| Submit your comments on this article | |
| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- | |
| Ancient methane 'burp' points to climate change 110 million years ago | |
| 2017-04-25 | |
| [CBC.CA] New research suggests a large amount of methane was released in the Arctic Ocean during a period of warming 110 million years ago and the methane "burp" points to the possibility of a similar release in today's warming conditions. [Gag!] "What is that smell?" The discovery happened in the remote High Arctic, on Ellef Ringnes Island, about 500 kilometres north of Resolute, Nunavut. During the Cretaceous period, 55 million years before the dinosaurs disappeared,
[Barf!] "It smells like the earth just farted!" Suddenly, from under the mud, bubbles of methane began to emerge as frozen deposits began to thaw. "I think... I think I'm going extinct!" The bubbles left traces in the form of over 130 mounds that persist on the island today, complete with fossils of life that formed around the methane seeps. [Rosebud!] "There must have been some brief, rapid release into the ocean," explained Steve Grasby, one of the researchers who visited the island between 2009 and 2011. "Because we don't see them in the older rocks and we don't see them in the younger rocks. So something must have happened in the Earth's history at that time to release a bunch of methane into the sea," he said. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 Technically incorrect: This would have been more of a fart than a burp. Just tryin' to keep things straight. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2017-04-25 16:15 |
| #7 The appearance of the first finger and the first challenge to pull it. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-04-25 15:51 |
| #6 The answer is simple. We need millions of pilot lights. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2017-04-25 13:04 |
| #5 Ancient methane 'burp' points to climate change 110 million years ago Obviously, Bush is to blame. And Trump. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2017-04-25 11:30 |
| #4 I knew Gaia shouldn't have eaten that bean burrito. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2017-04-25 10:31 |
| #3 ...points to the possibility of a similar release in today's warming conditions. You mean the 'warming conditions' that aren't occurring? And even if they were, what are we going to do - send down the crews from Armageddon to plug a hole or something? |
| Posted by: Raj 2017-04-25 10:27 |
| #2 Photo caption: Fossils like these Cretaceous tubeworms show part of the deep-ocean community that fed off the methane leaking from the mud. So let's feed the tubeworms! AGW resolved! But I wonder, what put all that methane *in* the ocean in the first place? Progressive dinosaurs? No grant money for that? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2017-04-25 07:45 |
| #1 I blame prehistoric frackers, possibly marsupial wildcatters. |
| Posted by: Harry Panda9076 2017-04-25 05:59 |