A new study at PNAS, December 2022, has revealed some fascinating information about the Bering Land Bridge. Does it support the idea of Woelfli and Batensperger, ‘Arctic East Siberia had a lower latitude in the Pleistocene‘ [2008] which should now be adjusted to ‘the Late Pleistocene’ – or more correctly, the Late Glacial Maximum [1]. See https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2206742119 .. and https://phys.org/news/2022-12-bering-bridge-late-ice-age.html … which is an inference that could be drawn from the new evidence and one in keeping with Peter Warlow’s talk at the SIS 2007 Cambridge Conference talk. The author’s claim to have reconstructed the history of sea level at the Bering Strait. It is said to show that the Bering land bridge connecting NE Asia with Alaska did not emerge until around 35,700 years ago, contiguous with the Late Glacial Maximum. The authors do not perhaps see anything intrinsically wrong with this as it is assumed large amounts of water was locked up as ice in the northern hemisphere during the LGM. More than previously. However, it is also a fact that global sea levels would be realigned if the axis of rotation moved, as a result of shifting ocean water at the equatorial bulge, in one place, and the polar regions, in the other direction. Therefore, this is a somewhat jaundiced take on the new findings, which is quite unlike other reviews of the new study. You will have to bear with me as currently there is no accepted way the axis of rotation can shift.
The growth of the ice sheet during the Late Glacial Maximum affected mostly NE North America and NW Europe. At one time it was assumed the ice sheet extended right across the northern hermisphere, including Alaska and the Yukon – and all points east. That view has changed in recent years and it is more or less accepted there was no ice sheet of note east of the Urals. Hence, with a reduced ice sheet how can so much sea water have been locked up as ice in order to explain the lowering of the sea level during the LGM – and where exactly, geographically, has the sea level been found to be low. It is possible it may not have been global. Take for instance the situation in South America. In the Late Glacial maximum Lake Titicaca was a coastal lagoon. It is now stranded high in the Andes. One reason this may have occurred is due to a movement of the equatorial bulge, and the equator, shifting location. We also have well recorded mangrove swamps in the latitude of Hong Kong, indicating the rough line of the LGM equator. Borneo was not a region of equatorial rain forest, either. Currently, the equator and Borneo are joined at the hip. From genetic research we also know that a thriving population of humans lived in what is now northern Siberia – and why not as it was populated with mammoth and horses, amongst other large mammals more commonly native to savannah, or mixed grass and woodland. This is the reason why Woefli and Batensperger decided the latitude in the region must have differed from today, where the region is boreal forest or tundra and permafrost is common. This is the region, which included central Asia, where humans migrated east into North America and west into central Europe, as per the findings of Paul Reich. Paradigms take a long time to fall. In the end, the amassing of evidence breaks down the wall. This study might be one piece of evidence. On the other hand, it may not. Time will tell.
The authors are surprised at how quickly this all occurred, we are told. More quickly than a sea level curve? The authors start on the assumption that when ice builds up the sea levels fall, the mainstream position. Hence, it should be a slow process and sea level models reflect this slow rate of growth, so we have sea level projections not just for the Pleistocene but also during the Holocene, which theoretically may be miscalculating the rapidity of such movements. In ‘The Two Mile Time Machine‘ [a Greenland ice core] the scientists, Alley et al, expressed surprise at how quickly the temperature rose at the end of the Ice Age, by 10 degrees within less than 50 years. That is of course all the ice core could tell them as they are studied in blocks of years. It may have shot up even more quickly, as would occur if the poles had moved location.
Sea level fell around 36,000 years ago, is the main point to extract from the new study. This is only a short time from the Laschamp Event which is mainly found as a magnetic pole anomaly. Rather, that is the point most researchers have latched on to. There is a lot of literature on the subject if anyone is interested in following this up. One only has to put it into their search engine. This was until fairly recently, dated around 40,000 years ago, mostly this was because that particular point of time was the furthest point backwards the C14 dating methodology could be used. Bayesian methodology has pushed this back to 42,000 years ago, or even later. Why was C14 impossible to use prior to the Laschamp Event? Simply because it represents a huge plateau due to an enormous influx of C14 into the atmosphere – usually interpreted as the arrival of cosmic rays. Richard Firestone et al, in their book ‘The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes‘ [2006] suggested the influx was due to a supernova, one possibility. Various other theories have been suggested – see for example John and Mary Gribbon, ‘Fire on Earth‘ or Michael Rampino, ‘Cataclysms; a new geology of the 21st century.’ In the new study they begin at 46,000 years ago but in reality these dates don’t matter too much as they are wrapped around that influx of cosmic rays, and a large error bar is self evident, This is most prominent in the dating of early humans in relation to Neanderthals. It is claimed they lived side by side for a few thousand years but this is an artifact of the pleateau event as nowhere, as yet, have modern human remains been found beneath those of Neanderthals, and the reverse is always the true situation as Neanderthal remains are always situated beneath those of modern humans, in cave deposits for example. Firestone et al went so far as to claim a supernova event and the cosmic ray influx could have caused mutations in animals – and humans. Therefore, the line to be drawn between the two species would have been the Laschamp Event. This explains why a recent genomic exercise found that Neanderthals possessed male DNA akin to modern humans. Neanderthals are really just an older version of humanity, adapted to the period in which they lived. The Laschamp Event involved mass die-offs of large mammals, probably more of them than occurred at the end of the Ice Age. The Laschamp Event is recognised as a reversal of the earth’ss magnetic field – but not a permanent one. It reversed back again a short while later. This suggests the earth’s dipole was affected and if that resettled in a slightly different geographical location the earth may have adjusted itself to compensate for the new dipole position. Hence, a pole movement. We have to remember that the idea the poles could not move without a huge cosmic body passing close goes back to the 19th century. In the last decade or so scientists, especially astronomers, have become aware of plasma and it’s peculiar effects throughout the universe. It is time a new study into pole shift took place in order to see if electro-magnetic effects can shift the dipole – and the geographical poles. It is also possible that wobbles can be set up by electro-magnetic pulses which may explain the longevity of the Younger Dryas, for example. Shorter wobbles, or Chandler wobbles, may even have continued to occur in the historical period – or at least, into the Iron Age. Very little research has been done on wobbles in the orbit of the earth but a few notable authors have explored the subject, mostly prior to the new science of plasma and electro-magnetic effects and breaches of the magnetosphere of the earth. Basically, the Laschamp Event points directly at an enormous breach of the magnetosphere. If it did induce a shift in the axis of rotation and then that would account for the die-offs, including many of the Neanderthal and Denisovan population that appear to disappear around this point in time. We may also note that sea level in the Arctic Ocean would have been lower and a topographical map of the region will show how much land could have been above the surface during the LGM. Large numbers of mammoth bones occur in the modern coastal region of Siberia and mammoths were stranded on Wrangel Island, developing over time into a dwarf species. A whole herd of horses was uncovered in one location – northern central Asia. Many other animals were affected, and their remains are dated at various points in time during the Late Pleistocene, at the beginning of LGM and at the end of LGM, even at the onset of the Younger Dryas period.
The authors of the new study appear to lump the end of the Ice Age with the end of the Younger Dryas, a period in time when glaciers reappeared on Rannoch Moor in Scotland. Other studies have suggested the Younger Dryas was not universally cold but was periodically colder interspersed with warmer episodes. In addition, the colder weather became progressively more warmer towards the end – which may reflect a long term wobble slow down. On the other hand that might be my imagination. No doubt others will see things differently.
One other feature of the new study was to explore when it was possible for Native Americans to have moved into North America as recent research has been pushing their presence back further and further. In other words, the inference is that migration could have occurred at any point in the Late Glacial Maximum, and not necessarily at the end of the Late Glacial Maximum, which might have been a hazardous time to be alive and kicking. They may even have crossed the reduced Arctic Ocean in boats – landing at the top of Canada rather than in Alaska. Who knows?
The new study used nitrogen isotopes in sea floor sediments to determine when the Bering Strait was flooded during the last 46,000 years, therefore the research begins prior to the Laschamp Event and continued to the end of the Younger Dryas and the beginning of the Holocene. When the strait was flooded it allowed Pacific waters to percolate into the Arctic Ocean but the land bridge developed a barrier to this happening. The methodology effectively bypasses the C14 plateau. Nitrogen isotopic ratios in marine plankton preserved in the sediment cores at three locations in the western Arctic Ocean were used in conjunction with sea level modelling. The latter was induced by computer but the isotopes are derived from the real world. The sea level curve is a mainstream construct based on the idea sea levels cannot abruptly jump but must have occurred at a steady and progressive rate of rise, or fall. That would be a necessity in a theory that involves sea level fluctuations occurred as a result of accumulating, or declining ice. In other words, the possibility the sea level changed quickly is not part of the study. It is omitted. The authors actually say they were able to look at predicted sea level and this was integrated into the nitrogen isotopic data. They also mention that earlier studies had found sea levels were much higher prior to the Late Glacial Maximum than previous estimates had allowed. In other words, even in the middle of the last 100,000 year long Ice Age there were high water marks in the Arctic Ocean.
The end of the Ice Age, we may note, coincides with the Gothenburg excursion [not a reversal of the magnetic poles as in the Laschamp but an excursion of the magnetic poles]. The research was done many years ago in Sweden by Nils Axel Morner, who died a couple of years ago. It was never accepted by western scientists as they did not like the implications. However, Russian scientists, and others, have in the interregnum, done a lot of research and it is looking like Morner was correct. Other excursions have been located, even as recently as the Iron Age. Hence, it is long overdue that some kind of study of excursions and reversals was put into place – but don’t hold your breath. Wobbles in rotation are another field that has received very little study, although it is apparently a genuine field of research. Wobbles might explain the odd ancient Greek astronomical anomaly, now generally put down as incompetence on their part. Rather than criticise the ability of big brain people in the past it might be nice to take some of their calculations more seriously in order to see what might explain the oddity. Richard Firestone et al derived the title of their book, inferring a cycle of catastrophes, from the period 40,000 years ago to 13,000 years ago, the Younger Dryas. It includes the Oldest, Older and Younger Dryas periods, and an event they dated to 34,000 years ago. Not their date but one derived from the literature, and conforming to die-off of megafauna in Australia, as an example. They suggested the cosmic rays of their hypothetical supernova arrived at 41,000 years ago but the shock wave hit the earth at 34,000 years ago. Bill Napier, part of the team responsible for the Clube and Napier theory of a centaur object entering the inner solar system around this time, has since redated this as late as 40,000 years ago, providing an ongoing eplanation for the whole cycle. In other words, it is not necessary to invoke a supernova as Firestone did, who assumed the cosmic rays came from outside the solar system. Readers may note therefore, the new study date of 35,700 years ago is nearer the 34,000 years ago date than 40,000 years ago. However, you may also note the new study date for the end of the Bering land bridge is at the end of the Younger Dryas event, around 11,000 years ago. If one raised the date of 35,700 by 40.000 years, and the 11,000 years ago date by the same amount, they would conform to the boundaries of the Laschamp and Gothenburg excursions. One suspects the Ice Age, or LGM pole position, ended prior to the Younger Dryas as there is a warm period of climate separating the Oldest from the Younger Dryas events, and a date around 15,000 years ago would be more realistic. Against this is the date accepted for the Gothenburg by Morner, closer to the Younger Dryas than the Oldest Dryas. To what degree did sea level modelling influence the nitrogen isotopic data?
Most proponents of pole shift have come unstuck because they have not had an adequate vector capable of moving the earth from its axis of rotation – even in a small way as in a dipole shift. Mainstream thinking, for many a long year, is that it would take a huge cosmic body to shift the earth – even though we know big earthquakes, in recent years, have shifted the poles slightly. Velikovsky went so far as to claim the planet Venus was formerly a comet and its size was enough to affect the poles if it had come close enough to Earth. The title of his book, ‘Worlds in Collision‘, favoured by the publisher, is a misnomer as he did not propose an actual collision. He was also persuaded by current opinion, in the 1940s and 1950s, that comets were harmless dirty snowball accumulations. We now know the coma of comets is plasma and they have electro-magnetic properties. Not only that, Venus is a solid planet, much like the Earth in composition. Logic would imply they were formed around the same time. Hence, one can only go by the science knowledge in the generation in which you live. The future will involve electro-magnetic properties in the solar system and in the universe. We are entering a different ball game.