Arctic Redwood Fossil Wood Provides a Water Signature Clue into Earth's Ancient Climate & Hydrological Cycle

Image - Stephen C. Quinn

"This diorama depicts a scene above the arctic circle at what today is Ellesmere Island as it appeared 50 million years ago during a point in the earths history known as the 'Thermal Maximum'. At this point in time the earth's average global temperature was an estimated 85 degrees Fahrenheit and Arctic regions were covered with seasonal swamp forest. The forest is dominated by Glyptostobus trees that are similar to today's Bald Cypress, and other plants associated with swampy habitats such as lotus, salvinia, and azola. The animals featured in the diorama are the large hippo-like ungulate, Coryphodon, the basal carnivore, Vulpavus, and an ancient arctic tapir. Also, painted in the background painting is Agnathosuchus, an ancient crocodilian and an ancient species of turtle, both indicators of a warm arctic ecosystem where, though the environment fell into dark winter months, temperatures never dropped below freezing, thus providing for the survival of reptiles and crocs." - Stephen C. Quinn

Well there is no doubt that the planet earth was at one time was an entirely different place than what and how we experience it now. Vegetation and Animals (numerous differing ecosystems) existed from Pole to Pole in an ice-free climate environment. Much of that had to do with the way the atmosphere was physically structured and put together. Science has confirmed this through oxygen isotope studies conducted on real mummified wood of ancient Redwood Trees found as glaciers and ice caps have melted during this present global warming event and revealed their treasure trove of information of the ancient past. My own personal fascination with the ancient past started with how the ancient biblical hydrological cycle must have operated on an early Earth. There are so many myths out there as to the meaning of the Genesis creation account. It will be best to dispell most of these myths first before getting into the meat of the discussion.

What Were the Springs of the Watery Deep referenced in Genesis ???

Photo by Patrick Rioux - (11-29-2006 - Iceland)

The very first question that needs to be honestly asked is, how can we harmonize Genesis 1:11-13 where it mentions the earth’s bringing forth vegetation on the third creative day with the information later contained in the next chapter Genesis 2:5, 6, which the New World Translation renders as follows: 

11 "Then God said: “Let the earth cause grass to sprout, seed-bearing plants and fruit trees according to their kinds, yielding fruit along with seed on the earth.” And it was so. 12  And the earth began to produce grass, seed-bearing plantsn and trees yielding fruit along with seed, according to their kinds. Then God saw that it was good. 13  And there was evening and there was morning, a third day." Genesis 1:11-13

5 "No bush of the field was yet on the earth and no vegetation of the field had begun sprouting, because Jehovah God had not made it rain on the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 5  But a mist would go up from the earth, and it watered the entire surface of the ground." Genesis 2:5,6

Now I have to ask myself, "Am I what is called a Creationist ???" 😏  The short answer is an emphatic No, absolutely not! I do believe that God created everything. But I do not agree with the Creationism movement. Why not? Because a number of creationist ideas actually conflict with the Bible. One major myth that has to be addressed is were the six days of creation literal days of 24 hours ??? Again, the short answer is absolutely not. In the Bible, the word “day” can refer to various lengths of time, depending on the context. For example, one portion of the account describes the entire creative period (six days total) as one day.  -  Genesis 2:4. I'll address it further below.

Genesis Outline: How the creative period or epochs line up & what appears in chronological order

• Verses (1 & 2) Creation of heavens and earth - This is not a reference to a creative day but allows for the materials and formation to be perhaps billions of years in age, no exact time period given.
• Verses (3- to 31) This era of creative periods begins with the Six days (epochs or events) of preparing the earth with various stages for life to exist and succeed.

1. Day 1: In verse two the earth is a blank canvas described as waste and formless & light begins to appear on the surface through the dense cloud layers for the first time; Hence the Earth's set time period for rotation cause day and night to appear (3-5)
2. Day 2: In Verses (6-8) the atmosphere was created by a separation of the surface waters and those which rose high up in the upper atmosphere. This section names this expanse the heavens, which ultimately means here as sky. Same sky birds would later fly in.
3. Day 3: Verses (9-13) So now dry land appears from below either by volcanoes, tectonic plate uplift in the creation of large massive land mass or super-continents which gradually pull apart and towards the end there are other events which overlap in the epoch where vegetation makes it's first appearance on the dry land. No mention of things like microbes, bacteria diatoms, algae etc. But clearly they would have appeared first in preparation for larger vegetation. Remember, this description of events were first given to a people of little technological scientific understanding as we know things now.
4. Day 4: Verses (14-19) The heavenly Luminaries (Sun, Stars, Moon, Galaxies, ets) finally make their appearance and can finally be seen from the Earth surface below. Apparently the heavy water canopy well high up above the Earth has become transparent enough to allow these various sources of light to be seen from below. The Hebrew language has two different words for light, in verse two of Genesis the Hebrew word,'ohr', is the word for light in the general sense. Much like on a cloudy day you cannot see the sun, but you might describe the sky as being light out, like when it becomes bright in the morning before sun rise. In verse 14 of Genesis, the Hebrew word, ma·’ohrʹ, is used to point out that the sources of that light can now be seen from the surface. Bible critics have long mocked the Genesis account insisting plants were created before there was ever sun, moon or stars. But they generally refuse to research the actual words used.
5.  Day 5: Verses (20-23) fish along with other sea and most likely freshwater creature and organisms are created and birds (penquins, Ostriches, etc) along with perhaps winged insects, etc are created to fly within Earth's atmosphere.
6. Day 6: Verses (24-31)  land animals and humans finally make an appearance on Earth. Again, keep in mind there is really no time period given and the terms at the conclusion of each epoch or creative event simply mean a summary of the beginning and conclusion of the time frame which took place.
   
   So exactly how long is a Genesis “Day” ??? 

Most all of Christendom's Churches, including Islam consider the biblical Genesis word “day” used in Genesis chapter 1 to mean a literal 24 hour day. However, in Genesis 1:5 God himself is said to divide day into a smaller period of time, calling just the light portion “day.” And then if we jump forward to Genesis 2:4 all the creative 6 day periods are collectively together referred to as just one “day”. Here's what Genesis 2:4 actually says in Young's Literal Translation - The same is stated in the American Standard Version & King James Version:

 Genesis 2:4 "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven."

Clearly we are not talking about a literal 24 hour day period of time here. The Hebrew word 'yohm', translated “day,” can mean different lengths of time. We do the same thing in English when we refer to say, Abraham Lincoln's day or your own Grandfather's day. Time and space are meaningless to a invisible spirit creature like the biblical God Jehovah who the bible describes as having no beginning and no end and lives in an entirely different dimension than our physical universe which the bible calls the "spirit realm." Mind boggling and impossible to even remotely try to explain or comprehend, let alone imagine. But clearly, he created time and space for humans. Other biblical texts also explain that God's view of a day is totally different from the viewpoint of humans. Take special note of what Psalms 90:4 & 2 Peter 3:8 (use your favourite translation if you like) where a thousand years are likened to a day and a day to a thousand years from God's viewpoint. Again even the 1000 years here should not be taken literal, it's merely illustrative. Still, we have to ask what is time to an always living eternal God ??? It's anything he wishes time to be to accomplish something.

Now there's another interesting point where the command Almighty God gave the first man Adam a command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad. The fruit of that tree was not poisonous, but it did represent mankind's acknowledgement of Jehovah God as the true universal sovereign. Eating from that tree would represent man's choice of independence and rejection of God's rule. He was told that upon disobedience of this rule, he would die on that day. But did Adam really literally die that day ??? No, but now remember back on the biblical reference to 'day' mentioned in Psalm 90:4 & 2 Peter 3:8 which states that a 1000 years is as a day to Jehovah. If we view the day here literally, then technically Adam did die on that day since the book of Genesis says Adam lived on for 930 years and died. Interesting, but still, Almighty God cannot be confined to even within a 1000 year time frame, but does allow various definitions of time for certain circumstances when dealing with humans. Just an interesting side point.

The biblical "Judgement Day" even takes a period of many years. Some biblical texts refer to "Harvest Day" which again refers to several years. So the creative periods, referred to in Genesis chapter 1 as day, well point to a period of many many millenniums if not 10s of thousands of years. Each day, event or epoch also may have had it's own varying lengthy periods with more or less years. We really just do not know and ultimately it does not matter. Even the very first verse in the bible says, "In the begining, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) This is not speaking of life being created, but rather it is making a statement that the actual universe, galaxies, solar systems, earth, moon etc were already in existence before Genesis describes the 6 creative periods. This allows for all the material elements which make up these physical components of the entire Universe to have existed for millions or billions of years. Scientists on the other hand insist on something they call 'Deep Time' which can be millions or billions of years. In evolutionary theory timeline the Scientists understandably need all the deep time they can get for their mysterious forces of dumb luck and blind undirected forces of physics acting upon numerous chemical cocktails to get just one simple single celled organism to become a self-aware lifeform and an already complex lifeform at that. The reality is Science itself cannot even accurately tell us the answer the same question of how long when it comes to any timeline, but Science can tell us how long the events did not take and we know for a fact that a 24 hour day timeframe does not line up with the evidence and facts. Most churches however do not like hearing this and yet the reality is that known science does not conflict whatsoever with belief in their God. Here is a great simplified explanation to the above just released at JW.ORG. It's a simple article with audio:

When Did God Begin to Create the Universe? 

The Untold Story of Creation

Okay, back to the original subject.

Springs of the Watery Deep & the rise of mist or vapor from the Earth itself

To me it would be completely logical and natural for such a simplified hydrological cycle (mere mist operating under rules of capillary action through the pores of the soil) to exist at the very beginning of development of life on Earth. Common sense would dictate and demand a more calm setting for life to grab a foothold as opposed to the modern presence of storms systems with torrential downpours as demanded by those insisting on a harsh unloving environment. Such a barbaric earth with violent storms with downpouring rains accompanied by lightning and thunder would continually be washing away the bare soil & rocks not allowing any pre-existing microbial lifeforms to grab a foothold on dry land. These tiny organisms would already be complete complex functional lifeforms working under the authority of the DNA they were programmed with. Gradually mosses, lichens, fungi and other organisms which can prepare and breakdown sterile mineral geology would turn such ground into viable healthy rich soil which would provide a more habitable environment for plants to thrive. Scientists know that large mature forests, shrublands and prairies all create volatile organic chemical aerosol compunds from which water vapor can use as nuclei for cloud formation. Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) are aerosols that act as the initial sites for condensation of water vapor forming into cloud droplets or cloud ice particles. Virtually all cloud droplets or ice particles originate around some sort condensation nuclei which tend to "attract" water. Genesis makes no mention whatsoever of the microbial life, nor things we now know like the informational content of DNA, etc. Again, the lack of mention is only logical since this was not the bible's purpose for being written. Logically the first humans would have found such info to be impossible to grasp and understand. Many of the world's religions and their supporters who claim to be Christian mistakenly spend too much time and resources debating this subject with various secular elements, when they should be speaking about the main Biblical message about God's Kingdom. The simple people of ancient times, even the so-called wise men of the times could never have comprehend such invisible to the naked eye the complex things as we know them today. The real discussion should surround the terrible choice the first human couple made in choosing Democracy (Rule by People) over Theocracy (Rule by God). But this is another discussion.

Image by Bernt Rostad/Flickr CC by 2.0

But just when you feel you've come to some correct conclusions about what and how the biblical reference of mist coming up from the earth & springs of the watery deep as part of a hydrological cycle used at the as a mechanism for started out and gradually developing something like more common storm systems and hydrological cycles we all are familiar with today, other scientific research and findings come along to throw a wrench in the works. Take the Arctic Fossils forests I referrenced at the beginning which are now being revealed thanks to global warming. Yes, as the glaciers and ice caps melt away, they reveal hidden treasures which speak volumes. To be honest, these relics are not fossils in the true mineral sense, but actually well preserved mummified specimens of wood from an ancient past. Now the really interesting thing about this is that scientists have taken samples decades ago of this wood to investigate the origins of what kind of water chemical signature hydrated these ancient trees, which provides further clues about climatic conditions of the ancient past which allowed for such heavily forested and animal rich ecosystems to thrive in the Arctic in the first place.

Images - A. Hope Jahren, Leonel da Silveira, Lobo Sternberg

Discovery of such relic fossil mummified Metasequoia redwood and the opportunity to do Oxygen Isotope studies to determine ancient global climate from the past is an exciting one. So what secrets were revealed ??? 😏

Image - University of Michigan

The research team looked at two Oxygen Isotopes, O-18 & O-16. This O-18 is the heavier isotope which is less abundant and the more abundant isotope O-16. Both of these appear in storm clouds when water evaporates off the face of oceans into cloud formation where storms are created, move over land masses like continents and dump their contents as rainfall. Interestingly, all vegetation today contains both O-18 & O-16 isotopes. But guess what, this apparently has not always been the case. Take a look now and read the article below that I've reposted from National Geographic about the mystery findings this research team discovered. 😲

Image by William Hagopian/JHU

National Geographic Today March 26, 2002

"Arctic Redwood Fossils Are Clues to Ancient Climates" 

"Axel Heiberg Island, at 82 degrees north and just a stone's throw from the North Pole, was once a great vacation spot—during the Eocene epoch, about 45 million years ago. Lush redwood forests, ferns, flowering plants, and a huge variety of animals, now extinct, once thrived here. Hope Jahren, a geobiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, is using wood fossils from Axel Heiberg to discover prehistoric weather patterns that enabled this now bleak, cold, and dry desert to support such a rich array of life. 

"I've always been enraptured with the idea that the Earth can change so dramatically," said Jahren "The Earth today is very different compared to how it was millions of years ago." 

During the Eocene epoch, Axel Heiberg and much of northern Siberia and Alaska were covered in temperate forests with redwood-like trees called Metasequoias, similar to those now seen in Northern California. 

The trees were between 30 and 40 meters tall (98 and 131 feet) and densely packed, providing a canopy for a plethora of ferns and flowers, said Jahren. The largest tree found had a diameter of three meters (ten feet). What remains of these ancient redwoods today is "rather extraordinary," said Jahren. 

"These trees look like driftwood on the beach—they are dry and flaky, with almost no other alterations," said Jahren. Unlike these trees, ancient forests often become petrified through the steady infiltration of minerals over many years, which eventually replaces the wood tissue with stone. 

Chemical Record

Because the wood is unadulterated, the tissues hold a chemical record of weather patterns during the period the tree lived. Jahren studies carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen because these elements are taken from the soil, water, and air and incorporated into the tissue of plants and animals. 

Jahren and her colleague Leonel Silveira Lobo Sternberg of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, are examining chemically different forms, or isotopes, of oxygen in these ancient redwoods to reveal weather patterns during the Eocene period. 

Oxygen that a plant uses, said Jahren, comes primarily from water. Determining the chemistry of that water could reveal exactly where it came from. Rain that arrives after traveling long distances over land has a very different chemical signature than rain that travels over the ocean or just very short distances, she explained. 

The researchers' analysis of the oxygen content of the wood revealed "a bizarre absence of oxygen-18, the heavy isotope," said Jahren. Water contains both oxygen 16—the more common and lighter isotope—and the more rare oxygen 18. The analysis suggests that the water contained almost exclusively oxygen 16. 

The study appeared a recent issue of GSA Today, a publication of the Geological Society of America. 

One way to get water with these characteristics, said Jahren, is for that water to have traveled large distances over land. As water travels over land, she explained, the heavier oxygen is removed as it rains. 

The only route allowing moisture laden air to travel thousands of kilometers over land before reaching Axel Heiberg would be across North America, possibly from the Gulf of Mexico, said Jahren. "This idea is compelling because it would supply water rich in oxygen 16 and supply warm air to this very northern region"—warm enough to nurture a forest. 

Different Weather Patterns

Jahren finds this model of water transport intriguing "because this weather pattern is radically different from today." Current weather systems over North America tend to travel from west to east. In the Eocene epoch, a much warmer period when the poles were free of ice, weather systems could shift from south to north, said Jahren. 

But there is another possible interpretation of Jahren's findings, cautioned Scott Wing, a paleontologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. 

"Water from snowfall also contains low quantities of oxygen 18, thus matching the water profile from the wood," he said. He suggested the possibility that snow, formed over the then ice-free Arctic Ocean, may have supplied the island with water. This would indicate that the northern regions were actually much colder than Jahren suggests. 

"Isotope levels are very difficult to interpret, and there are lots of questions remaining," Wing said. 

If Axel Heiberg were actually colder, it would imply that animals such as alligators, which were known to live at these latitudes, as well as plants must have been tolerant of the cold.  Whether Axel Heiberg actually received waters originating from equatorial regions is "still up for debate," said Wing. 

But there are other questions left to answer. "These forests had four months of daylight and four months of complete darkness. Finding trees that could survive under these conditions is as flabbergasting as finding humans that live underwater," said Jahren. 

Uncovering ancient weather patterns provides greater understanding of how ecosystems work, opening a window into the Earth's capabilities. It also offers new ideas about the kind of conditions that plants and animals might be able to survive in. 

Archived: Bijal P. Trivedi

National Geographic Today

March 26, 2002

Conclusion ???

In other research work I've read by Hope Jahren and her co-researcher, Leonel Silveira Lobo Starnberg, they (and other researchers) have suggested that the wintertime temps never went below 14 Celsius (57.2 Fahrenheit) and humidity levels would have been somewhere in the middle of between today's highest levels in the tropics to lower levels in more mild Mediterranean climates. They also suggest that this humidity level of 40% to 60% in the Arctic (today Arctic humidity is like any desert) would have stretched all the way up into the upper atmospheric levels of the Earth and been present in Stratospheric clouds which would have explained the insulation factor of the Arctic in winter months and not allowing any freezing even during the long 3 month dark winter months. On that point of dark winters in the Arctic, I have my own theory of sorts. Let's go back to Genesis 1:6-8:

"Then God said: “Let there be an expanse between the waters, and let there be a division between the waters and the waters. Then God went on to make the expanse and divided the waters beneath the expanse from the waters above the expanse. And it was so. God called the expanse Heaven."

Image - Harvey Windows

Again, this separation mentioned between the waters would have been the sea below and a cloud-like dense vapor layer in the upper high atmosphere which no longer exists now. In between would have been what the bible calls, "Heaven" or as a literal translation says, "Sky." Eventually this upper atmospheric cloud layer thinned enough around the time of the mention of the 4rd Day where mention is made of the Sun, Moon, Stars, etc finally becoming visible by what was described as happening during the 4th Day. To get a better perspective on what benefits could have been derived by such a sophisticated complex atmospheric structure. The illustration on the right is of a dual pane window where the center vacuum space is filled with Argon gas. But the glass itself is of a special formula where minute traces of gold have bbeen mix in to block the ultraviolet (UV) rays from entering. This prevents harsh over heating of objects direct sunlight may hit and heat up. The present climate change or global warming situation shhows what happens when the misuse and abuse of Science dismantles or reverse engineers the present atmosphere to the poor condition it is today. Another point of note should be with such an atmosphere, the carbon dating would not be the same.  Interestingly on the 3rd Day it was said that dry land developed and appeared above the seas and plant ecosystems began to develop during this cloudy sky period, which actually makes sense that various forms of plant emergence, establishment and eventual development of different plant community ecosystems around the globe would have gradually over time progressed over 1000s of years. From Microbes to Metsequoias this would have taken some time before the appearance of fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and animals. These days also overlap one another in the reading. Still, the how is never once described or mentioned, only what in order of appearance. The idea of a cloud layer for protection is nothing new in plant establishment. Many plants when emerging as young seedlings need shade before facing the full force of harsh elements like the sun etc. In nature mature shrubs we call nurse plants provide the same service. Industrial Agriculture also uses shade houses in hot climate environments and the plants thrive in filtered light. Look at this video of how a Palo Verde tree in the Sonoran Desert is the best chance for life a Saguaro has.

As a side note, about 1000+ years ago there was a massive catastrophic event in Mexico with one of it's many volcanoes which spewed millions of tonnes of ash and particles into the upper stratosphere, created some type of an ash-cloud combo which kooled the atmosphere globally and allowed Saguaros to thrise and expand their range throughout Arizona and Mexico. Here is the link: Distant Volcano eruptions help Saguaro Nursery baby booms ?  But let's get back to the Arctic and those Stratospheric Clouds and a possible explanation for the existence of light during winter in an ancient climate, which no longer exists today. Take a look at the graphic below.

Sunset Diagram. Image: Stephen F. Corfidi

As puzzled as those Artic exploring Scientists are about how plants in the Eocene Arctic could have survived three months of complete darkness, I don't believe it was completely dark. Here's why! So here's my purely speculative take on how the atmosphere may have been structured. Take note of a special weather phenomena seen in summer time known as a reflective cloud phenomena we call Afterglow. You may have experience this but may not have known what it was or how it happens. Take the illustration above. I've seen this rare event many times when I lived in the mountains above Palm Springs in the San Jacinto Mountains. During the summer monsoonal thunderstorms, great 40,000' high clouds reach into the upper atmosphere eventually spreading like an anvil cloud moisture up into the higher stratosphere creating a massive arrangement of high stratospheric cloud layers. The sun during summer sets, but often a couple hours later the skies suddenly and unexpectedly turn a bright yellow-orange up in the sky with the brightness brighter than in daytime. It of course only lasts a short while and fades. But in the ancient biblical past this water vapor canopy was stationary around the entire sphere of the Earth's atmosphere. Perhaps as high as the ionosphere. At 2 Peter 3:5-6, Peter describes the physical components which existed regarding earth's climate structure just before the flood of Noah's day.

"For they deliberately ignore this fact, that long ago there were heavens and an earth standing firmly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God; and that by those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was flooded with water."

Note here that Peter mentions three things that were involved in that deluge: (1) “heavens in ancient times,” (2) “an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water,” and (3) “the world of that time.” Were all destroyed, or what was? Well, the earth was certainly not destroyed. It is still “standing compactly out of water” to this day. However, it is not standing “in the midst of water.” How is that? Because the water in the midst of which the Earth then stood was deluged down upon it from the heavens, but not from clouds. Up until Noah’s six hundredth year of life the “heavens in ancient times” were different in their structural make up or had a feature different from what the heavens or outer space have now. They had a water vapor ring high in suspension above the earth and containing billions of tons of water. I guess my point is, could the sun's rays have reflected off this water vapor canopy at both poles and kept a measure of light present for life (plant & animal) to actually thrive during these winter months, providing reflected light back at the Earth's poles, even though the sun was not visible as it is during polar summers ??? Now with the equatorial afterglow light, this intense reflection lasts only a short time, but in the Poles, the sun could reflect at a different angle which would have longer effect. It's just speculation of course, but bare with me. Look at the illustration below. Humans already use the ionosphere to bounce radio signals off this atmosphere and direct them to the other side of the globe. If this ionosphere had a differing chemical and water vapor make up, could not sunlight also be reflected onto an otherwise darken part of the poles ??? Who knows ???

Image - GCSE Sciences

I'm going to stop here for the moment, but there is so much more to know. My wife tells me I write too long and I suppose this is true given we live in a time of short attention spans made worse through Social Media sites. I've written two previous articles some years back about a true Desert Island in the South Atlantic called, Ascension Island. It's owned by the British and when first discovered there were absolutely no trees or shrubs, only small plants and very few of those. Mainly mosses, lichens and ferns. It's an ancient volcanic island and mostly geology. Iy had no water, so the British Navy shipped barrels of water in to their marine outpost. But that was over 100+ years ago a British Botanist believe establishing plants would bring moisture and storms to the island. Sure enough today the island has streams, ponds and forest on top of the volcano. All the plants of course are non-native, but they actually work well together. The moisture believe it or not started out as a mist in clouds and has grown into small rainfall at times. So I've written back to back posts on the subject.

Climate Change and "Ascension Island"

Ascension Island's Green Mountain Cloud Forest Created by Mist ?

 Reading References 

https://phys.org/news/2013-02-scientists-densest-artificial-ionospheric-plasma.html