Earth Has Experienced Rain for 2 Million Years

Planet Earth is still full of mysteries. The more we delve into its formation and composition, the more fascinated and surprised we become. One of the surprising episodes in Earth's history was the Carnian Pluvial period, during which it is believed that our planet received continuous rain for millions of years. Rain that falls non-stop for years always intrigues researchers. That period helped foster life on the so-called Blue Planet, and now scientists think they know why and how.

Endless Rain

During the Pangea period, which was around 200-300 million years ago, Earth was a large super continent consisting of all the land in the world. Our planet was a very different place at that time.

Scientists believe, at that time, there was a period when rain fell for about one to two million years. In the 1970s and 80s, geologists discovered unusual layers preserved in some ancient rocks dating back about 232 million years.

One team of researchers in the eastern Alps studied layers of siliclastic sedimentation preserved in carbonate formations, while another team in England analyzed layers of gray rock embedded in the region's famous red rocks.

These two findings, together with other research https://www.atrbpnkabserang.com/ from various parts of the world, show a similar conclusion, namely that there was a period when the Earth experienced a fairly long dry season, then it started to rain.

Geologists can conclude that at the beginning of the age of dinosaurs, there was an unusually wet period. This period became known as the Carnian Pluvial event, or Carnian Pluvial episode.

This interesting event in Earth's geological history requires a better understanding of why it took so long for rain to start falling.

Powerful Volcanic Eruption

Scientists now believe that the increase in humidity was caused by a significant spike in humidity levels, possibly triggered by a large volcanic eruption in the Wrangellia Great Igneous Province. Therefore, it rains for millions of years.

This event likely caused an increase in global temperatures, which then led to warming of the oceans and an increase in water content in the atmosphere. A study published in the Journal of the Geological Society suggests that wet periods were beneficial for dinosaurs.

As quoted from WIO News, this period of increased humidity allowed them to diversify, following a tumultuous era marked by frequent volcanic eruptions.

"After the extinction of major land plants and herbivores, dinosaurs appeared to be the main beneficiaries of this period of recovery," the researchers wrote.

Researchers claim to have discovered the brightest object ever observed in the universe. This finding involves distant space objects known as quasars.NASA describes this quasar as a very bright, distant and active supermassive black hole with a size of millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. The light produced by quasars outshines all stars and their jets and winds shape their galaxies.

A group of scientists led by researchers from Australia, identified the super-bright quasar by using The European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) super-large telescope located in Chile to collect most of the data. Some additional data was obtained from Australia's Siding Spring Observatory.

Quasars, which are about 12 billion light years from Earth, are thought to have existed since the beginning of the universe. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, about 9.5 trillion kilometers.

It is known that this object has been studied before. But scientists said in the past they misidentified the object, thinking it was a star. This newly identified quasar is so massive that its black hole is capable of swallowing at least one Sun per day.

In the latest report about this quasar published in Nature Astronomy with the title 'The Accretion of Solar Mass per Day by a 17-billion Solar Mass Black Hole'. The quasar only appears as a tiny dot in the image, but scientists say they imagine it to be a very powerful and active place.

The researchers also said the black hole is thought to have a circulating disk containing gas and other material from the swallowed star. The disk spun continuously like an intense and active storm.

On the other hand, he realized that apart from seeking difficult certainty, this research also provided a pleasant experience from this search.

"For a few minutes a day, I feel like a kid again, playing and hunting for treasure. And now, I carry everything I learned a long time ago," he continued.

ESO was the first to discover this bright object, known as J0529-4351, in 1980. At that time, the object was identified or classified as a star and more recently they have been identified as a quasar.

Recent observations and computer modeling show that the quasar takes in material in an amount equivalent to 370 Suns per year, or about one per day. Researchers say more observations are needed to fully understand the growth rate of the object.

Professor of astronomy and physics at the University of Yale, Priyamvada Natarajan, said this quasar is an interesting object. Because it is in front of the eyes but is misperceived.

"The interesting thing about this quasar is that it was hiding in plain sight and was previously misclassified as a star," said Natarajan.

Then, Christopher Onken, who is an astronomer from the same campus as Wolf, stated the mystery of this object even though it has been around for a long time. However, it still cannot be identified with certainty.

"It's surprising that it was still unknown until now, when we already know about a million less impressive quasars," he added.

Researchers claim discovering and studying distant supermassive black holes could help astronomers learn important details about the birth and early development of the universe. The researchers hope future research will focus on the history of quasars and measure their growth and development.

The research team notes that some of this data will be easier to collect once large telescopes receive instrument upgrades. The enhancement, known as Gravity+, is designed to provide faster measurements of the masses of distant black holes.