What happened 150 million years ago. Earth once looked like an alien place! The planet was purple

An interesting service has appeared on the global network (dinosaurpictures.org), which allows you to see what our planet looked like 100, 200, ... 600 million years ago. A list of events occurring in the history of our planet is given below.

Nowadays
. There are practically no places left on Earth that are not affected by human activity.

20 million years ago
Neogene period. Mammals and birds begin to resemble modern views. The first hominids appeared in Africa.

35 million years ago
The middle stage of the Pleistocene in the era of the Quaternary period. During the evolution from small and simple shapes More complex and diverse species of mammals emerged. Primates, cetaceans and other groups of living organisms develop. The earth is cooling, and deciduous trees are spreading. The first species of herbaceous plants evolve.

50 million years ago
Beginning of the tertiary period. After an asteroid destroyed the dinosaurs, surviving birds, mammals and reptiles evolved to occupy the vacated niches. A group of cetacean ancestors branches off from land mammals and begins to explore the oceans.

65 million years ago
Late Cretaceous. Mass extinction of dinosaurs, marine and flying reptiles, and many marine invertebrates and other species. Scientists are of the opinion that the cause of the extinction was the fall of an asteroid in the area of ​​the present Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico).

90 million years ago
Cretaceous period. Triceratops and Pachycephalosaurs continue to roam the Earth. The first species of mammals, birds and insects continue to evolve.

105 million years ago
Cretaceous period. Triceratops and Pachycephalosaurus walk around the Earth. The first species of mammals, birds and insects appear.

120 million years ago
Early Cretaceous. The earth is warm and humid, and there are no polar ice caps. The world is dominated by reptiles; the first small mammals lead a semi-hidden lifestyle. Flowering plants evolve and spread throughout the Earth.

150 million years ago
End Jurassic. The first lizards appeared, primitive placental mammals evolved. Dinosaurs dominate all land. The world's oceans are inhabited by marine reptiles. Pterosaurs become the dominant vertebrates in the air.

170 million years ago
Jurassic period. Dinosaurs are thriving. The first mammals and birds evolve. Ocean life is diverse. The climate on the planet is very warm and humid.

200 million years ago
Late Triassic. As a result of mass extinction, 76% of all species of living organisms disappear. Population sizes of surviving species are also greatly reduced. Species of fish, crocodiles, primitive mammals, and pterosaurs were less affected. The first real dinosaurs appear.

220 million years ago
Middle Triassic. The Earth is recovering from the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Small dinosaurs begin to appear. Therapsids and Archosaurs appeared along with the first flying invertebrates.

240 million years ago
Early Triassic. Due to death large number species land plants There is a low oxygen content in the planet's atmosphere. Many species of corals have disappeared; many millions of years will pass before coral reefs begin to rise above the surface of the Earth. The small ancestors of dinosaurs, birds and mammals survive.

260 million years ago
Late Perm. The largest mass extinction in the history of the planet. About 90% of all species of living organisms disappear from the face of the Earth. The disappearance of most plant species leads to the starvation of a large number of species of herbivorous reptiles, and then predators. Insects are deprived of their habitat.

280 million years ago
Permian period. The landmasses merge together to form the supercontinent Pangea. Climatic conditions are deteriorating: polar ice caps and deserts are beginning to grow. The area suitable for plant growth is sharply reduced. Despite this, four-legged reptiles and amphibians are diverging. The oceans abound with various species of fish and invertebrates.

300 million years ago
Late Carboniferous. Plants develop a developed root system, which allows them to successfully colonize hard-to-reach areas of land. The area of ​​the Earth's surface occupied by vegetation is increasing. The oxygen content in the planet's atmosphere is also increasing. Life begins to actively develop under the canopy of ancient vegetation. Evolving the first reptiles. A wide variety of giant insects appear.

340 million years ago
Carboniferous (Carboniferous period). A mass extinction is occurring on Earth marine organisms. Plants develop a more advanced root system, which allows them to more successfully invade new land areas. The concentration of oxygen in the planet's atmosphere is increasing. The first reptiles evolve.

370 million years ago
Late Devonian. As plants develop, life on land becomes more complex. Appears a large number of types of insects. Fish develop strong fins that eventually develop into limbs. The first vertebrates crawl onto land. The oceans are rich in corals, various species of fish, including sharks, as well as sea scorpions and cephalopods. The first signs of a mass extinction of marine life are beginning to appear.

400 million years ago
Devonian. Plant life on land becomes more complex, accelerating the evolution of terrestrial animal organisms. Insects diverge. The species diversity of the World Ocean is increasing.

430 million years ago
Silur. The mass extinction wipes out half of the species diversity of marine invertebrates from the face of the planet. The first plants begin to colonize the land and colonize coastal strip. Plants begin to develop a conducting system that accelerates the transport of water and nutrients to tissues. Marine life is becoming more diverse and abundant. Some organisms leave reefs and settle on land.

450 million years ago
Late Ordovician. The seas are teeming with life, and coral reefs appear. Algae are still the only multicellular plants. Difficult life absent on land. The first vertebrates appear, including jawless fish. The first harbingers of mass extinction of marine fauna appear.

470 million years ago
Ordovician. Marine life becomes more diverse and corals appear. Seaweeds are the only multicellular plant organisms. The simplest vertebrates appear.

500 million years ago
Late Cambrian. The ocean is simply teeming with life. This period of rapid evolutionary development of many forms of marine organisms was called the “Cambrian Explosion”.

540 million years ago
Early Cambrian. Mass extinction is taking place. During evolutionary development, marine organisms develop shells and an exoskeleton. Fossil remains indicate the beginning of the Cambrian Explosion.

[In addition to other mysteries and inexplicable oddities that take place in the course of the history of science and its present forms of existence, there is such an incomprehensible absurdity as the prevailing silence about the true scale and true level of novelty scientific achievements French philosopher, physicist, mathematician Rene Descartes, as well as about the unsurpassed methods of his scientific work.
Here I will not discuss this topic in whole or even in part, because it is simply vast and requires the closest and broadest attention. Moreover, on a number of topics I have already provided a review and initial presentation of the issues, and on a number of other aspects, the writing of works is yet to be done, especially since in summary and when taken away from the context, they will be difficult or even impossible to understand, and will be perceived only as empty words.
The purpose of this text is only to clearly display what the real possibilities of civilization are in the near future and in the future in the event of a transition through fundamental scientific reforms from the Newtonian pillars of thinking to the Cartesian scientific and methodological platform (a platform based on views, statements and scientific Descartes' methodology). ]

I will give just a small comparison that can visually display the potential of “Newtonian science” and the potential of “Cartesian science.” For “Newtonian science,” gravity cannot be understood in principle, and therefore it is, to this day, an inaccessible secret behind seven seals. And for “Cartesian science” gravity is flow. And in order to learn how to manage data natural phenomenon, you just need to learn how to control this flow. Those. Technologies for working with gravity are moving from a certain universal unattainable status, thanks to effective Cartesian methods, to levels much closer to the aerodynamic or hydrodynamic technologies familiar to us. They, these technologies, are literally next to us. And in order to reach them, you just need to be more attentive and more interested in achievements and developments French science XVII-XVIII centuries. It is there that the “keys” to new technical and scientific possibilities and the “keys” to the as yet unattainable expanses of not only the present, but also the future and the past are stored.
But why do we, it is logical to ask, need the past?
The answer to this question is very interesting, as well as promising and even relevant for scientific study.
The fact is that in the Universe (according to the conclusions following from the theory of relativity), the past, present and future exist simultaneously. They are equal and equivalent, like different sections of the trunk of the same tree, or like different sections of the branches of this tree.
Therefore, the past of our planet (for example, the Mesozoic era) can be the same potential territory for development and settlement as the expanses of other planets that exist today at the same time as us.
Moreover, the past of our planet (with its known flora and fauna of those eras) is a much more acceptable (more adapted) environment for expanding the living space of civilization than even, for example, today’s Mars or even today’s Moon.
And the expanses of new habitable living spaces in the past simply have no boundaries. Be it the Mesozoic, the Paleogene, or even the Neogene. Since the duration of these historical periods in the life of the planet is calculated in tens of millions of years.
Mesozoic era (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods) - about 186 million years.
Paleogene period (1st period Cenozoic era) - about 43 million years.
Neogene period (2nd period of the Cenozoic era) - about 20 million years.

And what is the duration of a historical period for a civilization of 20 or 40 million years? If the more or less conscious (at least represented by everyday, commercial and cultural artifacts) history of our modern civilization varies somewhere at the level of 40 thousand years (if we conventionally accept the beginning of history with the Cro-Magnons) or at the level of 500-600 thousand years (if we take the appearance of Neanderthals or even protoanderthals as the conditional beginning of history).
Thus, as we see, time periods of 20, 40, and even more so 150-180 million years for the life of (one) civilization are simply enormous. Or one might even say - unnecessarily huge.
Those. The civilization of today and later historical periods can move numerous settlement groups (say, about 500 thousand people or more) with all the necessary settlement, production, energy equipment and all kinds of technology into the Mesozoic, Paleogene or Neogene. Having settled in the “times of arrival,” these settlement communities can live there for a huge amount of time, growing and developing scientifically, technologically, culturally, and spiritually. And then, having already risen to even more high levels in knowledge and capabilities, they will be perfectly able to move to more distant (in space and time) areas of the Universe, which are unlikely to be accessible to us today, probably during the 21st century. And it is quite possible that reaching those more remote areas is precisely part of the mission of these, let’s say, daughter civilizations. And one of the significant tasks of our civilization in the near future historical time(i.e. for the 21st century or even for the first half of the 21st century) is the development and implementation of technology for moving settlement communities in the early historical periods of our planet.
It makes sense to talk about the Paleogene or Neogene if reaching the Mesozoic energetically would be problematic and even impossible. Those. if the “chronokinetic catapults” (the first design and technical generations) do not yet have sufficient power to transfer people, technology and equipment to the Mesozoic era, say, 100-150 million years ago. But even in such, relatively speaking, closer epochs as the Paleogene or Neogene (for example, with the point of movement in the range of 50, 20 or 5 million years ago), there are practically no limits to settlement. Since it will be possible to move settlers (each successive large group) at essentially the same selected and verified time in the past. Those. even in the same year, month, day and hour. And all these groups will arrive in an absolutely pristine and uninhabited habitat. Since, leaving from here, from our reality, with some frequency (let’s say, after six months, after a year or after two or three years) to a certain one point in the past, the settlers will end up at the same point of arrival as the previous groups, but only in another, subsequent reality. And those settlement groups and communities that were sent earlier (for, say, six months or more) will master and settle into a new habitat for them in another, previous reality, which has moved into the future for some time. Thus, the so-called capacity of the past for receiving immigrants can be said to be incalculable. Uncountable as long as time flows. Those. while new and new realities are born in the Universe, moving as if in a river flow from the past to the future.
Now, with the advent of the understanding that I set out in my articles, I no longer have any doubt that a time machine can and will be created. I understand that technically this is possible. Moreover, I think that the first test bench working samples will be created in the next 3-5 years. And by the 30s, as I assume, using the same knowledge that will form the basis of a time machine (or, as I call it, a “chronokinetic catapult”), devices will be created that can effectively work to reduce and prevent asteroid danger .
In general, the first models of a fully functional chronocatapult (you can call it that for short), in my opinion, may appear, if not by the year 30, then quite possibly by 2035. Those. all this now feels quite real. And now there is complete uncertainty, by and large, only in two aspects.
First aspect. How powerful will it be possible to create chronokinetic catapults in the coming decades? Those. What temporary “distances” will they be able to transfer the “payload”? And what energy costs will this cost?
And the second complete ambiguity lies in temporal navigation.
How will it be possible to determine (and set in the chronocatapult settings) exactly the time point to which a certain container needs to be moved? And how will it be possible to find exactly the reality into which a year ago or 200-1000 years ago the settlers of the IUY8976-7KF group (conventionally named this way for example) were moved?
But, of course, we will be able to figure out these technical nuances as we go along. Therefore, first of all, it is to you, my dear France, as to the homeland of the unsurpassed and immensely respected Mr. Descartes, that my very first and even, let’s say, exclusive proposal:

Wake up, my dear France! Great things await us. The vast, pristine expanses of the great prehistoric eras await us! We will create new cities and civilizations there that will give birth to new peoples, achievements, histories and cultures. And all this time, the time of the Great transtemporal discoveries and migrations, we will be together with you, my France, and with us will invariably be the spirit of our respected and revered René Descartes...

Such extraordinary gifts, which have no boundaries or price for civilization, are still hidden in the scientific heritage of Rene Descartes. And we could not come to an understanding of the presence of these gifts, not because they did not exist, but because, due to earlier fundamental mistakes in science, much of Descartes’ legacy went and even still goes beyond the limits of our understanding.
But we must return to rereading and rethinking the scientific and methodological heritage of Rene Descartes. To then gain the ability to return to the distant prehistoric past. The past through which the path to the future passes for civilization.

[This text is a modified final part of a large introductory review "Wake up, my France! Great things await us..."

The review pays attention to the topic of the vital need for fundamental scientific reform of natural science in general. Only a radical reform of world science is able to positively change the course of history and prevent approaching catastrophes and the disappearance of civilization. ]

One of the curves showing sea level fluctuations over the past 18,000 years (the so-called eustatic curve). In the 12th millennium BC. sea ​​level was about 65 m lower than today, and in the 8th millennium BC. - already at less than 40 m. The rise in level occurred quickly, but unevenly. (According to N. Morner, 1969)

The sharp drop in sea level was associated with widespread development continental glaciation, when huge masses of water were withdrawn from the ocean and concentrated in the form of ice in the high latitudes of the planet. From here, glaciers slowly spread towards the middle latitudes in the northern hemisphere on land, in the southern hemisphere - along the sea in the form of ice fields that overlapped the shelf of Antarctica.

It is known that in the Pleistocene, the duration of which is estimated at 1 million years, three phases of glaciation are distinguished, called in Europe Mindel, Ries and Würm. Each of them lasted from 40-50 thousand to 100-200 thousand years. They were separated by interglacial eras, when the climate on Earth became noticeably warmer, approaching the modern one. In some episodes it became even 2-3° warmer, which led to the rapid melting of ice and the release of vast areas on land and in the ocean. Such dramatic climate changes were accompanied by equally dramatic fluctuations in sea level. During the era of maximum glaciation, it decreased, as already mentioned, by 90-110 m, and during interglacial periods it increased to +10... 4-20 m compared to the current one.

The Pleistocene is not the only period during which significant fluctuations in sea levels occurred. Essentially, they mark almost all geological epochs in the history of the Earth. Sea level has been one of the most unstable geological factors. Moreover, this has been known for quite a long time. After all, ideas about transgressions and regressions of the sea were developed back in the 19th century. And how could it be otherwise, if in many sections of sedimentary rocks on platforms and in mountainous folded areas, clearly continental sediments are replaced by marine ones and vice versa. Sea transgression was judged by the appearance of remains of marine organisms in the rocks, and regression was judged by their disappearance or the appearance of coals, salts or red flowers. By studying the composition of faunal and floristic complexes, they determined (and are still determining) where the sea came from. The abundance of thermophilic forms indicated the invasion of waters from low latitudes, the predominance of boreal organisms indicated transgression from high latitudes.

In the history of each specific region, its own series of transgressions and regressions of the sea stood out, since it was believed that they were caused by local tectonic events: the invasion of sea waters was associated with subsidence earth's crust, their departure - with her uplifting. As applied to the platform areas of the continents, a theory was even created on this basis oscillatory movements: the cratons alternately sank and rose in accordance with some mysterious internal mechanism. Moreover, each craton obeyed its own rhythm of oscillatory movements.

It gradually became clear that transgressions and regressions in many cases occurred almost simultaneously in different geological regions of the Earth. However, inaccuracies in paleontological dating of certain groups of layers did not allow scientists to come to a conclusion about the global nature of most of these phenomena. This conclusion, unexpected for many geologists, was made by American geophysicists P. Weil, R. Mitchum and S. Thompson, who studied seismic sections of the sedimentary cover within the continental margins. Comparison of sections from different regions, often very distant from one another, helped to reveal the confinement of many unconformities, breaks, accumulation or erosional forms to several time ranges in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. According to these researchers, they reflected the global nature of ocean level fluctuations. The curve of such changes, constructed by P. Weil et al., makes it possible not only to identify epochs of high or low standing, but also to estimate, of course to a first approximation, their scale. As a matter of fact, this curve summarizes the work experience of geologists of many generations. Indeed, you can learn about the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous transgressions of the sea or its retreat at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary, in the Oligocene and Late Miocene, from any textbook on historical geology. What was new, perhaps, was that these phenomena were now associated with changes in the level of ocean waters.

The scale of these changes was surprising. Thus, the most significant marine transgression, which flooded most of the continents in Cenomanian and Turonian times, is believed to have been caused by a rise in the level of ocean waters by more than 200-300 m above the modern one. The most significant regression that occurred in the Middle Oligocene is associated with a drop in this level by 150-180 m below the modern one. Thus, the total amplitude of such fluctuations in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic was almost 400-500 m! What caused such enormous fluctuations? They cannot be attributed to glaciations, since during the late Mesozoic and the first half of the Cenozoic the climate on our planet was exceptionally warm. However, many researchers still associate the mid-Oligocene minimum with the onset of a sharp cooling in high latitudes and with the development of the glacial shell of Antarctica. However, this alone was probably not enough to reduce the sea level by 150 m at once.

The reason for such changes was tectonic restructuring, which entailed global redistribution water masses in the ocean. Now we can only offer more or less plausible versions to explain fluctuations in its level in the Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic. Thus, analyzing the most important tectonic events that occurred at the turn of the Middle and Late Jurassic; as well as the Early and Late Cretaceous (which are associated with a long rise in water levels), we find that it was these intervals that were marked by the opening of large oceanic depressions. The Late Jurassic saw the emergence and rapid expansion of the western arm of the ocean, the Tethys (the region of the Gulf of Mexico and the Central Atlantic), and the end of the Early Cretaceous and most of the Late Cretaceous eras were marked by the opening of the southern Atlantic and many trenches of the Indian Ocean.

How could the formation and spreading of the bottom in young ocean basins affect the position of the water level in the ocean? The fact is that the depth of the bottom in them at the first stages of development is very insignificant, no more than 1.5-2 thousand m. The expansion of their area occurs due to a corresponding reduction in the area of ​​ancient oceanic reservoirs, which are characterized by a depth of 5-6 thousand. m, and in the Benioff zone, areas of the bed of deep-sea abyssal basins are absorbed. The water displaced from disappearing ancient basins raises the overall ocean level, which is recorded in land sections of the continents as sea transgression.

Thus, the breakup of continental megablocks should be accompanied by a gradual rise in sea level. This is exactly what happened in the Mesozoic, during which the level rose by 200-300 m, and perhaps more, although this rise was interrupted by eras of short-term regressions.

Over time, the bottom of young oceans is in the process of cooling neocortex and the increase in its area (Slater-Sorokhtin law) became more and more profound. Therefore, their subsequent opening had much less influence on the position of the ocean water level. However, it would inevitably lead to a reduction in the area of ​​the ancient oceans and even to the complete disappearance of some of them from the face of the Earth. In geology, this phenomenon is called the “collapsing” of the oceans. It is realized in the process of the rapprochement of continents and their subsequent collision. It would seem that the slamming of ocean basins should cause a new rise in water levels. In fact, the opposite happens. The point here is a powerful tectonic activation that covers converging continents. Mountain-building processes in the zone of their collision are accompanied by a general uplift of the surface. In the marginal parts of the continents, tectonic activation manifests itself in the collapse of blocks of the shelf and slope and their lowering to the level of the continental foot. Apparently, these subsidences also cover adjacent areas of the ocean floor, as a result of which it becomes much deeper. The overall level of ocean waters is falling.

Since tectonic activation is a one-act event and covers a short period of time, the drop in level occurs much faster than its increase during spreading of young oceanic crust. This is precisely what can explain the fact that sea transgressions on the continent develop relatively slowly, while regressions usually occur abruptly.

Map of possible flooding of Eurasian territory at various values ​​of the probable rise in sea level. The scale of the disaster (with the sea level expected to rise by 1 m during the 21st century) will be much less noticeable on the map and will have almost no impact on the lives of most countries. The areas of the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas and southern China are enlarged. (The map can be enlarged!)

Now let's look at the issue of AVERAGE SEA LEVEL.

Surveyors leveling on land determine the height above “mean sea level.” Oceanographers who study sea level fluctuations compare them with elevations on the shore. But, alas, even the “long-term average” sea level is far from a constant value and, moreover, is not the same everywhere, and the sea coasts rise in some places and fall in others.

An example of modern land subsidence is the coasts of Denmark and Holland. In 1696, in the Danish city of Agger, there was a church 650 m from the shore. In 1858, the remains of this church were finally swallowed up by the sea. During this time, the sea advanced on land at a horizontal speed of 4.5 m per year. Now on the western coast of Denmark, the construction of a dam is being completed, which should block the further advance of the sea.

The low-lying coasts of Holland are exposed to the same danger. The heroic pages of the history of the Dutch people are not only the struggle for liberation from Spanish rule, but also an equally heroic struggle against the advancing sea. Strictly speaking, here the sea does not advance so much as the sinking land recedes before it. This can be seen at least from the fact that average level high waters on the island. The Nordstrand in the North Sea rose by 1.8 m from 1362 to 1962. The first benchmark (altitude mark above sea level) was made in Holland on a large, specially installed stone in 1682. From the 17th to the mid-20th century, The soil subsidence on the Dutch coast occurred at an average rate of 0.47 cm per year. Now the Dutch are not only defending the country from the advance of the sea, but also reclaiming the land from the sea by building grandiose dams.

There are, however, places where the land rises above the sea. The so-called Fenno-Scandinavian shield after liberation from heavy ice Ice Age continues to rise in our time. The coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula in the Gulf of Bothnia is rising at a rate of 1.2 cm per year.

Alternating lowering and rising of coastal land is also known. For example, the shores of the Mediterranean Sea sank and rose in places by several meters even in historical times. This is evidenced by the columns of the Temple of Serapis near Naples; marine elasmobranch mollusks (Pholas) have made passages in them to the height of human height. This means that from the time the temple was built in the 1st century. n. e. the land sank so much that part of the columns was immersed in the sea, and probably for a long time, since otherwise the mollusks would not have had time to do so much work. Later, the temple with its columns again emerged from the waves of the sea. According to 120 observation stations, over 60 years the level of the entire Mediterranean Sea has risen by 9 cm.

Climbers say: “We stormed a peak so many meters above sea level.” Not only surveyors and climbers, but also people completely unrelated to such measurements are accustomed to the concept of height above sea level. It seems to them unshakable. But, alas, this is far from the case. Ocean levels are constantly changing. It is fluctuated by tides caused by astronomical reasons, wind waves excited by the wind, and changeable like the wind itself, wind surges and water surges off the coast, changes in atmospheric pressure, the deflecting force of the Earth's rotation, and finally, the heating and cooling of ocean water. In addition, according to the research of Soviet scientists I.V. Maksimov, N.R. Smirnov and G.G. Khizanashvili, the ocean level changes due to episodic changes in the speed of rotation of the Earth and movement of its axis of rotation.

If you heat only the top 100 m of ocean water by 10°, the sea level will rise by 1 cm. Heating the entire thickness of ocean water by 1° raises its level by 60 cm. Thus, due to summer warming and winter cooling, sea level in the middle and high latitudes subject to noticeable seasonal fluctuations. According to the observations of the Japanese scientist Miyazaki, the average sea level off the western coast of Japan rises in the summer and falls in the winter and spring. The amplitude of its annual fluctuations is from 20 to 40 cm. The level of the Atlantic Ocean in the northern hemisphere begins to rise in the summer and reaches a maximum in winter; in the southern hemisphere, its reverse trend is observed.

The Soviet oceanographer A. I. Duvanin distinguished two types of fluctuations in the level of the World Ocean: zonal, as a result of the transfer of warm waters from the equator to the poles, and monsoon, as a result of prolonged surges excited by monsoon winds that blow from the sea to land in the summer and in reverse direction in winter.

A noticeable slope of sea level is observed in areas covered by ocean currents. It is formed both in the direction of the flow and across it. The transverse slope at a distance of 100-200 miles reaches 10-15 cm and changes with changes in current speed. The reason for the transverse inclination of the flow surface is the deflecting force of the Earth's rotation.

The sea also noticeably reacts to changes in atmospheric pressure. In such cases, it acts as an “inverted barometer”: more pressure means lower sea level, less pressure means higher sea level. One millimeter barometric pressure(more precisely, one millibar) corresponds to one centimeter of sea level height.

Changes in atmospheric pressure can be short-term and seasonal. According to the research of the Finnish oceanologist E. Lisitsyna and the American one J. Patullo, level fluctuations caused by changes in atmospheric pressure are isostatic in nature. This means that the total pressure of air and water on the bottom in a given section of the sea tends to remain constant. Heated and rarefied air causes the level to rise, cold and dense air causes the level to fall.

It happens that surveyors conduct leveling along the seashore or overland from one sea to another. Having arrived at the final destination, they discover a discrepancy and begin to look for the error. But in vain they rack their brains - there may not be a mistake. The reason for the discrepancy is that the level surface of the sea is far from equipotential. For example, under the influence of prevailing winds between central part Between the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, the average difference in level, according to E. Lisitsyna, is about 30 cm. Between the northern and southern parts of the Gulf of Bothnia, at a distance of 65 km, the level changes by 9.5 cm. Between the sides of the English Channel, the difference in level is 8 cm ( Creese and Cartwright). The slope of the sea surface from the English Channel to the Baltic, according to Bowden’s calculations, is 35 cm. Level Pacific Ocean And Caribbean Sea at the ends of the Panama Canal, whose length is only 80 km, the difference is 18 cm. In general, the level of the Pacific Ocean is always slightly higher than the level of the Atlantic. Even if you move along the Atlantic coast North America from south to north, a gradual rise in level of 35 cm is detected.

Without dwelling on the significant fluctuations in the level of the World Ocean that occurred in past geological periods, we will only note that the gradual rise in sea level, which was observed throughout the 20th century, averages 1.2 mm per year. It is apparently caused by the general warming of the climate of our planet and the gradual release of significant masses of water that had been bound by glaciers until that time.

So, neither oceanographers can rely on the marks of surveyors on land, nor surveyors on the readings of tide gauges installed off the coast at sea. The level surface of the ocean is far from an ideal equipotential surface. Its exact definition can be achieved through the joint efforts of geodesists and oceanologists, and even then not before at least a century of simultaneous observations of vertical movements of the earth’s crust and sea level fluctuations at hundreds, even thousands of points have been accumulated. In the meantime, there is no “average level” of the ocean! Or, what is the same thing, there are many of them - each point has its own shore!

Philosophers and geographers of hoary antiquity, who had to use only speculative methods for solving geophysical problems, were also very interested in the problem of ocean level, although in a different aspect. We find the most specific statements on this matter in Pliny the Elder, who, by the way, shortly before his death while observing the eruption of Vesuvius, wrote rather arrogantly: “There is nothing in the ocean at present that we cannot explain.” So, if we discard the disputes of Latinists about the correctness of the translation of some of Pliny’s arguments about the ocean, we can say that he considered it from two points of view - the ocean on a flat Earth and the ocean on a spherical Earth. If the Earth is round, Pliny reasoned, then why don’t the waters of the ocean on its reverse side flow into the void; and if it is flat, then for what reason the ocean waters do not flood the land, if everyone standing on the shore can clearly see the mountain-like bulge of the ocean, behind which ships are hidden on the horizon. In both cases he explained it this way; water always tends to the center of the land, which is located somewhere below its surface.

The problem of sea level seemed insoluble two thousand years ago and, as we see, remains unresolved to this day. However, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the features of the ocean level surface will be determined in the near future by geophysical measurements made using artificial satellites Earth.

Gravity map of the Earth compiled by the GOCE satellite.
These days …

Oceanologists re-examined the already known data on sea level rise over the past 125 years and came to an unexpected conclusion - if throughout almost the entire 20th century it rose noticeably slower than we previously thought, then in the last 25 years it has grown at a very rapid pace, says the paper. article published in the journal Nature.

A group of researchers came to such conclusions after analyzing data on fluctuations in the levels of the Earth's seas and oceans during high and low tides, which have been collected in different parts of the planet using special tide gauge instruments for a century. Data from these instruments, as scientists note, are traditionally used to estimate sea level rise, but this information is not always absolutely accurate and often contains large time gaps.

“These averages do not reflect how the sea actually grows. Tire gauges are usually located along the coast. Because of which large areas oceans are not included in these estimates, and if they are included, they usually contain large “holes,” Carling Hay from Harvard University (USA) is quoted in the article.

As another author of the article, Harvard oceanographer Eric Morrow, adds, until the early 1950s, humanity did not conduct systematic observations of sea levels at the global level, which is why we have almost no reliable information about how quickly the global sea level was rising. ocean in the first half of the 20th century.

290 million years ago, beginning of the Permian period. The creature that jumps out of the water is Eryops, an advanced two-meter amphibian, a relic of a previous era - the Carboniferous period.

How did prehistoric animals live during the Triassic period - the time when nature first began to think about creating a mammal? The author publishes paintings by Canadian artist Julius Csotonyi and tells what the world looked like more than 200 million years ago.

Want more pictures by Julius Csotonyi with explanations?

290 million years ago, beginning of the Permian period. The creature that jumps out of the water is Eryops, an advanced two-meter amphibian, a relic of a previous era - the Carboniferous period. Remember how the first tetrapods arose - neither fish nor fowl? This happened even earlier, in the Devonian, 360 million years ago. And so it turns out that for almost 70 million years - more than the time that has passed from the extinction of dinosaurs to the present day - these same tetrapods continued to sit in the swamp. There was no particular place for them to get out and there was no reason for it - the surface of the land, free from glaciers (and the Carboniferous period was a rather cool era), was either swamps littered with rotting tree trunks, or a continental desert. The creatures were swarming in the swamps. In fact, they did not waste time and changed little only in appearance - anatomically, the most advanced of them managed to go from almost a fish through a “classical” amphibian to almost a reptile - like this Eryops, which belongs to the class of temnospondyls.

By the beginning of the Permian period, the most primitive of temnospondyls still retained fish-like features - a lateral line, scales (and in some places, for example on the belly), but these were not openwork creatures like modern newts and frogs - no, powerful, like crocodiles, with skulls that resembled towers tanks: solid, streamlined, with only embrasures for the nostrils and eyes - these were these amphibians. Previously, they were called “stegocephals” - shell-headed..

The largest is the sclerocephalus, judging by the rounded mouth - young (in old individuals, growing up to two meters in length, the muzzle extended and resembled the muzzle of an alligator, and the tail, on the contrary, shortened - perhaps with age the sclerocephalians became more “terrestrial” and resembled the way of life of crocodiles, this is how their remains are distributed - young ones in the sediments of deep lakes, skeletons of old ones in former shallow waters and swamps). The sclerocephalus is chasing an acanthode fish, and in the background an orthacanthus is visible - a freshwater shark, also young (an adult would reach a length of three meters and would itself chase the sclerocephalus). On the right, lying on the bottom near the shore - an even more advanced creature than Eryops - Seymouria: no longer an amphibian, not yet a lizard. She already had dry skin and could stay out of water for a long time, but she still spawned, and her larvae had external gills. If she laid eggs, she could already be called a reptile. But Seymouria is stuck in the past - eggs were invented by some of its relatives at the end of the Carboniferous, and these relatives laid the foundation for the ancestors of mammals and reptiles.

All these creatures in the pictures are not each other’s ancestors - these are all side branches of the evolutionary chain that ultimately led to the appearance of mammals, and only illustrate its stages. Evolution is usually created by small, unspecialized creatures, but it’s not interesting to show the creatures - at that time they all looked like lizards... their powerful relatives, albeit dead-end branches, are another matter:

On the left is Ophiacodon, on the right is Edaphosaurus. One with a sail, the other without, but both of these creatures belong to the same order of pelycosaurs and are evolutionarily closer not to dinosaurs, but to mammals - more precisely, this group got stuck somewhere a third of the way from amphibians to mammals and remained so until they were not supplanted by more progressive relatives. The sail on the back is one of the first attempts of synapsids not to wait for favors from nature, but to learn to independently regulate body temperature; our ancestors and their relatives, unlike other lizards, as soon as they came onto land, for some reason they immediately began to be interested in this topic.

Theoretical calculations (we still don’t have experimental pelycosaurs) show that a 200-kilogram cold-blooded Dimetrodon (and in the picture it is: also a pelycosaurus, but predatory and from a different family) would warm up without a sail from 26°C to 32°C in 205 minutes, and with a sail - in 80 minutes. Moreover, thanks to the vertical position of the sail, he could use the very early morning hours, while the sailless ones had not yet come to their senses, and quickly move on to outrages:

For breakfast, God sent Dimetrodon Xenacanthus, another freshwater shark. More precisely, those that are closer are Dimetrodons, and further away their smaller brother Secodontosaurus is slumped - more frail and with a muzzle reminiscent of a crocodile. On the left, Eryops quietly drags in its mouth Diplocaulus - a strange amphibian with a head like a hammerhead shark; sometimes they write that such a head is a protection against being swallowed by larger predators, another theory suggests using it as a kind of wing for swimming... and I just wrote about the hammerhead shark and thought: maybe it, like the hammerhead shark, was electric detector for searching for small organisms in silt? Behind them is an edaphosaurus, and above, on a branch, you can look closely and see Areoscelis - a creature resembling a lizard - one of the first diapsids. This is how it was then - the relatives of the ancestors of mammals tore meat, and the tiny insectivorous relatives of the ancestors of dinosaurs looked at them from the branches with silent horror.

The sail ultimately turned out to be an unsuccessful design (imagine carrying such a radiator yourself - it was not foldable!). In any case, the sailed pelycosaurs mostly became extinct by the middle of the Permian, supplanted by the descendants of their sailless relatives... but the fact remains that the therapsid lizards, of which you and I are descendants, descended from the sphenacodonts - a group of pelycosaurs to which the ugly Dimetrodon belonged (not from Dimetrodon, of course, but from some of its small relatives). Some successful alternative was found to the sail - perhaps even the following creatures already had primitive metabolic warm-bloodedness:

On the left is Titanosuchus, on the right is Moschops. This is already the middle of the Permian period, about 270 million years ago, South Africa. More precisely, today their bones ended up in South Africa, but then they lived on the same continent as the decorated Karenite. If pelycosaurs went a third of the way from amphibian to mammal, then these monsters went two thirds. Both of them belong to the same order Tapinocephals. Very massive - however, this is typical for all four-legged animals of that time, the skeletons of creatures the size of a dog or horse have proportions like those of an elephant - thick bones with swollen condyles, a solid skull with three eye sockets, like those of their stegocephalic ancestors... I don’t know, with what this is connected with is unlikely to be due to any external conditions (arthropods of that time have approximately modern proportions), rather, to the imperfection of bone tissue - less strength was compensated by greater thickness. Both animals in the picture reached two meters in length and moved like a cross between a rhinoceros and a Komodo dragon, including the predatory (or omnivorous) Titanosuchus. They could not chew food for a long time - they did not have a secondary palate that allowed them to eat and breathe at the same time. They didn’t really know how to bend down, especially the moschops, and he didn’t need to - there was no grass yet, he ate leaves and half-rotten trunks, and grazed, perhaps, lying down - you can’t stand for a long time - or in the water.

The climate in the Permian period was characterized, on the one hand, by increasingly aridity, and on the other, by the appearance and spread of plants capable of growing not only knee-deep in water - gymnosperms and true ferns. Following the plants, animals also moved to dry land, adapting to a truly land-based way of life.

This is already the end of the Permian period, 252 million years ago. The horned red and blue creatures in the foreground are Elgynia wonderful, small (up to 1 m) pareiasaurs from Scotland. By their coloring, the artist may be hinting that they could be poisonous - it is known that the skin of pareiasaurs contained a large number of glands. This other branch of the path from amphibians to reptiles, independent of synapsids, apparently remained semi-aquatic and became extinct as well. But the plump ones in the background are Gordonia and two Geikia - dicynodonts, creatures completely independent of water with dry skin, a secondary palate that allowed them to chew food and two fangs for (probably) digging. Instead of front teeth, they had a horny beak, like later ceratopsids, and their basic diet may have been the same. Like ceratopsians at the end of the Mesozoic, dicynodonts at the end of the Paleozoic were many, diverse and everywhere, some even survived the Permian-Triassic extinction. But it’s not clear exactly who is creeping up on them, but it seems to be some small (or just young) gorgonopsid. There were also big ones:

These are two dinogorgons discussing over the body of some non-small dicynodont. The dinogorgons themselves are three meters tall. These are one of the largest representatives of Gorgonopsians - almost animals, less progressive than dicynodonts (for example, they never acquired a secondary palate and diaphragm, they did not have time), while standing closer to the ancestors of mammals. Very mobile, strong and stupid creatures for those times, the top predators of most ecosystems... but not everywhere..

In the foreground are dicynodonts again, and further to the right is an archosaur, a three-meter crocodile-like creature: not yet a dinosaur, but one of the side branches of the ancestors of dinosaurs and crocodiles. He has about the same relationship to dinosaurs and birds as dinogorgons have to us. Long fish - saurichthys, distant relatives of sturgeons, which played the role of pikes in this ecosystem. On the right under water is Chroniosuchus, one of the last reptiliomorphs with which we began this story. Their time is up, and for the rest of the creatures depicted in the picture, the world will soon change...