The Carrington Event

     Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are not uncommon events in our solar system. Nitrate layers in Greenland ice cores suggest that large CMEs hit our planet, on average, once every 500 years; smaller ones, several times each century. Relatively minor CMEs affected our world in 1921 and again in 1960.

Coronal Mass Ejections

     Even within the past thirty years, several severe solar storms and CMEs have taken place and affected our planet. In 1989, complete loss of the power grid was seen in the Canadian province of Quebec leaving nearly 7 million people without electricity,  the outage lasting 6 days. Between 1994 and 1997, severe solar geomagnetic storms were responsible for 600 million dollars worth of damage to orbiting communications satellites.
     In October 2003, a CME was detected and measures taken to prevent grid or communications damage but the blast was so strong that auroras were seen as far south as the Mediterranean. On July 14, 2003 (Bastille Day Event), a CME was launched, mostly missing the earth but reaching far enough out into space to be detected by the old Voyageur spacecraft.

Area Affected (Blue) by 1989 CME

     But the largest coronal mass ejection documented since 'modern' scientists were able to study the sun occurred in 1859. This CME is called 'The Carrington Event' (after the British astronomer, Richard Carrington).

     On September 1, 1859, only 17 hours after the massive solar flare was noted by Carrington, the CME slammed into our planet. Auroras were seen around the earth as far south as the Caribbean.
     Miners in the US Rocky Mountains awoke to a glow in the night sky that made them think that it was already morning.

Richard Carrington

     On the east coast of North America, people could read their newspapers as if it were daytime. Communication (telegraph) systems failed, giving electrical shocks to their operators and setting telegraph paper on fire. Some systems shut down completely but others continued to work despite being disconnected from their power source, power being fed to the machines through the static in the air!

     Today, we are much more reliant than in 1859 on electronic technology for our communications, travel even our weapon systems.
     So, what would happen in today's world if when our planet takes a direct hit by a coronal mass ejection?

   
     For an interesting video about The Carrington Event, click on the link below.

     The Attack of the Sun

   
     *Solar radiation: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

The End of the World

     Eschatology: The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as theological 'science' concerned with the last 4 things: death, judgement, heaven and hell (The End of the World).

   

Angels and the Jewish Apocalypse

     But this is seen not just in the west, not just in Judeo-Christian culture (Books of Isaiah, Daniel, Matthew, Revelation); but also in Islam (the Hadith-sayings of Mohammed), Hinduism (Shiva will destroy the world), some forms of Buddhism, the Baha'i faith (more 'symbolic' eschatology some say, than in other religions), Zoroatrianism (molten metal will flow across the earth like a river).

     The earliest known example of a Jewish Apocalypse is the Book of Daniel (middle 200s B.C.). Some researchers state that at least a part of the Book of Enoch came before the Book of  Daniel). The 'end' in early Jewish tradition would be announced by great portents, and convulsions of nature, 'signs' on the earth and in the heavens. Generally, the idea was that the surrounding nations would be overcome, allowing the Hebrew people to rise to the occasion.

Manuscript of The Book of Enoch

     The idiom the '(hand) writing on the wall', is a portent of doom or misfortune, a saying which derives Book of Daniel (chapter 5) in which the fingers of a supernatural hand write a mysterious message in the presence of Belshazaar, king of Babylon. The writing foretells the demise of the Babylonian Empire. The phrase 'the writing is on the wall' is now a popular idiom for 'something bad is about to happen'. The 'end of the world', the apocalypse' have all been used in association with this phrase in Christian eschatology prophecy.

     The Muslim view of apocalypse is likely derived primarily from the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation (although Daniel is not mentioned in the Koran). In Jean-Pierre Filiu's 2011 book 'Apocalypse in Islam', he describes the fast-growing belief in Muslim countries that the end of the world is at hand--and with it the 'Great Battle' prophesied by both Sunni and Shi'ite tradition, which many believers expect will begin in the Afghan-Pakistani borderlands.

The Writing on the Wall

     According to the Hadith, a collection of the sayings of Muhammad, the end of the world will begin with the arrival of the Mahdi (see post: Invisible/Hidden Gods) who will become Caliph, destroy the Anti-Christ and bring in peace and justice.

     In Hinduism, time is cyclic, consisting of cycles ('Kalpas'), repeating infinitely. A true 'end time' as seen in other religious beliefs does not exists as such. However, Kalpa (and its sub cycles) has its own start and end. One Kalpa lasts 8.64 billion years. Traditional prophecies, as described in the Puranas and several other sacred Hindu texts, say that the world shall fall into chaos and degradation.

     Apocalypse for the Hindu is the natural ending of the world in the fourth age, the Kali Age. It is one of a series of apocalypses, each of which marks the end of one cycle and the beginning of another creation. It is said that Vishnu will appear again soon, as Kalki, a white horse, destined to destroy the present world and to take humanity to a different, higher plane.

     There are four yugs, or ages, in this process from complete purity to complete impurity. The final is Kali Yuga (the Dark Age), where civilization becomes spiritually degraded, human lives are shortened by violence and disease, and there is a general state of decay in nature. This is the worst period before complete destruction which is then followed by a golden age.

Hindu Apocalypse

 



     Besides 'molten metal that will flow across the earth like a river', Zoroastrian sacred texts tell the story of apocalypse, a tale of a terrible winter and a time when all wolves will meet together and will merge into one vast wolf (Frashegird). All snakes also will merge into one vast serpent (see post: The Serpent).

     In the New World, the Hopi believed that Sotuknang destroyed the 'first world' by 'opening up the volcanoes'. 

     

Zoroastrian Apocalypse - Frashegird

     The Maya of Mesoamerica (depending on what you read), predicted that The End of the World (or perhaps just a new beginning?) would occur in December 2012. It didn't happen.
   

      All of these teachings are perhaps more metaphorical than real. Whether you believe any one of them may not be important when you consider 'Scientific Eschatology' - comet impacts, extreme volcanic eruptions, coronal mass ejections (CMEs ie severe solar storms)...see post: The Carrington Event.

Sotuknang - Hopi Apocalypse

     *Apocalypse: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Shelter-A Limestone Cave

     A cave is much more than just a hole or a tunnel in the ground. A cave can be an accidental crack, a scar in the skin of the earth but more often a cave is a shelter,a storage shed, a home, a thing of beauty and often a work of art. Caves come in many varieties depending on the method of formation.

Lava Tube Cave

     Primary caves such as lava tubes and rifts are the open 'left-overs', the space that remains once the hot flowing lava has evacuated the cooler walls of the lava flow path.
     Erosional caves are holes or caverns in the ground formed by the flow of water over and through 'soft' soil, leaving the harder elements as the walls of the cavern. Wind can have similar effects to water in the right conditions and topography.
     Littoral (sea) caves form at the edge of or even within a body of water where wave or current action breaks down rock and hollows out a hole.
     Glacier caves are holes in stone created by the erosive force of massive ice sheets, different from ice caves which are hollows in the ice formed by melts or shifts in position of the ice itself.

Littoral Cave

     A fracture cave is formed when soluble material (such as gypsum) is dissolved from in between harder rock. Because of the loss of support, the hard rock collapses, creating hollows different from the simple dissolution of material.
     A talus cave is created by the collapse of stones (usually located at cliff bases) leaving a hollow within the collapse.
     Anchialine caves are usually limestone but formed in a specific way. The typical anchialine cavern is the cenote, sink-hole caverns found in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The caverns are created by erosion of the limestone by freshwater run-off and eventual collapse of the roof, opening up the cavern to the outside world. The unique feature of these caves is that they involve a mixture of fresh and salt water (the caverns communicate with the ocean) and result in unique life forms that take advantage of this phenomenon.

Cenote (Anchialine) Cave

     The most common type of cave is the solutional cave in which soft materials, such as chalk, gypsum, dolomite and most commonly limestone are dissolved by the relatively acidic flow of ground water (carbonic acid) over and through the stone and, less frequently, by sulfuric acid.
     The source of sulfuric acid is hydrogen sulfide gas rising from oil deposits beneath the rock, then mixing with water to form the corrosive acid. Both these two processes hollow out the stone, often leaving vast 'cathedrals' of magical shapes.
     The beauty of a limestone cave is best seen in the works of art created by the gradual dissolution of the calcium carbonate (limestone),  flow of the rock and its re-deposition in shapes (speleotherms) called soda straws, stalagmites ('rising' from the floor), stalactites ('rising' from the ceiling), flow stones and even curved helictites.

Stalagmites and Stalactites

     A thing of beauty, a work of art, a place for storage and, ever since mankind walked on the earth, caves have been a home, a shelter; shelter from the wind, from the rain, from the cold, from the heat and probably shelter from the anger of the sun (see post: Gimmee Shelter). Protection from (any type of) radiation depends on the material and thickness of the material used as shelter.

     The effectiveness of protection is measured by its capacity to cut in half the radiation that can reach you.

Blue Pool of Water in Limestone Cave

     Here are some comparisons:

Material                                         Halving Thickness (cm)

lead                                                         1.0

concrete                                                  6.1

steel                                                        2.5

packed soil                                              9.1

water                                                      18

wood                                                      29

air                                                       15,000

The Throne Room
-Kartchner Caverns, Arizona

     Obviously, water, wood and air are not enough to protect us from any significant amount of radiation, whatever the source. Most of us do not have access to a solid lead, steel or even concrete bunker to cover our heads. But caves are found in many places in nearly all regions of the world. About 1 meter (3 feet) of packed soil (rock) would provide enough protection to save your life, to give you shelter from the storm. You just have to know where to find that work of art nature has prepared for us.

     For the miraculous beauty of a limestone cave, watch the video link below about the Kartchner Caverns of Arizona:

     Kartchner Caverns

 
     *Protection from solar radiation: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Gimmee Shelter

     Exposure to the sun's rays can be benign, resulting in the darkening of fair skin and nothing more. More extreme exposure can cause radiation damage to the skin, that is, a sunburn. Sunburn is due to ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure (also from welding torches). UV sits in the position between x-rays (ionizing) and visible light (non-ionizing) wavelengths. However, the higher wavelengths within the UV spectrum can be ionizing and therefore, potentially damaging to living tissue, resulting, in the long term, in DNA changes and skin cancers as well as effects on the eye causing cataract formation and blindness.

Severe Sunburn with Blistering

     Ozone in the atmosphere is another of earth's shields that protects us from the sun, blocking out the damaging UV wavelengths. Loss of this ozone layer (such as can occur with ozone depletion secondary to pollutants or a coronal mass ejection) exposes everything in the sun's path to damaging UV light. But if struck by a CME, head protection, sunglasses and SPF sun screen won't be very helpful; the ionizing UV rays are perhaps, the least of our worries. It is the ionizing components of the plasma blast of a CME (solar proton event, x-rays, gamma rays) that will kill everything in its path.

UV Radiation from the Sun

     Distance from the event is only practical for those who are shielded from the direct hit, being on the 'night-time' side of the planet at the time of CME impact. Time exposure, how long a living being remains exposed to the ionizing radiation is also a factor - unprotected astronauts in space have no hope of survival, people on the ground have minutes, perhaps only seconds to 'get out of the way'.

     But it is shelter from the storm that is the most important factor in survival. Shelter for you; shelter for your food; shelter for your water. Several different materials can provide shelter from the 'anger of the sun'. In decreasing order of provision of protection are lead, concrete, steel, packed soil, water, wood, open air.

The Ozone Layer

     Obviously, sitting out in the open air will not be sufficient. Wood and water do not provide enough protection. Most people do not have access to thick lead, concrete or even steel overhead shelter. But 3 feet of packed soil (rock) will reduce gamma radiation (the most harmful) to less than one one thousandth of what it otherwise would be.

     And where do you find 3 feet (or more) of rock shield? Back to the stone-age into a deep, dark cave.

   

Limestone Cave

   


     *Solar radiation: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Many Roads to Heaven

    In Mayan culture, the afterlife may have varied from one region to another (such as different beliefs in the Yucatan as compared to the area of Guatamala). 

Ixtab

     In the Yucatan, the evil descended to an afterlife of torment in the underworld while the good were sent to paradise. Those destined for paradise, followed the 'Rope Woman', Ixtab. Ixtab has been symbolized as the figure of a female, hanged by a rope around her neck.
     
     Suicide, especially by hanging, was considered an 'honorable' way to die. Ixtab was the Mayan 'psychopomp', the mythical guide to souls of the dead to the afterlife. The 'hanged by suicide' would be guided to paradise. There, they would have fine food and drink and rest under the shade of a tree.

     But, for the Maya, there were a number of other 'roads to heaven'. Members of the priesthood had an automatic ticket to heaven. The unfortunate women who died while giving birth also had the gates to heaven open to them. Soldiers who died in battle and drownings were considered special. All of these souls were led by Ixtab to the 'pearly gates'.

Mayan Soldiers in Battle

    A last way of going directly to paradise was through human sacrifice. Many cultures in Mesoamerica are known to have sacrificed prisoners of war and criminals but with the Maya, there was also one very special sacrifice, usually involving a young male, a treat for the gods.

     The (often voluntary) victim would be tied down and undergo excision of the lower jaw. This procedure involved considerable loss of blood and mutilation.

Human Sacrifice

   
     Death came fast as the carotid arteries were severed and the victim lost consciousness before the procedure was complete. Fortunately, the soul of the young, jawless man would be led by Ixtab directly into paradise.

     Some researchers say that the depiction of this procedure is seen in the figure of the 'God of Zero', the space left by his absent chin held in the web between thumb and forefinger.

     

God of Zero

     *Religious beliefs: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Rainbows, Gods and Godessess

     We are all familiar with rainbows, phenomena of the weather due to sunlight being filtered through the prism of atmospheric water droplets. The rainbow appears in the section of the sky opposite to the sun and is viewed at an angle of 42 degrees (from the side opposite the sun).

The Leprechaun

     This 'illusion of light' can be single, with one full spectrum visible or double if the light is reflected twice inside the water droplets, the second arc having the reverse order of colors as compared to the first. The rainbow is a beautiful, mystical piece of art created by nature and viewed by many religions as a message from the divine.

     The term 'rainbow' has been used in reference to multi-racial communities (such as post-apartheid South Africa) and multi-racial families (Reverend Jim Jones adopted mixed-race native and mixed-race Korean children and referred to his own family as the 'Rainbow Family' - see post: The Reverend Jim Jones).
      In Irish mythology, the leprechaun kept a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow which would be yours if you could get there (which, conveniently, is physically impossible). In Norse mythology, the rainbow was the bridge between the world of gods and humans. In Armenia, it was the belt of Tyr, the sun god (see post: Worship of the Sun).

Mayan Goddess Ix Chel

     

     Ix Chel was the Mayan goddess of the moon, water, weaving and childbirth, founder of the city of Palenque. The translation of her name is 'Lady Rainbow'. Chak Chel (Red or Great Rainbow) is another Mayan rainbow goddess, responsible for the destruction of the 'third' world by unleashing a great flood.

     The Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh tells the story of the rainbow, the jewelled necklace of the Great Mother Ishtar, that the goddess lifts into the sky to signify that she will never forget the days of the great flood that destroyed her children, brought down upon them by the god Enlil. This same flood story and promise seem to have been borrowed by the Judeo-Christian Book of Genesis 9: 13-17 where God promises that he will never again destroy the earth with flood.

Noah's Thanks Offerring-Joseph Anton

     The Mormons state that the second coming of Jesus Christ will not occur in any year when a rainbow is seen (it is not clear in what region of the planet that the rainbow must not appear for one full year in order for this to happen).

     In China, the rainbow was a rent in the sky filled in with colored stones by the goddess Nuwa. In pre-Islamic times, in the Arabian peninsula, the rainbow was the war bow of the god Quzah. The Hindus had several interpretations of the rainbow, one that it was the bow of Indra, another that it was the bow of Rama.

Iris

     The Greeks (and Romans) saw the rainbow as the path of the messenger, Iris between earth and heaven.
     But not all cultures saw the rainbow as a benign force. In the Amazon, rainbows were evil spirits responsible for miscarriages and skin disorders.
     For the Australian Aborigines, the Rainbow Serpents were, among other things, ancestors who lived in bodies of water (see post: The Serpent). They were associated with rain-making and were dangerous for the living. Another interpretation was that the 'Rainbow Snake' was a deity who lived in permanent water holes and controlled life's precious water and oils.

Australian Rainbow Serpent with Lizard

     *Sky worship: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.

Real Apocalypse

     Apocalypse: It can be and is a very real thing-not just some 'crazy' belief that the 'Almighty' will strike us down. Our solar system orbits around our galaxy once every 225 million years (the earth, of course, goes along for the ride).

     Over the last 225 million years, our planet has been subjected to at least:

Extent of Glaciation (Ice Age) 18,000 Years Ago

     1 'nearby' supernova explosion (gamma-radiating the planet)

     9 episodes of volcanism (extreme multiple, eruptions causing major terrestrial and climate change) and

     2 large-scale impacts (comets, asteroids).

     That makes 12 (probably more) extinction (ie apocalypse) events not including extreme climate/temperature changes (ice-ages) which may be 'normal' events in the history of our solar system as well as massive hiccups (solar flares/CME) from our own sun (see posts: When the Sun Grows Angry and The Carrington Event).

Coronal Mass Ejection

     A supernova an explosion of a star resulting in a massive burst of radiation. During the short interval of weeks to months, a supernova can radiate as much energy as our sun is expected to emit over its entire life span.

     Radiation in the form of gamma rays from a supernova would result in a chemical reaction in the our atmosphere, depleting the ozone layer enough to expose the surface to harmful radiation.

     The Ordovician–Silurian extinction event  was the second-largest of the five major extinction events in the history of our planet - over 60% of all life forms disappeared. The extinction occurred 443.7  million years ago.

Supernova

     At the time, most complex organisms lived in the sea, and around 100 marine families became extinct.

     Some scientists suggest that these extinctions could have been caused by a gamma ray burst originating from a supernova within 6,000 light years of Earth (in a nearby arm of our galaxy). A ten-second burst would have stripped the Earth's atmosphere of half of its ozone almost immediately, exposing surface-dwelling organisms to high levels of  radiation.

The Deccan Traps

     The Deccan Traps are a series of flood basalts (volcanic rock) in Northwestern Indian and the nearby Indian Ocean.

     They originally covered approximately 2 million km2 with a remaining volume of more than 1 million km3 and a maximum thickness of over 2 km.   There is evidence that much of this material was erupted very close to the 'K-T boundary' (about 65 million years ago).

     The Siberian Traps The remains of these volcanic eruptions testify to the greatest mass extinction in the history of the earth where 95% of all marine species became extinct.  The Siberian Traps are an accumulation of flood basalts from one of the largest volcanic events in the history of the world.  What is left of this volcanism today are the remaining flood basalt deposits which cover an area of 2.5 million km2, a volume of over 3 million km3.  The eruption of this magma coincides precisely with the mass extinction event called the 'End-Permian' (about 245 million years ago).

The Siberian Traps

     The Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) was a period of intense bombardment of the inner Solar System by asteroids/meteors that is thought to have occurred about 3.85 billion years ago, when our solar system was only about 700 million years old (about 3.85 billion years ago). Most of the craters on the Moon were formed during this brief but intense period of bombardment, with similar impacts on the Earth. With on going geologic processes on our planet (the moon is relatively inactive geologically) any such craters that formed then have mostly been erased.

Comet Impact

     About 65 million years ago, most scientists agree, an impact (comet? asteroid?) occurred near today's Yucatan Peninsula (the Chicxulub crater, eastern Mexico), setting off earthquakes, tsunamis, fire storms and severe global climate change, ultimately leading to the demise of the dinosaurs.

     And now that human beings have advanced technologically, we might see climate change, nuclear war/accidents, biological weapons, etc adding a human touch to the history of 'the end of the world'.

The End of the Age of the Dinosaurs

     *Apocalypse: subject of research for the novel  The Tao of the Thirteenth God - Amazon Kindle.