Earth Can Be Brutal We know the earth is very dynamic and after millions of years the chance of a structure existing is almost zero. Knowing this it makes me wonder how so many dinosaur footprints are still around? When radioactive waste, which can stay radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years was going to be stored in one of the deeper salt mines, it was discovered even there, the dynamics of the earth were making it too dangerous to put the stuff in this particular mine. So, why is it some incredibly strong structures like the great pyramid have a limit on their endurance. Actually, even the Great Pyramid is eroding. It has been estimated to be losing 0.1 centimeter per decade. Only constant maintenance can keep it and even then, maybe a strong earthquake or meteor strike could collapse it. Did you ever notice sometimes ancient post holes are found which seem to indicate there was a structure at that area at one time. There were probably ancient wooden structures which went back in time even further than we thought, but the evidence of their one-time existence has disappeared a long time ago. I have the opinion there might have been other older incredible structures like the Great Pyramid because the earth has been around so long and some people and scientists think there is a chance it could be far older than the prediction of 4.5 billion years which is usually adhered to. There even could have been non-human races here at one time which disappeared for various reasons. The earth doesn’t like the idea that something might be able to last forever on it and from day one starts to destroy things which are on it or in it. There is nowhere on earth that I know about where erosion isn’t out to get our structures. Even we, are on a timeclock. I think we all realize there are materials which resist erosion much better than others, but even they will not last forever. There are those who think a structure made of diamonds would be indestructible, but there is no way to actually test this theory. Many scientists believe diamonds come from the explosion of supernova. Diamonds are no longer the strongest material. Some stronger ones are lonsdaleite, carbon nanotubes, graphene and a couple of others. Maybe someday a structure will be built from carbon nanotubes and have a life expectancy longer than that of the earth, but you can bet the earth will be trying to destroy it even if it doesn’t succeed. Sometimes things get preserved well beyond their expected time limit expectancy. This happens when other factors come into play that interfere with the earth’s relentless march towards destruction. One of those factors is extreme cold and ice. This has become very obvious over the years with the discovery of frozen animals which died many thousands of years ago or even longer. A great example is the discovery of Woolly Mammoths. There is an almost unbelievable estimate of the number found in Siberia since 1808 and that number is 25,000. I am betting this number is an over estimation, but suffice to say they found a lot of them preserved. Ice is an incredible preservation mechanism. Would you have believed the remains of plants and trees could be preserved in ice for over 90 million years? I wouldn’t have, but that was what happened when an ancient forest was discovered in Antarctica. The remains were there so long they were fossilized. To be exact it was mostly pollen, spores and roots which were found, but this does make one wonder if someday proof could be found of ancient buildings there which would change the entire history of earth. We have found evidence that other humanoids lived here and most scientists think this was because of evolution, but not everyone. Would it be so outrageous to think we could find even older races which might have been advanced and vanished for some reason? The melting of glaciers has revealed many treasures. These things would never have lasted in the open air. An old shoe was found from the Middle Ages. These old shoes had no right or left, both were the same and the one found was more like a moccasin. What was left of a bow and later an arrow or two were found. Clothing was found as were some tools. In Norway a 10,000-year-old dart, for a spear-thrower was found. Even prehistoric skis were found. One of the most famous discoveries was of a human being which was named Otzi. When people walking came upon him, they thought he was a murdered person and went to the authorities. Little did they suspect they had bound the remains of a man from the Copper Age. Not only did that make this an exciting discovery, but he had objects with him. He was carrying a copper axe, bow and other objects. A copper axe in those days must have been a luxury item. It was determined he died about 5,300 years ago. It does seem however he was a murder victim because he had an arrow wound which was fatal. Not all heavenly bodies destroy objects on them as rapidly as earth, but others would do it even faster. Take the moon for example. It is suspected the footprints of the astronauts who walked on the moon will last for millions of years. There is a caveat to this. The moon does experience Moonquakes. They are said to last longer than those on earth, but are generally weaker. There is no weather to erode them. It is thought that this might also be true for Mars. I don’t fully agree since we have proof Dust Devils sometimes blow across Mars. The events are rare however. Mars has also been known to have experienced Mars quakes. As a matter of fact, on 4 May 2022, a magnitude 5 quake was registered on the InSight lander seismometer. The types of objects we find the most of on an individual bases have to be ancient coins. Since there were no banks in ancient times, people would pick a hiding place to store their money and sometimes they never came back for it for various reasons. They might have died, or even forgot where they put their coins. There are still many people with metal detectors out there scanning away and finding treasures, but some countries have laws where they have to turn in their findings for a reward, which in no way matches the value of what they found.
|
