Pale Blue Dot

Category: Plants

Here’s What did Ancient Earth Look Like

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date April 5, 2018
No Comments on Here’s What did Ancient Earth Look Like

Ancient Earth (280 million years ago). Permian period. The concept of the Permian was introduced in 1841 by geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, who named it after the Russian city of Perm. The Permian witnessed the diversification of the early amniotes into the ancestral groups of the mammals, turtles, lepidosaurs, and archosaurs. The world at the time was dominated by two continents known as Pangaea and Siberia, surrounded by a global ocean called Panthalassa. The Carboniferous rainforest collapse left behind vast regions of desert within the continental interior. Amniotes, who could better cope with these drier conditions, rose to dominance in place of their amphibian ancestors. Extreme conditions such as polar ice caps and deserts limited the extent of plant life, but amphibious tetrapods and reptiles diversified where plants grew. Oceans teemed with fish and invertebrate life.

I stumbled upon an amazing web page showing what did ancient Earth look like. On the “Dinosaur Pictures and Facts” web page (dinosaurpictures.org), there’s also an interactive animation. On this page, you can either select the years (i.e. 600 million years ago) or jump to a particular event (i.e. first multicellular life) and see how ancient Earth did look like then. You can also remove the clouds and stop the Earth’s rotation if you want to.

Climate Life on Earth Places Plants

Iceland is growing new forests for the first time in 1,000 years

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date April 3, 2018
No Comments on Iceland is growing new forests for the first time in 1,000 years

Screenshot: Iceland growing forests — Iceland was extensively forested when it was first settled. When the Vikings first arrived in the 9th century, the Nordic island was covered in 25 to 40 percent forest, compared to 1% in the present day. In the late 12th century, Ari the Wise (Ari Thorgilsson, 1067–1148 AD), Iceland’s most prominent medieval chronicler, described it in the Íslendingabók (Book of Icelanders^{Notes 1}) as *“forested from mountain to sea shore”*. Unfortunately, after the permanent human settlement, the forests were heavily exploited for firewood, timber and to make room for farming. Within a few centuries, almost all of Iceland’s trees were gone. This rapid deforestation has resulted in massive soil erosion that puts the island at risk for desertification. Today, many farms have been abandoned. Three-quarters of Iceland’s 100,000 km²is affected by soil erosion, 18,000 km² (6,900 sq mi) serious enough to make the land useless. But,, with the help of forestry societies and forest farmers, Iceland's trees are slowly beginning to make a comeback.

Iceland was extensively forested when it was first settled. When the Vikings first arrived in the 9th century, the Nordic island was covered in 25 to 40 percent forest, compared to 1% in the present day. In the late 12th century, Ari the Wise (Ari Thorgilsson, 1067-1148 AD), Iceland’s most prominent medieval chronicler, described it in the Íslendingabók (Book of Icelanders (see notes 1) as “forested from mountain to seashore”.