiltrating rainwater was blocked by bedrock. The accumulating water turned the soil into a muddy slurries that raced down hills at high velocities, overtaking animals (including many people) trying to escape. There is no bedrock in the Gobi, but a little digging encountered impervious layers of caliche. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A BOON TO THE LUMBER INDUSTRY?R. Oldfield and her husband were visiting Panama, when they heard about un-usual trees growing at the Summit Botanical Garden and Zoo just outside Panama City. They decided to take a look and were soon walking along a slip pery, narrow trail. "After a short walk the trail ended abruptly. There was a sign that pointed to a group of trees. It said 'arbol' (square tree). From a distance, they didn't look square. I was disappointed. My husband made a closer inspection. He put a field guide against the trunk of one tree. It was totally square. "Later I found that the square trees were a member of the banyan family and grow only in this area of El Valle. Why they are square is still a mystery." (Oldfield, Rochelle; "Panama's Gold Frogs and Square Trees," International Travel News, 21:20, June 1996) Comment. There's a lot of waste at the sawmill when round trees are cut up for lumber. We should ask the gene fiddlers to produce square pines and oaks. Maybe they can even coax 2 x 4s to grow! From Science Frontiers #106, JUL-AUG 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Frozen in Time A map of Antarctica produced in 1997 using data from the Canadian satellite Radarsat has revealed some unexpected geological features at the bottom of the planet. Among these are vast areas of previously unrecognized snow dunes -- all lined up in parallel like the ripples on a stream bed. However, these snow dunes are no ripples. They measure up to 100 kilometers in length with separations of 1-2 kilometers. They are, in fact, called "megadunes." At ground level, though, the snow dunes are not obvious because they are only a few meters high. Since Antarctica is often buffeted by fierce winds, one would naturally think that these snow dunes have an aeolian origin like desert sand dunes. This does not seem the be the case. Comparisons made using recently declassified images taken in the 1960s by U.S . military satellites reveal that the snow dunes have not moved in over 30 years! Some-thing besides wind-driven snow must be helping to sculpt these immense stationary patterns. (Tomlin, Sarah; "Vast Snow Dunes Frozen in Time," Nature, 402:860, 1999.) Comment. The fossil "string dunes" of Australia closely resemble the Antarctic snow megadunes in pattern and size, but of course they are composed of sand. "Megaripples" charted by sonar and shaped by water currents on the ocean floors are also comparable. See ETR3 in Carolina ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 130: JUL-AUG 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Epiphanies as Vascular Anomalies!Emanuel Swedenborg, the 18th century scientist and visionary, recalls Saul of Tarsus. Each underwent a crisis of vocation and religious out-look, and in both instances the critical event was a single episode that could be characterized as convulsive. Saul became the apostle Paul. His blinding conversion on the road to Damascus transformed the zealous advocate of Jewish tradition into the equally persevering Christian preacher and martyr. Swedenborg's conversion occurred at age 56, in 1744, when he was troubled by dreams, heard strong winds, felt a powerful trembling, and was thrown from his bed. During the following weeks his sense of contrition and desire for righteousness approximated the spirit of penthos described by orthodox contemplatives. Subsequently, he discovered his visionary ability to communicate with spirits and devoted his remaining days to visiting the spirit world where he gathered information sufficient to establish a new religion and to write the several books composing the Arcana Coelestia. After analyzing Swedenborg's visions and trance states, D.T . Bradford suggests that he only had had a "vascular .anomaly in the posterior area of the left cerebral hemisphere." (Bradford, David T.; "Neuropsychology of Swedenborg's Visions," Perceptual and Motor Skills, 88:377, 1999.) Comment. Must we accept that all epiphanies, revelations, and transcendental experiences are pathological? Strokes of genius will be next! Normality is very ...
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... Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects From Nature's Atelier One of geology's more fascinating mysteries concerns the formation of concretions. Concretions are structures within rock that differ in form and/or composition from the matrix. Often, they form around an impurity of some sort, say, a tiny fossil. If concretions were all nicely spherical or crystalline in shape, we might be able to explain them as we do with the oyster's pearl and winter's snow-flake. Unfortunately for the theorists, concretions usually come in bizarre shapes -- shapes an avant garde sculptor might appreciate. Not only do concretions come in weird geometries but they may be replicated in prodigious numbers, like the famous Kimmeridge "coal money." Additionally, some flint concretions are arrayed in thick chalk beds in amazingly regular three-dimensional arrays that tax the ingenuity of any theorist. To illustrate the extremes of nature's inorganic-chemical imagination, we now provide some illustrations from a recent two-part article in Rocks & Minerals and one of our catalog volumes. (Dietrich, R.V .; "Carbonate Concretions,' Rocks & Minerals, 74:266 and 74:335, 1999. ESA3 in Neglected Geological Anomalies.) Carbonate concretions (" imatra stones") from Finland. Virtually identical concretions occur in the Connecticut River Valley. Vertical lines of flint concretions in chalk cliffs near Norfolk, England. Presumably the 3-dimensional array continues in the unexposed matrix behind the visible lines. (From: Neglected Geological Anomalies ) Mace-shaped sand concretions from Mt ...
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... nearly every resident reported having chronic and severe headaches and were awakened several times at night and were fatigued." wrote Lisa Hurt Kozarovich, a freelancer. "About 30 residents said they were also nauseated and had other symptoms -- the most common being pressure or ringing in their ears, chronic joint pain, dizziness, depression and diarrhea." (Sharpe, Tom; "Pondering the Hum," Santa Fe New Mexican, July 24, 2001. Cr. D. Perkins via L. Farish.) Case 2. Residents of southwestern Germany are likewise afflicted by an unexplained, nocturnal, buzzing noise. Many have been complaining of racing pulses and fatigue along with a sense of excitation and uncontrollable muscle shivvering during their resulting insomnia. "Often at night I feel as if my bed were electrically charged. The pillow, the mattress and my whole whole body vibrate, and the only thing you want to do is to be able to turn off that sound,' said one of the sufferers, Carmen Mischke. (Anonymous; "Mysterious Maddening Buzzing Probed in Southwest Germany," AFP, August 22, 2001. Internet item. Cr. P. Gunkel. Anonymous; "Maddening Buzz," Houston Chronicle, August 27, 2001. Cr. D. Phelps.) From Science Frontiers #138, NOV-DEC 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc ...
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... . Harlech, Wales. The older literature presents several accounts of the strange luminous and incendiary phenomena which we now attend to. The following excerpt is from a 1790 gazetteer, as reprinted in New Scientist. A remarkable phenomenon was seen near this town [Harlech] in the year 1694 and it continued about the space of eight months. It was a livid vapour, or fiery exhalation which seemed to arise from the sea on the borders of Caernarvonshire. It made its first appearance on the side of a bay, a little after sunset, and from thence spread itself in the most gradual manner, until it had set all the houses in the neighbourhood on fire. Not only the ricks of hay, corn, and other forts of grain were destroyed, but also the vegetables in the gardens, for it had so noxious a smell that everything perished where it diffused its baleful infuence. Its effect were severely felt by the cattle to whom it communicated a contagious distemper, by which many of them died. It made its appearance regularly every night, always rising at the same place, nor did it stop its course either by rain or storms. It was sometimes visible by day, but it was very remarkable that it never did any damage except in the night. The flames were in no way violent, but its continuance at last consumed everything that opposed it. Those few scientists who have mused over this curious old account have concluded that the "fiery exhalations" resulted from the spontaneous ignition of marsh gas; that is, the flames were will-o '- ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 132: NOV-DEC 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Viking Mooring-Stone Saga Sails On One of the more fascinating types of North American artifacts is the so-called Viking mooring stone. It has been impossible to ignore them in past issues of this newsletter. ( SF#69 and SF#113 ) The latter issue displays a photograph of three of the unique triangular holes characteristic of the "mooring stones" drilled into a boulder resting in a North Carolina stream bed. North Carolina is hardly Viking country no matter how receptive you are to claims of an early and extensive Norse presence in North America. After all, the interior of North Carolina is hundreds of miles from L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, and nowhere near the site of the infamous Kensington Stone in Minnesota. Yet, several hundred of these Viking mooring stones have been found all the way from Canada south to Missouri. Most, however, are clustered in Minnesota. For those unfamiliar with this unusual artifact, it is the curious triangular holes that are diagnostic of the Viking mooring stones. These holes are essentially identical everywhere: an inch across, 4-5 inches deep, triangular in cross section, with neatly rounded corners. The saga is reviewed in our catalog Ancient Infrastructure . Cross section of one of the strange triangular holes found in boulders. Note the rounded corners. Drillers and purpose are unknown. Our purpose here is to flag a recent article in Ancient American that tells of the ...
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... sexes can play these games. Some females have ways to eject sperm from undesired males. For example, female feral fowl (hens gone wild!) prefer to mate with dominant males. Often, however, subdominant males force themselves on the females despite resistance and stress calls. The female response to such rapes is differential sperm ejection; that is, they immediately expel the unwanted ejaculate -- at least most of it -- raising the probability that they will be fertilized by the preferred dominant males. (Pizzeria, T., and Birkhead, T.R .; "Female Feral Fowl Eject Sperm of Sub-dominant Males," Nature, 405:787, 2000.) Comment. An interesting sort of sperm ejection occurs among Dunnocks, small brown birds common in English gardens. Alpha males try to prevent matings by lower-ranking males but are rarely successful. Most Dunnock matings are preceded by a ritual-like phenomenon called "cloaca-pecking." The female raises her tail exposing the cloaca. Instead of mating, the anticipating male pecks at the cloaca, an action that stimulates a pumping action and ejection of a droplet of sperm from previous matings. After the male inspects the droplet, normal mating follows. This bizarre scenario required the coordinated evolution of two different kinds of behavior (male and female) as well as the development of the female's sperm-ejection mechanism. See BBB23 in Biological Anomalies: Birds . From Science Frontiers #131, SEP-OCT 2000 . 2000 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism ...
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... the web: www.theage.com.au/frontpage/20001102/A22021-2000Nov2.html . Cr. P. Huyghe) But a missive from the British Antarctic Survey insists: .. .there is no scientific evidence for penguins falling over backwards when helicopters overfly. (Holden, Constance, ed.; "Prostrate Penguins?" Science, 290:1495, 2000.) Comment. Some birds are easily mesmerized. For example, one can hypnotize a chicken simply by holding it down on a flat surface for a minute or two. This will sometimes immobilize it for over an hour! (See BBX3-X1 in Biological Anomalies: Birds.) Magpies pay for their meals. One day last July, Gill Waring noticed a magpie by the birdbath in her garden in Rosefield Avenue, Bebington, Wirral, Merseyside, after she had put some bread out for the birds. After that the magpie kept returning and she started finding coins around the birdbath. One day she saw it leaving money. After a month, the bird had left 1.70 pounds in denominations including 5p and 2p. Magpies, of course, are attracted to bright objects and have a reputation as thieves. (Anonymous; "Magpie Leaves Tip," Fortean Times, p. 23, no. 141, December 2000. Source cited: Daily Mail, August 3, 2000) Comment. The magpie's behavior was exactly opposite that of the pack rats or trade rats of the American Southwest. Pack rats are noted for stealing bright objects from camps and leaving ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 132: NOV-DEC 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Luminous Toroid Dangled Sparkling "Candies"Ball lightning (BL) may assume many weird forms, which is one reason some scientists claim it is more likely an illusion than physical reality. Those physicists who admit that BL exists think that some electromagnetic mechanism might account for any nicely spherical, luminous globes with lifetimes of just a few seconds, but their equations cannot handle the phenomenon that took place at Gmuend, Austria, in 1996. A.G . Keul and O. Stummer personally investigated this case. The salient facts are as follows. A. Reisinger was working in her garden about 10 meters from an apple tree when she observed a phenomenon that seems to have been an elaborate and hard-to-explain form of ball lightning. When the BL appeared suddenly from behind the tree, it caught the attention of the witness who said that it looked like it "sat down on to the tree." It had the dimensions of "a small truck tyre, not as large as a tractor one," and it had a definite torus shape. What made the dark object an even stranger sight was a considerable number of "Xmas candies", all hanging down from its underside 15 to 20 centimetres long and "sparkling", which means changing brightness with an emission of sparks at the same time. A humming and sizzling sound was associated with the optical effect, but there was no static electricity. The ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An Antarctic Bone Bed W. Zinsmeister was accustomed to scoff at the idea that the Age of Dinosaurs ended violently with the impact of a giant asteroid some 65 million years ago. He always asked: "Where's the layer of burnt and twisted dinosaur bones?" His certainty was shaken, however, when he began mapping fossil deposits on Seymour Island, Antarctica. He didn't find the dinosaur bones but rather a giant bed of fish bones at least 50 square kilometers in area. Some sort of catastrophe must have annihilated untold millions of fish. And guess what? This great bone bed was deposited directly on top of that layer of extraterrestrial iridium that marks the 65-million-year-old Cretaceous Tertiary boundary at many sites around the world. (Hecht, Jeff; "The Island Where the Fish Had Their Chips," New Scientist, p. 16, November 11, 1995) Cross reference. Bone beds of fish and other creatures are filed under ESB13X2 in Anomalies in Geology. To order this catalog, see here . From Science Frontiers #104, MAR-APR 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Giant impact-wave deposit along u.s . east coast Along the shore from North Carolina to Maryland and also into Chesapeake Bay, deep-sea drillers have charted the Exmore Boulder Bed. No minor deposit this; it is is over 60 meters thick in places and covers more than 15,000 square kilometers. In the bed are found boulders (up to 2 meters in diameter), cobbles, pebbles, and traces of tektite glass and shocked quartz. The youngest microfossils date from the Eocene, and argon dating of the ejecta yield a date of 35.5 million years, which correlates with the North American tektite strewn field. C.W . Poag et al interpret this boulder bed as follows: "On the basis of its unusual characteristics and its stratigraphic equivalence to a layer of impact ejecta at Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 612 (New Jersey continental slope), we postulate that this boulder bed was formed by a powerful bolidegenerated wave train that scoured the ancient inner shelf and coastal plain of southeastern Virginia. The most promising candidate for the bolide impact site (identified on seismic reflection profiles) is 40 km north-northwest of DSDP Site 612 on the New Jersey outer continental shelf." (Poag, C. Wylie, et al; "Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 612 Bolide Event: New Evidence of a Late Eocene Impact-Wave Deposit and a Possible Impact Site, U ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The karoo: the greatest vertebrate graveyard In SF#104, we mentioned a vast bone bed consisting mainly of fish remains. Now, an exchange of letters in a creationist journal gives us the opportunity to present a few facts about a giant bone bed of terrestrial vertebrate fossils: the Karoo Supergroup of southern Africa. The point being discussed by the creationists is the source of the estimated 800 billion vertebrate fossils contain ed in the Karoo deposits. Whence this astronomical number of mainly swampdwelling reptiles? And whence the immense volume of sandstones and shale that contains their bones? The Genesis Flood model favored by creationists requires that all 800 billion animals be drowned at the same time and swept into South Africa and fossilized. But, they ask themselves, could the entire earth ever have supported so many swamploving reptiles at the same time? Is the Flood model threatened? (Froede, Carl R., Jr.; "The Karoo and Other Fossil Graveyards: A Further Reply to Mr. Yake," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 32:199, 1996. A response by Bill Yake followed this letter.) Comment. The figure of 800 billion fossils appears in several authoritative works, although concern is expressed about its magnitude and assumptions employed in calculating it. Once thing that is certain is that the Karoo deposits are immense and packed with bones. Even after decades of fossil collecting, bones are still sticking out of the ground. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious Smoke In Sri Lanka "Mysterious smoke exuding from a dry river bed has produced the highest temperature ever recorded in Sri Lanka, and geologists said Friday they are baffled by the phenomenon. "The 300-degree ground temperature has caused plants to wither in the mountainous region of Diyatalawa, a tourist resort in central Sri Lanka, said D.A . Kathriarachchi, the deputy director of the Geological Survey Department. "He said scientists were puzzled because there is no volcanic activity in Sri Lanka, which lies outside any volcanic zone. "The area, about 75 miles southeast of the capital, Columbo, is 9800 feet above sea level. The villagers have been told to report any other signs of smoke in the area, but no one has been evacuated." (Anonymous; "Hot Smoke Baffles Geologists," Panama City News Herald , p. 1B, September 5, 1992. Cr. L.B . Peirce) Comment. Category ESC4, in Anomalies in Geology, describes the "Smoking Hills" of the Canadian Arctic, as well as several other places where the oxidation of iron pyrite and other exothermic chemical reactions create very hot areas in non-volcanic regions. To order this catalog, see: here . From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 90: Nov-Dec 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dune Circles Of Sossusvlei The Dead Pan of Sossusvlei lies in the Namibian Desert some 50 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean. It is a 5-hour drive from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. Geologically, this feature is a clay pan in the flood plain of the Tsauchah River, which flows on the average only once in a decade. Towering above the clay pan are sand dunes that reach 350 meters elevation above the river bed. They are veritable mountains of sand and the tallest dunes in the world. The potential anomaly at Sossusvlei is not the size of the dunes but rather the mysterious circles of grass that grow upon them. All we have to go on is a photograph showing a dozen or so of the circles situated at some unspecified distance from the photographer. Somewhat irregular in shape, the circles seem to be on the order of 100 meters in diameter. No grass at all grows within the rings of thick grass, but outside grow sparse, evenly distributed grass clumps. The writer of the Sossusvlei article labels the circles "unusual phenomena." (Pupkewitz, Tony; "Sossusvlei," Optima , 36:136, 1988. Cr. P.A . Hill. Optima is a South African publication.) Comment. Are these circles akin to the "fairy rings" found in moister climates? Perhaps also pertinent are the clones of creosote bushes which grow outwards in expanding circles, as mentioned in ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A HOLLOW, TRIANGULAR ICICLE We swore that we were not going to pass along any more "weird" icicle observations -- and there are many of them--but this one is the weirdest of the weird. The scene is a Norwich, England, garden, wherein one night a plastic saucer full of tap water was placed. The night was clear, cold, and windless. In the morning, T. Bushnell found protruding from the saucer a "strange tubelike structure" about 3 inches long. His color photograph cannot be conveniently reproduced here, but it clearly shows his icicle growing upward at about a 45 angle. Bushnell wrote further: "What may not be apparent from the picture is that the tube is triangular in cross section and it is completely hollow down as far as the unfrozen water lying underneath the thick layer of ice. The fairly robust tube was an integral part of the underlying ice pool. We noticed that the outside of the tube was segmented in appearance, as though the ice had built up layer by layer." (Bushnell, T.; "Ice Surprise," New Scientist, inside back cover, October 7, 1995) Comment. The other "weird" icicles we have reported were all solid and roughly hexagonal prisms. (SF#79, SF#100, SF#102) From Science Frontiers #104, MAR-APR 1996 . 1996-2000 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 83: Sep-Oct 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crop-circle contest July 11-12, 1992. Buckinghamshire, England . On this dark night, in a barley field, 12 teams assembled in hopes of winning a $5 ,200 prize provided by the Koestler Foundation and the German Magazine PM. This sum was to be awarded to the best crop-circle hoaxers. First prize went to three engineers from a British helicopter company, who used rope, plastic piping, and a ladder suspended from a trestle. Close behind in the competition was American J. Schnabel, who, working all alone, required only a plank, some rope, and a small garden roller to produce a creditable, rather elaborate design. (Anonymous; "Circle Hoax Contest," Science, 257:481, 1992.) Comment. The quality of the best entries assures us that hoaxing is not to be discounted as a major factor in cropcircle studies. From Science Frontiers #83, SEP-OCT 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... believe, a very large asteroid slammed into northern Yucatan, forming the now-buried Chicxulub crater and wiping out the dinosaurs. Since the impact site was covered with ocean at the time, a powerful tsunamis should have surged out from this area. Indeed, debris attributable to a tsunami has been found on the U.S . Gulf Coast and on some Caribbean islands. J. Smit et al now report finding a layer of debris up to 3 meters thick in northeastern Mexico. This layer was apparently deposited in water about 400 meters deep as the giant wave wreaked havoc along Mexico's shore and its backwash piled up debris offshore. This interpretation is supported by the presence of tektites, microtektites, glass spherules, abundant plant material, an iridium anomaly, and near the top ripple beds. (Smit, Jan, et al; "Tektite-Bearing, Deep-Water Clastic Unit at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in Northeastern Mexico," Geology , 20:99, 1992. Reference. Puzzling deposits that may have been created by marine incursions are covered in ETM12 in our catalog: Neglected Geological Anomalies. For details, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #85, JAN-FEB 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 89: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Smoldering Corpse Most cases of SHC (Spontaneous Human Combustion) are written off by mainstream scientists (if they acknowledge the phenomenon at all) as easily explained by the "human candle effect." The elements of this accepted scenario are: (1 ) An ignition source, say, a fireplace; (2 ) The accidental ignition of the victim's clothing and/or adjacent bedding or upholstery; (3 ) The rendering of fat from the (assumed) corpulent victim, which combined with the surrounding wick-like material simulates a candle; and (4 ) The nearly complete, slow consumption of the victim, who is assumed to be asleep, drunk, or otherwise unable to rescue himself. But some cases do not involve all of these elements, as in the following item: " Syracuse (AP) -- Police have scheduled an autopsy today for a woman whose body was found smoldering next to a cemetery tombstone. "The woman's body was found lying on its back Wednesday afternoon next to a massive, 5-foot-high tombstone in St. Agnes Cemetery in Syracuse by the cemetery's caretaker, police said. .. .. . "' We just don't know what happened,' said the Rev. James Fritzen, who runs the cemetery for the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. 'We don't know if this was foul play or (someone) ...
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... not capable of explaining the purity of the Lompoc diatomite...the deposition rate is too slow to avoid corrosion and scavenging of the bones. both of which are absent from the Lompoc whale bones." (Snelling, Andrew A.; "The Whale Fossil in Diatomite, Lompoc, California," CEN Technical Journal, 9:244, 1995. This is an Australian creationist journal.) Comment. The Lompoc whale fossil does suggest very rapid deposition, but it does not prove that 4.5 billion years of geological history can be compressed into the requisite 6,000 years! Reference. The Lompoc deposit and many others like it are cataloged in ESD2 in the catalog volume: Neglected Geological Anomalies. For details on this book, visit: here . The Lompoc diatomite bed (left) and fossile whale, as found excavated in 1976. From Science Frontiers #104, MAR-APR 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... was a 'ball of white fire', larger than a football, about 20 to 30 feet from her, travelling horizontally at a constant height up her drive. There was very heavy rainfall, perhaps with some hail, but no lightning or thunder. The ball was seen against the background of other houses and her view of it was not interrupted. It was round, opaque and predominantly white with some yellow, and surrounded by a blue, irridescent halo. She said it was reminiscent of a meteor or comet and the light from it was like that from a fluorescent tube. It was bright enough to be clearly visible in daylight and appeared to be spinning or rotating. It hit the oak tree, perhaps 12 or 13 feet away, in Mrs. Wignall's front garden, with a terrific crack and explosion. "The ball was in sight for about 10 to 15 seconds, and its appearance did not change until it struck the tree, whereupon it became smaller. It hit the trunk about half way up and split the bark and trunk, showering splinters of wood over a distance of about 50 yards. As it did so, it rolled down the tree and dispersed in flashes -- she said that there seemed to be 'waves of lightning' passing from it into the ground and radial sparks streaming out of it in all directions. Her husband, however, thought he saw the ball, now smaller in size, cross the lawn." (Stenhoff, Mark; "Ball Lightning Reported in Conwy," Journal of Meteorology,U ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Michigan's prehistoric garden beds Type 5. Parallel beds. Width of beds, 6 feet; paths, 4 feet; length, 12-40 feet; height, 18 inches. The prehistoric ridged fields, canals, aqueducts, and other agricultural engineering feats found in South and Central America, and even our own Southwest, continue to amaze us. Almost totally forgotten, however, are the equally impressive "garden beds" of southern Michigan. Happily, the INFO Journal has just reprinted B. Hubbard's 1878 paper describing these works that stretched for miles along the Grand and St. Joseph Rivers. Of course, modern ... have obliterated them completely; and even in Hubbard's day they were mostly gone. First, Hubbard's general description of the "garden beds": "The so-called 'Garden Beds' were found in the valleys of the St. Joseph and Grand Rivers, where they occupied the most fertile of the prairie land and burr-oak plains, principally in the counties of St. Joseph, Cass and Kalamazoo. "They consisted of raised patches of ground, separated by sunken paths, and were generally arranged in plats or blocks of parallel beds. These varied in dimensions, being from five to sixteen feet in width, in length from twelve to more than one hundred feet, and in height from six to eighteen inches. "The tough sod of the prairie ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Really-deep rivers "Ecologists studying rivers have discovered a vast subterranean world filled with dozens of previously unknown species of worms, shrimp, insects and microscopic organisms that live in the groundwater below the stream channel and sometimes for miles on each side." The quotation above once again evokes the concept of "crevicular structure" in the crust. The crevicular world is that immense, unappreciated maze of underground space created by cracks in the rocks, solution channels, permeable gravels, and so on. In the article reviewed here, a crevicular realm has been discovered underneath river beds. But this is just a special case of a subterranean world found many places beneath the surface -- even under the continental shelves. The surface waters we see are just (to use an aquatic metaphor) the tip of the iceberg! Sub-river life lives far under the beds of the great Alaskan rivers and even small desert streams in Arizona. Preliminary exploration has shown that fluid-and life-filled crevicular structure exists at least 30 feet under river beds and may extend several miles to either side. For example, water wells drilled two miles from the Flathead River, in Montana, yield immature stoneflies. J. Stanford, Director of Montana's Flathead Lake Biological Station states, "We have basically enlarged the concept of what a river is." He and his colleagues have found at least a dozen new species in the crevicular ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Artifacts Of The Auriferous Gravels Now dismissed entirely and even ridiculed by establishment archeologists is the evidence of ancient human activity found in California's auriferous gravels. R.E . Gentet sets the geological stage in the following paragraph. "The 1849 gold rush to the state of California was the beginning of some of the most unusual reported finds of early man in North America. The gold-bearing gravels of California are recognized as being Tertiary in age, ranging from oldest to youngest Tertiary, depending upon the exact geological setting. At the time these gravels were deposited, volcanic eruptions also laid down lava beds, often tens or scores of feet thick. This occurred a number of times, and together with much erosion since then, have now resulted in table mountains, that is, lava-capped hills where the harder lava has better withstood erosion stresses while surrounding softer material has been swept away. It is under the hard lava beds, in the gold-bearing (auriferous) gravels, where the reported human bones and artifacts were found, not just once or twice, but hundreds of times by miners during the span of time from the 1850s through the 1890s while engaging in mining operations. Findings were spread over a wide geographical area." During the late 1800s, several books and many papers recorded the discoveries. Some of the finds were made by respected scientists of the day. Human skulls were found embedded over ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lightning In The Family What follows is hardly a scientific report, but we have no reason to doubt its accuracy. On last Saint Patrick's Day. G. Patterson, of Phoenix, Maryland, north of Baltimore, was in bed sick during a hard rainstorm, when the bulb in her bedside lamp exploded. Lightning had struck her house. She got out of bed and rushed over to her daughter's house nearby to find a red ball of fire on the house's baseboard outlet. Her daughter's house had also been struck by lightning! Worse yet, the TV and VCR had been destroyed. Later on the same day, Patterson's daughter in Bel Air, northeast of Baltimore, called to say that the chimney of her house had been struck by lightning, scattering fireplace bricks all over the floor! (Simon, Roger; "After Lightning Strikes a Family Thrice, Call Priest," Baltimore Sun, April 9, 1997.) Reference. Lightning's "pranks" are cataloged in GLL11 in the catalog: Lightning, Auroras. Information on this book can be found here . From Science Frontiers #69, MAY-JUN 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sli: a somewhat amusing psi phenomenon Before you snort in derision at SLI, recall that, just as some gardeners have "green thumbs," so do some people appear to induce electronic panic in hightech equipment just by walking into a laboratory. If the thoughts of a human experimenter can affect marine algae (p . 000), why not electrical equipment? Of course, we know why not! But we have heard some pretty weird stories! For that matter, can you account for everything your computer does? "A strange new phenomenon has recently been studied in detail for probably the first time. It is street lamp interference, or SLI. Author Hilary Evans, a founder member of ASSAP, has established SLIDE, the Street Lamp Interference Data Exchange, to study the reports. "SLI is the apparent ability that certain people have to switch street lamps on or off merely by being in their vicinity. While it may seem to be a form of psychokinesis, Hilary insists that no conclusion should yet be drawn from the small body of data so far accumulated. The effect is surprisingly common, though most reports so far have come from the USA. ASSAP, in cooperation with SLIDE, now wants to obtain information on the phenomenon in Britain." (Anonymous; "Standing by the Lamplight..." ASSAP News, no. 39, p. 2, January 1991.) From Science Frontiers ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 65: Sep-Oct 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fossil Ufos "Geologists have discovered strange disc-shaped features in slate deposits in California. The features, at Yreka, are between 2 and 7 centimetres across and 2 to 4 millimetres thick; some have centres stained with iron oxides. One geologist, Nancy Lindsley-Griffin of the University of Nebraska, has already dubbed the saucer-shaped features, 'unidentified fossil-like objects.' "Geologists discoverd the UFOs in bedding planes of the slate, formed from ocean bottom that was deposited between 400 and 600 million years ago. The objects are puzzling because they lack the symmetry that fossils of living organisms usually display. They are also too large to be the droppings of any creature alive at the time, and do not look like concretions, such as agates, formed by natural chemical processes. Lindsley-Griffin says they resemble very tiny bicycle wheels, with a central core and an outer rim, but with most of the spokes missing.'" One thought is that these features may be fossil jellyfish. (Anonymous; "Fossil 'UFOs' Mystify the Geologists," New Scientist, p. 43, July 1, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #65, SEP-OCT 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spooky Spike The readers of New Scientist continue to supply delightful observations of Nature's quirks. The following is from J. Turner, in Warwickshire: I have in my garden a round red plastic container which holds water for the birds. In last winter's first hard frost, I found an odd ice formation in the bowl. Although the weather the previous day had been clement and the water was fluid, we had that night a sharp frost down to about -4 C. The following morning I noticed what appeared to be something sticking up out of the frozen water in the dish. On closer examination, it proved to be a solid 'spike' of ice, ending in an arrowhead. The ice was solid and came out of the side of the frozen water at an angle of about 45 . It was about 9 inches long and solid throughout." (Turner, Judy; "Spooky Spike," New Scientist, p. 54, November 2, 1991.) Two weeks later, the same journal published two radically different explanations of the ice spike. G. Lewis called the spike an "ice fountain" and stated that it is due to the well-known expansion of water as it freezes. R. Blumen-feld, on the other hand, attributed the growth of the spike to the fact that water molecules on the surface and in surrounding air are electrical dipoles. ...
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... and Rich, Thomas H.; "The Dinosaurs of Winter," Natural History, 100:33, April 1991.) That the polar regions were once covered by lush forests has been underscored by recent discoveries in both polar regions. Stumps of huge trees 45 million years old dot the now-bleak landscape of Axel Heiberg Island far north of the Arctic Circle. In Antarctica, heaps of 3- million-year-old fossil leaves have been found within 400 kilometers of the South Pole. (Francis, Jane E.; "Arctic Eden," Natural History, 100:57, January 1991. Also: Peterson, Christian; "Leafing through Antarctica's Balmy Past," New Scientist, p. 20, February 9, 1991.) Comments. Coal beds are also known from Spitzbergen and Antarctica. The vision of dinosaurs roaming polar Edens evokes many questions. If the polar regions were indeed 10-20 C warmer than now, what could have survived at the Equator? The dates given above (3 and 45 million years ago) for polar heat waves are well after the 65million-year demise of the dinosaurs. This suggests that the biosphere recovered very well from the KTB catastrophe. Why, then did the dinosaurs succomb so completely? From Science Frontiers #75, MAY-JUN 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eel Oddities Garter snakes are reknowned for their habit of congregating in large, writhing masses, but we never heard of "eel balls" until A. Gardiner mentioned them in a recent issue of the Fortean Times. "These [eel balls] are recorded in Christopher Moriarty's excellent Eels: a Natural and Unnatural History (David and Charles, 1978). Moriarity cites Pliny as the earliest historical reference. According to him, Eel Balls occur in Lake Garda, Italy, when it has been storm-tossed by the effects of the October 'Autumn star'. Smitt in his Scandanavian Fishes (1895) says that eels knot themselves together in bunches 'up to a fathom in circumference' and are seen rolling along the stream beds, or, strangely, resting in this position. On 17 August 1935, fishery scientist J.C . Medcof observed, in the outflow of Lake Ainslie in Nova Scotia, 'three splendid clumps of Eels, half a metre in diameter, 30 to a clump, knotted tightly and remaining motionless in the rushes.' Medcof mentions that Eel Balls are sometimes free floating on the surface, which suggests formation with an air pocket or some communal control of air bladders. He says that this behavior occurs before eels 'silver' prior to the spawning migration. The record of Eel Balls in Nova Scotia proves that this behaviour is not confined to the European Eel." (Gardiner, Alan; "Eel Oddities," Fortean Times, no. 56, p. 53, ...
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... .' There is no telling how big a hole is under there. You can hear water falling. Gas was bubbling up all along the bank. In one place the water was shooting up a couple of feet yesterday, like a fountain, but it has gone down now.' "Large pieces of shale landed 20 to 30 feet from the creek bank, mud was blown outward from the explosion and pieces of shale as large as a big tennis shoe were found as much as 200 feet from the creek." (Smith, Charlotte Anne; "Nowata Creek Blocked after Apparent Explosion," Tulsa World , March 4, 1990. Cr. P.A . Roales.) Comment. A similar, though more violent, natural gas explosion occurred in 1890 in a river bed near Waldron, Indiana. See ESC4-X3 in the Catalog: Anomalies in Geology. For ordering information, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , U.K ., 15:317, 1990.) Comment. Could the English column of light have been created by the same force that made the Ohio burnt circle? The "triangle" nearby. The sides are 10-11 meters long. Des Ronds dans le Ble. Yes, the French are chasing crop circles, too. In fact, a team of 8 French observers (designated VECA 90) spent the summer of 1990 in England. After watching by night without success, reviewing the English data, they finally discovered the secret (" ils ont finalement decouvert le pot aux roses"). The crop circles and all the elaborate designs are man-made! In fact the French team demonstrated how one could quickly make circles and more complex designs with a garden roller. Case closed!? (Pinvidic, Thierry; "L 'Histoire Folle des Ronds dans le Ble," Science et Vie , no 878, p. 28, November 1990. Cr. C. Mauge.) Comment. That all crop circles are manmade is debatable, certainly many are, and one can make a case for a meteor ological origin for the simpler geometries. One English contact states firmly that a review of old aerial photographs found no complex patterns at all. But who knows what next week's mail will bring? From Science Frontiers #73, JAN-FEB 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spinning Ball Of Light Inscribes Crop Circles In the January 1990 issue of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., two reports appeared describing eyewitness observations of crop circles-in-the-making. Both involved a self-luminous spinning ball of light. We reproduce here the second of these accounts. June 28, 1989, north-central Wiltshire, near Silbury Hill. "Soon after midnight the occupier of the roadside cottage by the path which leads to West Kennett Long Barrow noticed a large ball of light 400 metres distant in a wheatfield to the west. At the time of the observation he was walking from house to garage, and had a clear view to the illuminated part of the field through a gap in a hedge which borders his garden. He described the ball as orange in colour, adding that it was brighter around the periphery, and he guessed the diameter as 30-40 feet (say, 10-13 metres). When first seen, the ball was already low over the field and still descending. The witness watched the base of the ball 'go flat' as it made contact with the crop and/or the ground. The ball then gave 'a little bounce' and after a further 'seven or eight seconds' disappeared in. "Next morning on leaving the house the witness could see via the gap in the hedge a large circle at the place which corresponded to the position of the light source the previous night, and some smaller circles were evident as well." A flyover ...
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... Patera Most of the Martian surface is thought to be more than 3.8 billion years old. This portion is densely cratered from a period pf heavy meteorite bombardment. It is also carved by many channels that are thought to have been cut in ancient times by flowing water, water which quickly escaped into space or combined chemically with Martian minerals. The present atmosphere of Mars, in consequence, contains little water vapor. But some of the Martian landscape, notably Alba Patera, raises questions about the above scenario. The anomalous characteristic of Alba Patera is its relative smoothness and scarcity of impact craters. This Martian real estate is believed to be 2 billion years younger than the rest of the planet. Even so, it, too, is marked by "fluvial" features that resemble stream beds. Question #1 . How did Alba Patera get smoothed out or "reworked"? In other words, what happened to the ancient craters that must have pocked its surface, as they do everywhere else? Question #2 . Where did the water come from to cut Alba Patera's stream beds if all of the Martian water disappeared 2 billion years earlier? One line of thought maintains that "fluvial" does not mean "pluvial," and that Martian water has come from below rather than as rain from the atmosphere. Both fluvial episodes, in this view, occurred when something caused the Martian crust to release huge quantities of stored water. Hydrothermal activity is mentioned as a possibility. (Eberhart, J.; "The Martian Atmosphere: Old Versus New," ...
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... Formation. These cyclothems can be correlated over distances exceeding 800 kilometers and are believed to be the consequence of climatic changes associated with the earth's precession and orbital eccentriciy. These rhythms have been captured in bundles of shale-limestone couplets. A bundle of five coup lets, for example, is thought to express 21,000- and 100,000-year Milankovitchtype climatic cycles, as impressed by variations in the earth's orbital precession and eccentricity. Analysis of the Fort Hays Limestone Member, however, reveals that while bundles of five couplets do occur, the number may vary from 1 to 12. Clearly, things are not clear-cut. (Laferriere, Alan P., et al; "Effects of Climate, Tectonics, and Sea-Level Changes on Rhythmic Bedding Patterns in the Niobrara Formation (Upper Cretaceous), U.S . Western Interior," Geology, 15:233, 1987.) Comment. As the rather comprehensive title of this article states, purely terrestrial forces may alter the rhythm. It may be, though, that cyclothem changes reflect actual changes in the earth's orbit resulting from astronomical catastrophism. The Cretaceous saw many geological and biological changes. Cyclothems may tell us more about them. All ten members are never present at one location. The most common sequences are 1, and/or 2, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10. From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 59: Sep-Oct 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lightningless thunder?August 22, 1987. Wotton-under-Edge, England. "There had been thunder about, but the clouds were high, and there was intermittent sunshine. I was at work with a friend of mine, sawing logs, in one part of the garden. My wife was picking beans, about 80 yards away. Without any kind of warning, there was a violent detonation overhead, at what might have been tree-height. Service in war enables one to describe an explosion better than those whose experience is limited to Guy Fawkes' Day. This seemed to me about the same as an air-burst from a German 88 mm high velocity gun. My friend and I took it to be lightning; but neither of us saw any flash -- perhaps because we were both looking downwards at the time. "Shortly afterwards, my wife appeared, dazed and shaken. The explosion had evidently been closer to her, for she (having served in the WRNS) was reminded of an ammunition ship blowing up 'whoosh,' suggestive of a very high speed aircraft flying very low. That is what she momentarily thought it was, coming from the ridge of the Cotswold escarpment, under which this house lies; and she instinctively ducked. Immediately before the detonation, there seemed to her to be a sound not unlike machine-gun fire; and there was a movement of the air ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 59: Sep-Oct 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fish And Winkle Showers "Loud slapping sounds disturbed Ron Langton as he settled down to watch late-night television at his home in East Ham in London on 26 May 1984. He thought nothing more of the noises until next morning when he went outside and saw half a dozen fish in the backyard and on his roof. They were flounders and whitings, about 10 to 15 centimetres long. "Two residents of nearby Canning Town also reported between 30 and 40 fish scattered over their gardens. Could a flight of herons returning from the Thames have dropped their catch? The Natural History Museum identified the fish as just what you would expect to find in the lower Thames. Could a waterspout on the Thames have lifted the fish up to cloud level, carried them a few kilometres north, and dropped them on Canning Town and East Ham? .. .. . "On 16 June 1984, a month after the fish falls in London, the owner of a service station near Thirsk in north Yorkshire found winkles and starfish covering the forecourt of his garage and the top of its high canopy. The winkles were salty and many were still alive. Thirsk is 45 kilometres from the sea, and the garage owner thought that this collection of marine life arrived with the torrential thunderstorms during the night. Though proof remains elusive, the winkles and starfish were probably lifted by a waterspout along the east coast and carried aloft for an ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bone Bed Discovered In Florida A new bond bed has been discovered south of Tampa. Paleontologists say it it is one of the richest fossil deposits ever found in the United States. It has yielded the bones of more than 70 species of animals, birds, and aquatic creatures. About 80% of the bones belong to plains animals, such as camels, horses, mammoths, etc. Bears, wolves, large cats, and a bird with an estimated 30-foot wingspan are also represented. Mixed in with all the land animals are sharks' teeth, turtle shells, and the bones of fresh and salt water fish. The bones are all smashed and jumbled together, as if by some catastrophe. The big question is how bones from such different ecological nitches -- plains, forests, ocean -- came together in the same place. (Armstrong, Carol; "Florida Fossils Puzzle the Experts," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 21:198, 1985.) From Science Frontiers #39, MAY-JUN 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Thin-skinned tectonics In many regions of the world, older rocks are superimposed on top of younger rocks, just the opposite from what is expected. The usual explanation is that the layers of older rocks were thrust parallel to the bedding planes over the top of the layers of younger rock, sometimes for hundreds of miles. So numerous are these instances of inverted strata that a new branch of geology called Thin-Skinned Tectonics is arising to handle them. The present article deals with the complex stratigraphy in the Western Arbuckle Mountains in southern Oklahoma. Here are located many examples of old-on-young rock as well as completely inverted stratigraphic members. Much at-tention is paid to the evidence of sliding between beds (breccia, small overfolds, etc.). Some excellent photos of these contact planes are presented. (Phillips, Eric H.; "Gravity Slide Thrusting and Folded Faults in Western Arbuckle Mountains and Vicinity, Southern Oklahoma," American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, 67:1363, 1983.) Comment. Some extensive thrust faults do not show as much evidence of horizontal sliding as those in the Western Arbuckles. Scientific creationists use such examples as evidence that the geological time scale, as determined by the fossil contents of the rocks, is all mixed up. From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 29: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sedimentary rocks on venus?The Soviet spacecraft Veneras-13 and 14 took photos of the hot surface of Venus from their landing spots beneath the planet's thick cloud cover. The rocky debris surrounding the spacecraft shows, to nearly everyone's surprise, strong evidence of sedimentary, layered structure. The rock formations display ripple marks, thin layering, differential erosion, and even hints of cross-bedding. The vision of ancient seas on Venus leaps to the mind, but according to the Russian scientists, it is far more likely that the sediments were created by winds, episodic volcanism, or repeated meteor strikes. (Florensky, C.P ., et al; "Venera 13 and Venera 14: Sedimentary Rocks on Venus?" Science, 221:57, 1983.) Reference, Venus harbors many anomalies. See our Catalog: The Moon and the Planets. This book is described here . Two pictures of the surface of Venus taken by the Russian space probe Venera 14. From Science Frontiers #29, SEP-OCT 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 37: Jan-Feb 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Shower Of Coke The following is testimony from the Bournmouth Meteorological Registrar: "After the severe thunderstorm of 5 June 1983, it was brought to my attention that large amounts of coke had fallen in a gentleman's garden. After being reported in the local press and on local radio that evening, my telephone never stopped ringing with reports of coke haven fallen all over the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch area. I investigated several reports and found the pieces to be the same, all having been discovered over lawns, paths, etc. and all found after the storms of the 5th. At one lady's house I picked up 92 pieces of coke and there were still many pieces left. The largest piece of coke measured 6.0 cm by 4.6 cm. At one investigation I was given small roof-like stone chippings which the lady said she saw in melting hailstones." (Rogers, P.A .; "Remarkable Shower of Coke from Cumulonimbus," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 9:220, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #37, JAN-FEB 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... rushed in the back door of the house where we huddled for about 30 seconds before hearing a resounding crash some 250 yards away off to the east. It had hit Green's house at the far eastern end of Campbell Road. It apparently then bounced all the way to the Salvation Army home and demolished the whole house somewhere near Dawson and Florence Streets at Fullarton." The ball rotated slowly and emitted small sparks. (Illert, Theodore Charles; "The Parkside Lightning Ball," personal communication from C. Illert. To be published in "Speak No Evil: A Case Study of Lives and Times of German Settlers in South Australia," by C. Illert) Ball lightning with a wormy or rope-like surface structure. The example sketched above appeared in an English garden, but it is basically the same as the Parkside ball lightning. (See the Catalog of Anomalies) From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . One observer saw it descend at an angle of 45 and hit the roadway. At Kingsley: "A large white luminous ball, probably over a metre in diameter, blasted its way into a factory workshop by shearing an irregular hole through a steel-mesh-reinforced window. There was no evidence of any fusion of the glass. The ball, accompanied by a deafening roar, passed very quickly in a straight line through the processing shop and left by blasting a 2 by 3 metre hole in a wall of 6 mm corrugated asbestos, fragments of which were later found 20 to 30 metres away outside the factory." At Dilhorne. Sea shells fell with heavy hail: "They extended for an area of about 50 by 20 metres and occurred in thousands on lawns, flower beds, paths and even the road. Roy was kind enough to give me half-a -dozen specimens for identification. They turned out to be small gastropods, almost certainly of marine origin." Recourse to field guides did not result in positive identification, so samples were sent to the Bristol Museum. The specimens turned out to be Dove Shells, family Columbellidae, genus Pyrene, which are normally inhabitants of the tropical seas. Their most likely origin was the Philippines! (Swinhoe, P.J .; "Unusual Events along the Squally Cold Front of 2l March 1983 in North Staffordshire," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 8:233, 1983.) Probably track of the shell-carrying vortex. The actual shells, however, are not typical ...
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... Barry Fell has translated the markings, which in his view are in Arabic Ogam, as: Top: God is strong. Strong to help his right hand. Front: The Koran is the unique achievement of the prophet pious and tender. (Morehouse, Judy; "A Colorado Dolmen Inscribed with Ogam," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 11:209, no. 269, 1983.) Comment. A photograph accompanying the article shows a striking artifact with strongly engraved markings. The second stone was discovered at a petroglyph site in south central Alabama. This stone has an apparent jumble of scratches or grooves on two faces, which one might easily ascribe to plows. Barry Fell, however, considers them obvious Iberic letters. His translation of the Arabic: Top: A vegetable garden. Cession of land, a conveyance of property. Side: Cession of land, a conveyance of property. (Henson, B. Bart, and Fell, Barry; "Inscribed Rocks in South Central Alabama," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 11:235, no. 274, 1983.) Comment. The large number of North American sites with enigmatic marks documented by the Epigraphic Society elicits several questions: Are the sites and artifacts genuine? In view of the large number discovered at various times, in various places, by different people; some would certainly seem to be legitimate. Are the markings really ancient Ogam, Libyan, and similar brands of old writing? Admittedly, some grooves and scratches on small stones may have been created by random processes, but others ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Killer Fungi Cast Sticky Nets Your garden soil likely contains nematodes (popularly called eelworms) that will gnaw away at your crops. Nematodes are about a millimeter long and very active, thrashing through the soil like fish through water. Their numbers are kept in check by a surprisingly sophisticated fungus which thrives on them. If nematodes are around (not otherwise), the fungus sets out two kinds of traps. The first is the sticky net made of threads sent out by the fungus. Any nematode that brushes against these sticky strands is held while the fungus rams special feeding pegs into it. The second kind of trap is even more marvelous. It is an array of rings, each consisting of three unique cells that are sensitive to touch. Attracted by alluring chemicals secreted by the fungus, the nematodes probe around the rings. In a tenth of a second after they are touched, the fungus rings contract around the interloping nematodes. Again the nematode is doomed as the terrible feeding pegs penetrate its body. Another chemical is then released by the fungus to keep other fungi away from its kill. (Simons, Paul; "The World of the Killer Fungi," New Scientist, 20, March 1, 1984.) Comment. Does anyone really believe that even the "simplest" form of life is really simple? From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 15: Spring 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Massive Ice Lump Falls On England December 10, 1980. Birmingham. An ice lump weighing 1 pound, 6 ounces (626 grams) fell into a garden at Kings Norton. The lump was almost spherical and had a circumference of 12 inches. (Anonymous; "Ice-Ball Falls into a Birmingham Garden," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 6:16, 1981.) Reference. Large, fallen ice chunks are often called "hydrometeors." These are cataloged at GWF1 in Tornados, Dark Days. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 21: May-Jun 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Hueyatlaco Dilemma Beds containing human artifacts at Valsequillo, Mexico, have been dated at approximately 250,000 years before the present by fission-track dating of volcanic material and uranium dating of a camel pelvis. The dilemma posed by such dates is clearly stated in the following quotation from the conclusions of the subject article. "The evidence outlined here consistently indicates that the Hueyatlaco site is about 250,000 yr old. We who have worked on geological aspects of the Valsequillo area are painfully aware that so great an age poses an archeological dilemma. If the geological dating is correct, sophisticated stone tools were used at Valsequillo long before analogous tools are though to have been developed in Europe and Asia. Thus, our colleague, Cynthia Irwin-Williams, has criticized the dating methods we have used, and she wishes us to emphasize that an age of 250,000 yr is essentially impossible." (Steen-McIntyre, Virginia, et al; "Geologic Evidence for Age of Deposits at Hueyatlaco Archeological Site, Valsequillo, Mexico," Quaternary Research, 16:1 , 1981.) Comment. The above impasse is reminiscent of Lord Kelvin's insistence that the earth is only about 100,000 years old based upon his calculations of the sun's energy-producing capabilities. Geologists thought otherwise, requiring roughly a billion years for nature to sculpt the earth they saw. Kelvin didn't reckon on nuclear ...
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