Climate change is one of the dominant issues of our time. Many governments worldwide and the scientific community seem to agree that climate change is primarily man-made. This is despite the fact that climate is a highly complex, non-linear, and chaotic system, and the predictions are all based on models whose accuracy is doubtful. Criticism of the climate crisis is viewed as denial or unscientific. Fear is being stirred up once again, rather than informed and debated, and once again the proposed solutions primarily involve centralism and global strategies, which could result in fewer freedoms for people and more control for governments. In my search for active scientists on this topic, I received many rejections due to the heated climate surrounding this issue. I continued searching and found the former professor of geological sciences at the University of Alabama, Dr. Matthew Wielicki. I spoke with him about global warming, human influence on it, the work of the World Climate Council, and what a scientific and realistic approach to the constantly changing climate might look like.
AGU Press Conference on Kidney Stone research
Earth Magazine quote about the formation conditions of Hadean zircon.
American Mineralogist: Journal of Earth and Planetary Science noted paper.
"On page 1348 of this issue, Harrison and Wielicki examine 4.4 Ga zircons that appear to have formed from nearly water-saturated conditions, at low temperatures of ca. 680C. But they also show that Tertiary age granites in the Himalaya, formed by under-thrusting of the Indian plate beneath Asia, yield similar temperatures (ca. 660C). Moreover, these granites share more than a thermal history – both the ancient and more recently formed zircons contain inclusions that yield similar pressures, or 5-15 kbar. Two aspects of these results are remarkable, and highly significant; the first is that if nothing else, the Hadean exhibited, at least locally and for a time, a modern-like continental geotherm, effectively equivalent to a Miocene case (at ca. 25C/km). Second, to the extent that P-T conditions are indicative, a similar tectonic setting for both systems is implied; and if the association holds, then active plate tectonics – including subduction – occurred from almost the inception of Earth’s history."
Links to media coverage of Goldschmidt 2014 presentation about a new age of the Popigai impact structure, Russia and the possible association to the Eocene-Oligocene mass extinction event.
Link to The Weather Channel episode: Secrets of the Earth - It Fell from Space featuring discussion with Dr. Matthew M. Wielicki
Link to me on The Space Cave Podcast with David Hunstberger talking planetary exploration over some nice Saison Ale
