Activity

Take any of those titles and do a google, a world of potential learning will blossom before your eyes.

Oh and that was part one of a two part essay – “Pageant of Earth’s Evolution In 24hr”

Dec. 7, 2019

In the first half of this look at Earth’s 4.6 billion year old pageant of Evolution, scaled down to 24 hours, Earth’s first enduring Life took about 4 hours to claw together an existence within very tiny, very simple, very protective sacks, against an extremely harsh environment.

After that, Evolution progressed very slowly.  Why?  Because Earth’s hostile environment provided limited means, this stifled further development.  Which brings us to a key early scientific breakthrough in perspective, namely that an organism cannot be understood without also understanding the environment it lives within.

 

It took another 17 hours worth of Earth’s geology and biology combining forces to process and tame Earth’s raw materials to the point that descendants of those simple cells had the means to do more.  Developing environments with changing conditions(ocean, atmosphere, chemistry, nutrients, climatic conditions, tectonics) these are what enabled spectacular innovations and expansion.

In a poetic sense Earth’s geology taught biology by providing building blocks and forcing it to adapt to changing conditions.  Life continually repurposed its genetic heritage, body parts were re-proportioned, modifications made, animals radiated, and survivors learned to thrive in their brave new environments.

The increasing interaction of plants, animals, predators, prey, sensing, grasping, protecting, hiding, thinking – the stuff of competition, all of it working together giving birth to ecology and the outlines of today’s world during the Cambrian Period.

Since about 9:00 PM, or 500 million years ago, Earth’s Evolution has simply been variations on those themes as Life danced to climate, plate tectonics and celestialinfluences.

Around 9:30 PM, or 443 million years ago, the third period of Earth’s Paleozoic Era(old life) begins with 14 minutes of the Ordovician Period and growing continents around the southern hemisphere. Jostling each other caused erratic sea level rise and increased continental erosion dumped into the seas, while first plants emerged on land.  When continents converged around the South Pole another killer ice age was initiated.

¶8]  The 9 minute Silurian Period brought in another resurgence of Life and diversifying species as those continents drifted north through the temperate climate zone.

The Devonian Period, at about 9:50 PM, lasted nearly 18 minutes with continents aligning along the equator, then slowly coalescing into another supercontinent called Pangea. Tougher environments and climate served to force Life to evolve better solutions, such as seeds.

Pangea related tectonics caused increased volcanoes, disappearing shallow seas, and poisoned the ocean.  This forced another round of smaller extinctions. It also drove desperate refugees to diversify and explore river systems and land habitats.

By 10:07 PM with dust settling, the warming Carboniferous Period became a big dealbecause the air contained 35% oxygen. Life on land soaked it in, insects became giants, plants became lush forests and genetic tinkering landed upon the egg.

The 18 minute long Carboniferous came in with glaciers, went out with droughts and deserts, causing another collapse at 10:27 PM. When conditions improved a slimmed down Permian Period biota rebounded for 15 minutes.

Then around 10:41 PM, a volcanic event like none other occurred.  Under Siberia a hot lava plume encountered a subducting oceanic plate with all of its carbon rich rock, organics, and sea water. The hot plume melted into sills, creating immense vapor pressure, before continuing to the surface and an unimaginably powerful and dirty explosion.

After which the Siberian Traps continued erupting in ‘normal’ fashion for the next million years. Over 90% of ocean Life and two-thirds of land animals disappeared. So ended the Paleozoic Era at 252 Million Years ago.

The Mesozoic (middle life) Era begins with 16 minutes of the Triassic Period. Again the few survivors didn’t miss a beat. Among the most noteworthy adaptations were tetrapods (four feet) who differentiated into distinct amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, mammal-like reptiles and bird lineages. Plants also reached new heights and complexity, while insects scaled down and prospered, as did ocean Life.

¶16]  Pangea was now breaking up and again causing intensified volcanic activity, decimating the Triassic Period biota.  Survivors included dinosaurs who quickly radiated and dominated the following 17 minutes of the Jurassic Period and 25 minutes of the Cretaceous Period. Mammal-like critters kept it small, though diversifying just the same. Flowers and fruit appeared, reptiles and amphibians also prospered.

Then a well aimed mountain sized space rock crashed into the Yucatan Peninsula, releasing truly catastrophic cascading consequences 65 million years ago.  Thus ended the hour long Mesozoic Era with three-quarters of animals and all non-avian dinosaurs dead, along with forests and jungles burned to a crisp.  This was a mere 20 minutes ago.

Those forests and jungles, along with the atmosphere and oceans, eventually recoveredand created new environments and conditions that enabled new groups of survivors to inherit the bounty and figure out how to exploit every possible niche during the Cenozoic (new life) Era.

Again Life’s evolving genetic toolkit enabled fantastical adaptations and diversificationinto the modern forests and grasslands that spread into previously uninhabitable harsh barren lands. Once mammals figured out how to exploit these new resources they filled every imaginable environmental niche on our Earth.

Among mammals were primates, with one branch leading to the first hominids 2 minutes ago. Through them modern humans appeared all of 6 seconds ago.

In the past milliseconds we humans have learned to reflect upon this universe and ourselves. We have become masters of science and manipulating the physical world.

We know much, but understand next to nothing, as demonstrated by (*) our wanton destruction of the biosphere we depend on for everything.

Humanity’s gluttonous self-serving instincts are inflicting reckless damages upon our planet and her biosphere like never before. We have been injecting ever moreinsulating CO2 into our atmosphere and carbonic-acid into our oceans – unlike anything since the triggers to the Permian/Triassic super extinction event.

What else is left to say? Not much, except perhaps to point out there will be consequences for our society’s flippant disregard of our Mother Earth, her life history, and her needs.

I lit up that text with over 160 links that range from published scientific papers, science articles and YouTube videos.  Because, I’ve come to like creating Student Resources – issue focused bibliographies, of solid information, to help save them time with their projects, and lend a little support to those with their own unique ideas.

That’s why I’ve listed and share the following titles and authors in the order of their appearance.   Over at my blog these are all linked to the source.  It’s about providing the information that I based my understanding on.  I can’t hand feed @Dad1, you need to have some genuine good faith curiosity – but I don’t sense that in you.  You seem more the warrior for your,  you’s is not to think, but to overcome and vanquish.  But fun if you had more substance than this handwaving and gotchas.

It’s easy for people who simply want to confuse and misdirect attention and energy in order to avoid the real issues at hand, to toss up all sorts of demands and expectations, yet somehow feel they themselves are immune from meeting those same expectations.   The double standard is horrendous.

I would love to field some serious questions about specifics because I love trying to explain this stuff, since that helps me understand it better myself.  I don’t play keep away or gotcha games, I’ll lay out my cards and defend them as challenged.

I believe in an honest scientific style debate which means, representing my ideas,  and just as importantly honestly (to the best of my ability) representing the ideas of others.  Where truth is law, a willful deception is damnable.  Where mistakes are for learning – rather than for creating bludgeons.

Why because better personal understanding is my goal.  I don’t have an agenda beyond endlessly striving to better understand this world, myself, and my human family, the human condition.  Although I will say I feel a tad feisty toward people who presume to represent god – because at 66  can say as a young lad I took to heart the Biblical invitation, SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND.  I seek and sonny let me tell you I have found.  I know God’s breath against my back and I know my puniness in the face of it all.  You got ego and attitude.  You know nothing of god and I see through you.  So wanna have a friend civil human conversation or want to keep playing your game?  Your choice, but don’t fancy you’re fooling anyone over here.

(and unexpected digression that I don’t intend to edit out, back to the preceding program…)

…   Tragically, I find too many believe in the lawyerly, political debate where winning is everything and concepts such as honesty, honor, constructive learning are dismissed with contempt.