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Earth's Orbit Reshapes Sea Floor

Posted by samzenpus on from the shape-of-things dept.

sciencehabit writes "Earth's orbital variations—the wobbling and nodding of the planet on its rotational axis and the rhythmic elongation of the shape of its orbit—can affect the shape of the sea floor, according to new research. Scientists already knew that orbital variations, which are driven by gravitational interactions among solar system bodies, pace the comings and goings of the ice ages by shifting where sunlight falls on Earth. Now, researchers have shown in a computer model that those pressure variations should vary the amount of mantle rock that melts kilometers beneath midocean ridges. That, in turn, would vary the amount of ocean crust that solidifies from the melted rock, changing the thickness of new crust by as much as a kilometer as it slides down either side of a midocean ridge. And the group found that indeed, on the Juan de Fuca Ridge offshore of the Pacific Northwest, the ocean floor is grooved like a vinyl LP record in time with Earth's orbital variations of the past million years."

13 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. The big question is... by EvilSS · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How can I use this to continue to deny global warming is caused by man? Cable-news fed minds want to know!

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    I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    1. Re:The big question is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Assuming you don't mean Michelle, I am willing to bet that Obama won't win the election in 2016.

    2. Re:The big question is... by oodaloop · · Score: 2, Insightful

      On the one side is the overwhelming majority of the world's climate scientists (97% agree with anthropogenic climate change) who have repeatedly gone back and re-evaluated the data with the same conclusion, and on the other are people who want to keep consuming and polluting to their heart's delight with nary shred of scientific evidence to back up their claims that everything is hunky dory. Which side sounds more like a church again?

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      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    3. Re:The big question is... by Urkki · · Score: 2

      You can't, because it's PROOF of global warming, because everything is.

      Funny thing about real world natural science is, pretty much everything affects pretty much everything. So if AGW is really happening, then comparing against pretty much anything that has happened in Earth's history should be consistent with that. Past climate changes have had their causes, and assuming we have not missed remains of pre-human industrial civilization, these causes should be different than a civilization returning "fossil" carbon to atmosphere. On the other hand, current climate change should look like it is because of returning fossil carbon to atmosphere by us.

      Now, what does it look like to you?

    4. Re:The big question is... by arpad1 · · Score: 2

      I'm a bit unclear on how this scientific consensus works.

      What if the percentage of the world's climate scientists who agree with anthropogenic global warming were lower? Would they still be right? Say, if the percentage were 50%? Would that still establish anthropogenic global warming as scientifically valid?

      Where's the cut-off exactly?

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      Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
    5. Re:The big question is... by oodaloop · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A 50/50 split would give me pause for concern. I'd have to wonder if we really knew what what was going on. 50% on one side, with the remaining 50% split among 30 competing theories would be slightly better, but I'd still be cautious. An overwhelming majority (97% in this case) leads to me be believe that we're on the right track. I look at it this way. There's a right answer out there somewhere. Did 97% miss the mark, and some tiny minority actually figure it out? It's not that they all agree that makes it right, it's that there's so little argument over the big picture: we're contributing to climate change. Frankly, I don't see how we could cut down the number of trees we are and NOT affect the climate, just from that, but hey what do I know?

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      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    6. Re:The big question is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When in the hell will I actually see an on-topic comment?

    7. Re:The big question is... by CODiNE · · Score: 2

      It's like peeing in a pool. A few kids do it and nobody notices... but once EVERYBODY is doing it you'll want to stay out of that water.

      I guess the denialists have larger pools than most of us.

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      Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
  2. Story at 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The article is a little short on details. It's actually completely missing any details whatsoever. As far as we know this is nothing but wild speculation, it could just as easily be said that they are the result of an impact event or the remains of a giant alien LP record that got melted into the crust.

    1. Re:Story at 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      ... the remains of a giant alien LP record that got melted into the crust.

      Whatever you do, DO NOT PLAY IT BACKWARDS!

    2. Re:Story at 11 by cellocgw · · Score: 2

      it could just as easily be said that they are the result of an impact event or the remains of a giant alien LP record that got melted into the crust.

      There's no chance of that: aliens never bothered to go past 78s. However, we do know that the undulations are a part of the work of the Trafalmadorian robot on Titan, and had we been able to place a large-enough tonearm and stylus, we could have received his message without having to travel all the way to Titan.

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  3. Re:Misleading Headline by a_n_d_e_r_s · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Its a very sad state in the world that any article - even those who not even talk about global warmning - get dragged into that flame war by the deniers.

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    Just saying it like it are.
  4. 17 year pause by geoffrobinson · · Score: 2

    You take the 17 year pause in global warming and then you look at how many of those 97% of scientists predicted it, and then you come to the conclusion that maybe people don't know all the thousands of variables and calculations needed to be so certain. No need to consider orbital variations when you have actual data and predictions that didn't come true to work with.

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    Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.