Time to time we read reports that someone found an artifact which could be produced millions years ago. For example the website ancient-code.com describes a hammer which could be 400 millions years old and a 300 million-year-old screw. Some time ago, in one of my posts on my blog, I suggested that these artifacts could be not so old. They could be several dozen or several hundreds years old, because there could be specific processes occurring in nature which would be faster than we think. I tried to find the processes. From publications of D.C. Golden, ... "DISSOLUTION OF OLIVINE, SIDERITE, AND BASALT AT 80°C IN 0.1 M H2SO4 IN A FLOW THROUGH PROCESS: INSIGHTS INTO ACIDIC WEATHERING ON MARS." printed in 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2012) we know that rocks listed in the article are relatively easy to dissolve in acids. Dissolution of basalt and depositing secondary minerals was described by Beryl Nashai, ... in "Solubility of basalt under atmospheric conditions of temperature and pressure". Also E. M. Hausrath and S. L. Brantley in "Basalt and olivine dissolution under cold, salty, and acidic conditions: What can we learn about recent aqueous weathering on Mars?" reported it.
So, if in laboratories scientists can dissolve basalts and other rocks and get secondary minerals, maybe in nature is it possible also?
I carried out a simple experiment using vinegar and limestone. Limestone is popular rock in nature and acetic acid is produced by bacteria fermentation. Limestone stone immersed in vinegar from my experiment is shown in the picture above (you can enlarge it clicking on the photo). After several days the stone was dissolved partially in vinegar and sediment appeared on the bottom. I pulled the stone out of the jar and added steel filings to the solution to increase the volume of the material. Filings were reacted with vinegar. A thick layer of sediment formed on the bottom, so I slipped a steel plate into it to have some artifact in the stone that I hoped to receive. I have put the jar on the window sill without a cap so that the liquid would evaporate freely. The suspension was dark, with time it became black and the Sun was heating it to high temperatures.
So, if in laboratories scientists can dissolve basalts and other rocks and get secondary minerals, maybe in nature is it possible also?
I carried out a simple experiment using vinegar and limestone. Limestone is popular rock in nature and acetic acid is produced by bacteria fermentation. Limestone stone immersed in vinegar from my experiment is shown in the picture above (you can enlarge it clicking on the photo). After several days the stone was dissolved partially in vinegar and sediment appeared on the bottom. I pulled the stone out of the jar and added steel filings to the solution to increase the volume of the material. Filings were reacted with vinegar. A thick layer of sediment formed on the bottom, so I slipped a steel plate into it to have some artifact in the stone that I hoped to receive. I have put the jar on the window sill without a cap so that the liquid would evaporate freely. The suspension was dark, with time it became black and the Sun was heating it to high temperatures.
A photo of the suspension immediately after mixing is shown on the left side. After month, the liquid evaporated and I received a stone at the bottom of the jar. By heating in the fire and cooling with water the bottom of the jar I caused the glass to crumble and next I was able to take in my hands a fossil with an artifact of the corroded lamina. You can see it in the picture on the end of the post. As you can see, obtaining the fossil with the artifact took less time than millions of years. The microchip found in Krasnodar, Russia, which was dated to between 225 and 250 million years ago, could have been created several dozens years ago.
In a similar way, only on a larger scale, our ancestors could produce huge boulders right in the right place. Building pyramids and other ancient stone constructions could have been simpler than we suppose. Joseph Davidovits suggests that many stones of pyramids were made from concrete. The website davidovits.info describes it in this way:
"Some of the massive blocks making up the great pyramids of Giza in Egypt (pictured) are not limestone, but a synthetic mix like concrete, argue materials scientists. The paper by Michel Barsoum of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his colleagues is the latest entry in a decades-long argument. Most Egyptologists reject the idea, put forth in the mid-1980s by French chemist Joseph Davidovits, that the pyramids contain concrete. Barsoum’s team took a fresh look at 15 samples using scanning- and transmission-electron microscopes. The samples contain ratios of elements, such as calcium and magnesium, that do not exist in nearby limestone. The imaging also revealed regions of amorphous structure. Both observations suggest that other substances were added to make a concrete mix, say the authors"
Ancient constructors could have big knowledge about dissolving rocks and creating secondary minerals and building monumental constructions was easy for them.
In a similar way, only on a larger scale, our ancestors could produce huge boulders right in the right place. Building pyramids and other ancient stone constructions could have been simpler than we suppose. Joseph Davidovits suggests that many stones of pyramids were made from concrete. The website davidovits.info describes it in this way:
"Some of the massive blocks making up the great pyramids of Giza in Egypt (pictured) are not limestone, but a synthetic mix like concrete, argue materials scientists. The paper by Michel Barsoum of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his colleagues is the latest entry in a decades-long argument. Most Egyptologists reject the idea, put forth in the mid-1980s by French chemist Joseph Davidovits, that the pyramids contain concrete. Barsoum’s team took a fresh look at 15 samples using scanning- and transmission-electron microscopes. The samples contain ratios of elements, such as calcium and magnesium, that do not exist in nearby limestone. The imaging also revealed regions of amorphous structure. Both observations suggest that other substances were added to make a concrete mix, say the authors"
Ancient constructors could have big knowledge about dissolving rocks and creating secondary minerals and building monumental constructions was easy for them.