Richard Cronin

The correlation between Ice Ages and extensive volcanism is well documented. The crust on land ranges from 25 to 70 km thick. The crust in the oceans ranges from 7 to 25 km thick and the ocean floor is cold and brittle. Driven by Tidal Pumping, faults, ridges, and submarine volcanism release geothermal heat into the oceans and boil up water to come down as snow across the north polar regions.

The equatorial regions were a vast cold desert, entirely impassible. It is thought that the population of Africa fell to 500 to 1000 souls, clustered along the African coast at the latitudes of Madagascar. Inbreeding gave rise to such maladies as sickle cell anemia.

Land bridges formed in several locations, connecting Antarctica, South America, and South Africa. Along the latitude of St. Helena island there is a string of sea mounts which had formed a land bridge.

A very curious point is the means of heat transfer. Solids can only conduct heat. Rock and clay warm but also serve as insulators. Liquids can both conduct and convect so liquid injection into ocean water can warm more readily. Gases can only convect.

As volcanism diminishes during a Warming Period, a greater portion of heat is transferred to the surface via conduction through the land masses of the Northern Hemisphere. Multiple papers have identified that the Medieval Warming period was principally observed across the North Atlantic (M. Mann et al). Iceland’s magma chambers extends beneath Svalbard island to the east and beneath Greenland to the west.

To date, the final word on the Earth’s internal heat is 47 TW +/- 2 TW claimed by Davies and Davies (Univ. of Cardiff 2010). They established this number by examining the temperature logs of approx. 38,000 wells. None were taken in Greenland nor Antarctica, very few at northern latitudes and barely any on continental shelves. Nothing in deeper ocean waters nor trenches even though these regions are most important. Further, they only considered broad estimates of radiogenic heat and the heat of thermal decompression. They only considered heat transfer through rock, via conduction only.

In July, 2018, L.B. Bezrukov et al published: "Geo-Neutrinos and the Earth’s Internal Heat Flux”

Using geoneutrino observations (antineutrinos from radioactive decay) Bezrukov calculated the Earth’s internal heat at 304 to 420 TW. These values are most certainly low. No one has even considered the heat contribution from myriad geochemical reactions nor the Ohmic heating due to the interaction/distortion of the Earth’s magnetic field with the magnetic field of the Sun plus the solar wind.

Most important, Bezrukov identified that the Earth is not solid, impervious rock. Rather, the Earth is fractured throughout with micropassages venting gases and liquids into any opening and certainly through volcanic activity and crustal fissures.

Given these considerations, estimates of the Earth’s internal heat are greatly understated.

Geo-Neutrinos and the Earth’s Internal Heat Flux - Physics of Particles and Nuclei
link.springer.com

Tim adds:
I do have a question about this statement though:

"Multiple papers have identified that the Medieval Warming period was principally observed across the North Atlantic (M. Mann et al)."

Is that necessarily correct?

I am sure a lot of papers, especially by Mann who has always sought to deligitimize the MWP, say this. But there is a lot of research that says it was a worldwide phenomenon too.

For instance a 1979 study from the University of Waikato found clear evidence of warming in New Zealand. https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/24

There is also considerable evidence of warming in China https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01092419,and in the Andes in South America. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618218308322

There is anecdotal evidence too, based on the movement of peoples and the rise and fall of civilizations. One could ask why the Mongols suddenly exploded out of Central Asia as they did. It seems likely to me they had enough food to supprt a large army and thus were able to feed Genghis Khan's horde. Another historical example would be the Mound Builder culture of North America. Cahokia - their capital city - flourished between 1000 and was abandoned around 1450. At it's peak it had a higher population then did London at the time - over 20,000 people around 1150 a.d. (In 1085 London had between 10,000 and 15,000 inhabitants.) Cahokia's rise and fall clearly correlates with the MWP. Cahokia in in southern Illinois on the Mississippi river.

Also, the Polynesians settled the eastern portions of the Pacific around the year 1000. Tahiti, Nuka Hiva, the Cook Islands, etc. were all settled during the MWP, which suggests conditions were ripe for the Polynesians to be confident that they could establish adequate food supplies for colonies.

I suspect the MWP was most prominent in the Atlantic but it was a universal phenomenon.

Anyway, my 2p.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 12:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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