(ORDO NEWS) — If you look at the terrestrial planets – Mercury , Venus , Earth and Mars – then you involuntarily think about why confirmed volcanic and tectonic activity has survived only on Earth.
Why did the interiors of three other planets cool down (it is worth noting that the core of Mars probably remains partially heated)?
Why did the giant volcanoes of Mars “silence”? Perhaps the heating of the earth’s interior is provided by some poorly studied processes? To try to find the answer, we will return with you to the recent past.
In 1972, a “nuclear reactor” created by nature itself was discovered in Gabon (West Africa) . The thing is that naturally occurring uranium contains only 0.72% of the uranium that is needed for the reaction, the uranium-235 isotope. In other words, the isotopic abundance of uranium-235 in nature is 0.72%.
Thus, these 0.72% uranium-235 have been calculated and repeatedly confirmed in all terrestrial deposits. But then something incredible happened: on June 15, 1972, French scientists from the atomic research center in Pierrelatte, studying uranium samples from Gabon, found only 0.44 and 0.59 percent of uranium-235 in two of them!
What’s this? Error? Misunderstanding? Maybe the scientists took samples that had already been “burned out” in the reactor?
No, it was fresh uranium from valuable ore brought from Gabon. But such an amount of the isotope is found only in sticks burned in a nuclear reactor! If the mineral contained “burnt” uranium, then a nuclear reaction had taken place.
Such complex and dangerous processes require a nuclear reactor, a fissile neutron moderator (in our reactors, as a rule, graphite or heavy water is used for this purpose), and a cooling medium.
Otherwise, the “critical barrier” will be crossed and a fatal “boom” will occur. Finally, one more condition must be met to ensure the reactions proceed: there should not be substances nearby that absorb neutrons.
But, nevertheless, the nature of Gabon was able to create its own nuclear reactor that worked!
According to the analysis of radioactive decay products, it was found that the Gabon reactor was operating about 1.7 billion years ago, and uranium then contained 3% of the uranium-235 isotope.
This uranium was mixed with sandstone, which passed water well, and above the sandstone there was a layer of the purest clay, which protected the material from contamination that could absorb neutrons.
As the water passed through the sandstone, it flowed down, slowing down neutrons from the decay of uranium-235, which set off a chain reaction.
The temperature rose sharply, the water evaporated, and the reaction stopped. At the next downpour, water again fell into the sandstone and the process resumed.
What do you think, how many such nuclear reactors, created by nature, were on the young Earth? It is possible that similar reactors still exist in the bowels of the Earth, heating it up.
It is quite possible that nature could not create its own reactors on other terrestrial planets, so the cores of celestial bodies gradually cooled down, volcanic and tectonic activity ceased, which led to the natural destruction of the climate.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.