Spud, Better evidence is that the little ice age was caused by solar variations esp the Maunder minimum. It lasted too long to be attributed to volcanos I would think. However volcanos and smaller asteroid impacts do certainly cause temporary temperature dips lasting for periods of a few years to perhaps a decade and these can initiate profound social changes. There is fairly good evidence that the dark ages were partially initiated by an eruption c. 535 AD. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_weather_events_of_535–536
Edgar On Saturday, March 22, 2014 10:08:24 AM UTC-4, spudb...@aol.com wrote: > > What is your view on the Little Ice Age being caused by Pacific Rim > volcano's? Incidentally, erruptions have been proposed as the initiators of > the environments suitable for generating plagues, in the 6th century and > again, at the beginning of the 13th century. It gets colder so marmots and > rats dig tunnels and are in closer contact, and thus, easier to spread > bacilli that are bubonic, pneumonic, etc? > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Edgar L. Owen <edga...@att.net <javascript:>> > To: everything-list <everyth...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>> > Sent: Sat, Mar 22, 2014 7:40 am > Subject: Re: The situation at Fukushima appears to be deteriorating > > Richard, > > Here's is new research into one possible contributor to ice ages. Edgar > > Airborne Iron May Have Helped Cause Past Ice Ages > 20 March 2014 2:00 pm > [image: Life from dust. Iron-rich dust streaming from Patagonian > deserts (red plume at left side of image) fertilizes nutrient-poor southern > oceans, thereby pulling planet-warming carbon dioxide from the > atmosphere.]*NASA/Goddard > Space Flight Center, William M. Putman and Arlindo M. da Silva* > *Life from dust.* Iron-rich dust streaming from Patagonian deserts (red > plume at left side of image) fertilizes nutrient-poor southern oceans, > thereby pulling planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. > It seems straightforward: Iron-rich dust floating on the wind falls > into the sea, where it nourishes organisms that suck carbon dioxide from > the air. Over time, so much of this greenhouse gas disappears from the > atmosphere that the planet begins to cool. Scientists have proposed that > such a process contributed to past ice ages, but they haven’t had strong > evidence—until now. > “This is a really good paper, a big step forward in the field,” says > Edward Boyle, a marine geochemist at the Massachusetts Institute of > Technology in Cambridge. The research doesn’t directly measure the amount > of dissolved iron in the waters due to dust in previous eras, Boyle says, > but “they provide a much better case for what [nitrogen levels] have done > in the past”—information that can reveal the ebb and flow of ancient life. > The notion that iron-rich dust could boost the growth of microorganisms > that pull carbon dioxide from the air took hold in the late 1980s. During > ice ages, when sea levels are low and broad areas of now-submerged coastal > shallows are exposed, sediments rich in iron and other nutrients would dry > out, the thinking went. Then > ... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
