The Science behind the Zone of Fire

[Yiuel Raumbesrairc]

This is not a question thread, I think that there already has been a thread questionning this climatic or geologic anomaly.

But, I have found something very interesting.

[quote=]Many researchers, but not a real consensus, believe that sea temperatures near the equator may have become a bit too warm by the Aptian-Albian,[mid-Cretaceous], perhaps actually incompatible with ocean life. In addition, some data suggest that land areas near the equator were not jungle- or forest-covered, that plant diversity was low, and that these regions were arid despite being close to the sea. Deep ocean circulation may also have broken down. That is, water continued to circulate horizontally, but not vertically. The deep oceans weren't getting oxygen, and "black shales" appeared in the Aptian-Albian and High Cretaceous. These are large volumes of organic matter in the oceans which never completely decomposed because of lack of deep ocean oxygen. Still, the north-south temperature gradient remained very flat. [/quote]

I was reading this while looking for something about oxygen levels in the mesozoic. When I came by it, I automatically thought about the Zone of Fire, and that Mark might be interested in those details.

It's strange how they describ it the same way the zone of fire is. A rather arid zone, and an abiotic ocean. I don't know if it was thought as a region which couldn't be crossed, but at least, we know that it was devoided of life. (And creatures are known to despise places where there is less life, perhaps not crossing regions where there is no life...)

They give no cause for why this might have happened. A mystery on Earth as well. They did not speak of consequences either.

[Soap]

The Earth's magnetic field was weaker during most of the Mesozoic era, which according to many scientists would cause the climate to be warmer. Unlike the carbon dioxide-induced warming that is going on now, which only traps outgoing radiation, the weaker magnetic field would cause more radiation to get in, thus causing higher temperatures everywhere, even in the already-hot tropics. The magnitude of this warming, if it ever actually happened, is anyone's guess, but it is noteworthy that there were apparently no ice ages during the entire Mesozoic even though for much of the time the continents were in the perfect positions to trigger a long and very cold glacial period.

[Debegduk ing Debegduked]

Fascinating! I believe M.A.R. Barker's Tekumel incorporates a similarly uninhabitable equatorial region. To think that it might have existed here on Earth after all...

[boomajoom]

I remember reading in "The Dream of Scipio" of something similar to this. Is this where zompist got the idea?

[Mornche Geddick]

He could have got the idea from The Discarded Image. In mediaeval times educated people believed the equator was too hot to sustain life. The fact that there was a huge burning desert just south of Egypt and Morocco probably looked like proof.

[zompist]

Thanks for the info, Yiuel. Interesting to know that there could have been an analogue to the Zone of Fire on earth. I wouldn't rule out intervention by the Powers...

Now I may have to add something weirder to Almea.

[Blackhand]

A voclano that spews cold water.

[Kuh-five]

A voclano that spews cold water.

I've heard of ice volcanoes (on one of Jupiter's moons) but not water volcanoes. That's called a fountain.

[ghur]

A voclano that spews cold water.

I've heard of ice volcanoes (on one of Jupiter's moons) but not water volcanoes. That's called a fountain.

Actually I think it's a moon of neptune.

[Drydic]

A voclano that spews cold water.

I've heard of ice volcanoes (on one of Jupiter's moons) but not water volcanoes. That's called a fountain.

How many natural fountains have you heard of, aside from seaside blowholes?

[Curlyjimsam]

A volcano that spews cold water.

I've heard of ice volcanoes (on one of Jupiter's moons) but not water volcanoes. That's called a fountain.

How many natural fountains have you heard of, aside from seaside blowholes?

Well, there're geysers, aren't there, except they're hot water rather than cold.

Um.

[Drydic]

Exactly. It's the cold part that makes it whacked.

[Neek]

Lest of course there are temperature differences, say if the pressure of the water below the ice crust was far below freezing and the warm current is only slightly above freezing...

(This is a model of a moon in one of my conworlds, which interestingly enough has an impure uranium core covered in ice. Don't ask me how it got there!)

[Iridium]

Technically speaking a volcano is basically anything that spews out "molten" material that then later cools and if it was liquid, would be solidifying. So here on Earth our volcanoes spit out molten material, ash, gases, and rock fragments - while on Io it molten sulphur, and on Triton it's molten nitrogen.

As for the "zone of fire" I thought it was definately one interesting aspect of Zomp's conworld since I found the site a few years ago.