1 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 2 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and today 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: we're bringing you an episode from the vault. This is 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: part two of our series on sinkholes that originally aired 5 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: in January. Let's jump right in Welcome to Stuff to 6 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind production of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome 7 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert 8 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and we're back with part 9 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,479 Speaker 1: two of our discussion of sink holes. Now. In the 10 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: last episode, we talked about some some fabulous examples of 11 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: sinkholes that suddenly open up and reveal interesting things. Below, 12 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: we talked about how sinkholes form, the geology and hydrology 13 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: of sinkholes, and we talked about some interesting specific examples 14 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: in the world. But today we wanted to get into 15 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: some things about the religious significance of sinkholes and sinkholes 16 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: as a scientific tool that can help show us things 17 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: about the past UH and also maybe some sinkholes in space. 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: But I thought sinkholes in religion would be a good 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: place to start because one of the interesting ways of 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: conceptualizing UH deities is that deities are often manifestations of 21 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: natural forces and natural resources, and of course one of 22 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: the most important natural resources is water, so there are 23 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: all kinds of water deities around the world. Coastal civilizations 24 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: and cultures will have deities associated with the ocean that 25 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: are very important in their culture. But if you're if 26 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: you're more inland, there will often be deities associated with 27 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: where you get your fresh water. Either are a very 28 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: important river or they're even There are lots of holy 29 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: wells that are found throughout the history of Europe, both 30 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: Pagan and Christian. There are a lot of like holy 31 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: wells and water sources, and the same is true of 32 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: many sinkholes in ancient meso America. That's right, um, in 33 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: particular the sacred senotes of the Maya, which is what 34 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,919 Speaker 1: we'd like to talk about here. I was reading a piece, 35 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,399 Speaker 1: really nice piece on Mexico Lore dot co dot UK 36 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 1: by Maya archaeologist Andrew kenkela Um just titled Sacred Sinkholes, 37 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: and he discusses sum of what we've already mentioned in 38 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: regard to, you know, the large number of these sinkholes 39 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 1: of sinotes in Mesoamerica. The entire area is situated on 40 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: a limestone bedrock, and we end up with with these 41 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: hollows and then they collapse, and then of course then 42 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: they often fill with water. But so yeah, your world 43 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 1: left with something. There's not just a deep pit, which 44 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,400 Speaker 1: alone can be pretty interesting, but pits with water often 45 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: from deep underground, so you're often talking clean water, clear 46 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: water an ideal source. Some of these contain as much 47 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,239 Speaker 1: as like fifty meters of water. Uh. He points out. Yeah, 48 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:08,839 Speaker 1: there are a lot of fascinating things about these sinkholes. 49 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: One of which, just before I forget, I wanted to 50 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: call attention to that they explore some of these uh 51 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: sinotes in the Yucatan Peninsula. In the documentary that we 52 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: recently interviewed Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer about there, there's 53 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: a segment where they so that documentary is called Fireball, 54 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 1: and it's about impacts from space and the scars they 55 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: leave on Earth and and what we can learn from them. 56 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: And one of the things they explore is if if 57 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 1: you look at a map of the senotes of the 58 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: Yucatan Peninsula, there's one part of the Yucatan where there's 59 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: this almost perfect partial ring of sinotes and it's like, 60 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: what's going on there? And that apparently corresponds to the 61 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: outer rim of the crater that was left by the 62 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: impact from the KPg extinction, the large space impact that 63 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: probably contributed significantly to the extinction of the non avian 64 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: dinasas wars. And so in Fireball there's a segment where 65 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: where Clive Oppenheimer goes down into one of these beautiful 66 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: ancient senotes with a local researcher and and they talk 67 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: about not just what it can tell is geologically we 68 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: might get a little bit more into that later, but 69 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,279 Speaker 1: but also what it means religiously. Yeah, So, especially for 70 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: areas far from rivers, these sonotes became very important for 71 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 1: just purely practical reasons like this is where you could 72 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 1: get water. This enabled you to live and have you know, 73 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: have have communities that existed further away from those rivers. 74 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: But then they ended up taking on religious power as well. 75 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: And can Tela writes that the ancient Maya regarded senotes 76 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: as one of the three symbolic entry ways uh to Sibalba, 77 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: the Mayan underworld. So eventually this kind of he describes 78 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: it as a senote cult emerges devoted to venturing out, 79 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: like taking these pilgrimages to different senotes, collecting water from 80 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: them from different different ones and making what offer rings 81 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: up to the watery depths. And their role these these priests, 82 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: these pilgrims, their role would have been seen is vitally important, 83 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: especially during times of drought, you know, when when the 84 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 1: the resources of the son Nottes becomes uh, you know, 85 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: in doubt or seems threatened, like they seem to have 86 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: a role in in trying to maintain the balance, to 87 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: try and maintain the bountiful gifts of these places. I 88 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: was also looking at an article on National Geographic titled 89 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 1: Secrets of the Maya in the Other World, and this 90 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: was by Alma Guillermo Prieto, and this is about the sinkholes, 91 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: uh that we've been discussing here, and about how they 92 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: were also associated with a key deity which was chock. 93 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:50,840 Speaker 1: I believe that it's spelled in this article is c 94 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: h A A K. I've also seen it with a 95 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 1: with a C ch A C. I think. Yeah, So 96 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: here's what they wrote in this article quote or this 97 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: is just a really I think telling a passage from it. 98 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: Quote for men like unkin the old gods are still 99 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: very much alive, and Chock, ruler of sinotes and caves, 100 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: is among the most important gods of all. For the 101 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: benefit of living things. He pours from the skies, the 102 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,599 Speaker 1: water he keeps in earthenware, jars and caves. Chalk is 103 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: one in many. Each thunderclap is a separate chock in action, 104 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: breaking a jar open and letting the rain fall. Each 105 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: god inhabits a separate layer of reality, along with dozens 106 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: of alternatively complacent and ferocious gods that live in the 107 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 1: thirteen other worlds above and the nine other worlds below. Together, 108 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: they filled the Maya people's lives with dreams, visions, and nightmares, 109 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 1: a complicated calendar of agricultural times and fertility rituals, in 110 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: a firm sense of the way things must be done. 111 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: Chock had moved, Unkin said, and that meant the planting 112 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 1: season would soon arrive. That's beautiful. Yeah, yeah, So in 113 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: this we see that a cave or sinote could be 114 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: seen as as a dwelling place of chalk, but it 115 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: could also, can you know, be seen as this yawning 116 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: mall of the earth, or even this gateway to deeper 117 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: realms of reality. Yeah, and and this combines the multiple version, 118 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: so you you can of course see these senotes as 119 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: a gateway to the underworld and a source of water. 120 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: But I was also reading in a different National Geographic 121 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: article um about like the the the specifics of certain senotes. Like, 122 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: it's not just all senotes are religiously equivalent. There would be, 123 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: for example, some senotes and specific locations that have different 124 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: religious significance for the people who live nearby. The one 125 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 1: I was thinking of was the a senote that, as 126 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: the ancient mind city had a wall, there was like 127 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: many senotes within the wall that could be used as 128 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,559 Speaker 1: a water source. But there's one senote outside the city 129 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: wall that it seems was regarded primarily as a place 130 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: for the burial of the dead. And there have been 131 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: many human remains found down inside that one. Yeah, yeah there, Yeah, 132 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: they're they're a whole slew of them with different significance. 133 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: Is the most famous of the sonotes, uh, it's probably 134 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: the Sacred Sinote at the Maya site of Sanita, where 135 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: there was this, it's been a place of of a 136 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: fair amount of study. There was a small building by 137 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: it that was apparently used for blood sacrifices um, again 138 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: tying into traditions related to the you know, the sacredness 139 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: of the spot and the continuation of water. Variety of 140 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: sacred objects were also apparently cast into the sinote, including 141 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: precious jade artifacts, gold and copper disks, uh, foods, and 142 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: other organic items that that we've we actually can find 143 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: you know, evidence of. But uh, yeah, so you think 144 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: of this as like an opening up into the world 145 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: below where you might throw offerings, where you might make 146 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,480 Speaker 1: sacrifices of material or sacrifices of blood. It's hard for 147 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: me not to sort of connect this to some of 148 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: the stuff we were talking about in the previous episode 149 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: where there is a pretty your link between pumping too 150 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: much groundwater up. You know, like there's certain places where 151 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: there's a need for for massive irrigation of fields maybe 152 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: sometime to like protect a certain crop from frost or something, 153 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 1: so you will pump just tons and tons of water 154 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: just to put over the fields so so so much 155 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: that you really lower the level of the groundwater and 156 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: suddenly cause lots of sinkholes to to open up where 157 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 1: the suddenly the you know, the water pressure is not 158 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 1: what it was below the overburden can't hold up its 159 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: own weight and then collapses. And this has happened in 160 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: the US in places like Florida. I mean, it could 161 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: be it's very easy to see how something like that 162 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: could be interpreted as as the wrath of the gods, right, yeah, absolutely, yeah, 163 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: you're you're messing with the domain of the the earth gods. Now. 164 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: One of the interesting things about these Mesoamerican traditions concerning 165 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: sinots is that it's also thought that that native people's 166 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:58,599 Speaker 1: um elsewhere in the America has probably carried some of these, uh, 167 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: these ideas with and so when you encounter of some 168 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:07,680 Speaker 1: North American sinotes, there's there's evidence of that these areas 169 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: that native peoples may have used them as burial places 170 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: as well given them, um, you know, places of importance 171 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 1: in their worldviews. And one such place is Devil Sinkhole 172 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: northwest of San San Antonio. Um it's now a state park, 173 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,679 Speaker 1: but it's a hundred and forty ft deep or forty 174 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: three meters deep, and um uh yeah, apparently there's evidence 175 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: that ancient people's came here and probably held it in 176 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: some esteem. But one of the really crazy natural world 177 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: things about Devil Sinkhole is that it is home to 178 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:42,319 Speaker 1: or at least part of the year, it is home 179 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: to three million Mexican freetailed bats. Wow, that's a lot 180 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: of bats. Yeah, so they migrate to Mexico for the 181 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,680 Speaker 1: cooler months, but they roost up in the sinkhole other 182 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,719 Speaker 1: parts of the year. And we've we've talked about how 183 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: amazing bats are in the show before and especially especially 184 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: insectivore uh bats you know that eat insects. Well, it's 185 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,440 Speaker 1: been estimated that the bats that live in Devil Sinkhole 186 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: again something like three million Mexican freetail bats that they 187 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:18,200 Speaker 1: consume un estimated thirty tons of beetles and moths each night, 188 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:23,360 Speaker 1: each night, thirty tons, thirty tons beetles and moths. That's crazy. 189 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: That's one of those facts that makes you wonder how 190 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: many tons of beetles they're just are already? Like, is 191 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,200 Speaker 1: that is that half the beetles in the area? Is 192 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: that one percent of the beetles in the area. Yeah, 193 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 1: I mean, it's just a tremendous biomass out there, and 194 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: these bats are here for it um and most of 195 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: it is insect or arthur pod in some way, or 196 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: you know, most of the animal is is arthur pod 197 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:48,559 Speaker 1: in some way, and wow, that's just amazing. You can 198 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: measuring insects or beetles in units of like garbage truck fulls. 199 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: So I love this because, yeah, this is a great 200 00:11:57,840 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: example of just sort of how like we said in 201 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: the last episode, when a sinkhole occurs, it does not 202 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: you know, create this natural void. Like. Things will move 203 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 1: into the sinkhole, things will take advantage of this new 204 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: um aspect of the geography, and in this case, the 205 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,360 Speaker 1: bats make it their home. So if you if you've 206 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: lived in the San Antonio area, you've visited there, and 207 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,319 Speaker 1: you've been to two Devil sinkhole, I'd love to hear, uh, 208 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:23,839 Speaker 1: hear about your experience checking it out. I know, if 209 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: you go during the right time of the year, you 210 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: can actually observe the bats like, uh, moving in and 211 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: out of the of the cavern area. So uh, it 212 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 1: sounds beautiful. I've read that there are also I mean, 213 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: one of the things is that belief in the sacredness 214 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: of of sinkholes and and their association with the world 215 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: of the gods is not just an ancient belief, it's 216 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: not necessarily extinct. I mean there are people today for 217 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,839 Speaker 1: whom sinkholes hold sacred importance, and if if you, if 218 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:52,200 Speaker 1: you are one of those people or know some, I'd 219 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,320 Speaker 1: like to hear about that too. Yeah, yeah, I'd love 220 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,760 Speaker 1: to hear, especially the details about any modern rights associated 221 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: with it, and and just of the belief system built 222 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: up around it, you know, the stories than Now, one 223 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: of the things we mentioned in the previous episode is 224 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: that the sink whole is a natural feature that can 225 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: inadvertently serve as a type of scientific instrument, much in 226 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 1: the same way that like ancient ice. You know, it's 227 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: like nobody intended it to be this way, but we 228 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: can learn things about the ancient climate from taking ice cores, 229 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:28,680 Speaker 1: so that you know, those layers of ice really give 230 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: us a lot to read into the history of the Earth. 231 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: And apparently sinkholes can do the same thing, right, that's right. 232 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we think about how they gobble 233 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: up parts of the surface world, and yeah, they do 234 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: sometimes do scientists a huge favor by collecting and to 235 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:46,760 Speaker 1: some degree preserving evidence of past life forms, even past 236 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 1: like storm activity and and and climates of ancient times. Uh. 237 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 1: And so when we ventured into the sink whole. With 238 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,079 Speaker 1: the right tools or with the right methods, we're able 239 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,439 Speaker 1: to uncover those secrets that have been reserved there. And 240 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 1: they've just been There've been numerous studies that have looked 241 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,680 Speaker 1: at sinkholes and uh and gathered specific information from from 242 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: these sinkholes, and we're not gonna be able to give 243 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 1: a full overview of them here in this episode, but 244 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: I wanted to touch on some that I thought provided 245 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: a reasonable overview and in an idea of what sort 246 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: of stuff we can learn from sinkholes. So uh, there's 247 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: the For instance, in two thousand fourteen, a team from 248 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne studied genetic information 249 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: extracted from the tooth of an adolescent girl who fell 250 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: into a sinkhole in the Yucatan some twelve thousand to 251 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: thirteen thousand years ago, and this with her remains were 252 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: found alongside the remains of ancient beasts. Because you know, 253 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: what what occurs is some of these really treacherous sinkholes, 254 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: is like things will fall in and then they cannot 255 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: get out, and of course they die down there. They 256 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: decay down there, and the remains are down there for 257 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: us to later discuss ever in study. Oh, I hadn't 258 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: thought about this, but I wonder if sinkholes are one 259 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: of these things, one of these terrain features that can 260 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: serve as a natural predator trap. Um. A predator trap is, 261 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 1: I guess, a concept in the interaction between the landscape 262 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: and and the animals that live nearby. But you know, 263 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: a classic example is like the Librettar pits. You know, 264 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 1: so a an animal becomes stranded and dies in it, 265 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,400 Speaker 1: and then the smell attracts predators or scavengers who then 266 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: themselves become trapped. Another example I was reading about not 267 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 1: too long ago was there is a geologically active valley 268 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: in the cum Chotka Peninsula where often like birds are 269 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: killed by volcanic fumes, and then their decaying bodies attract 270 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: predators into the area, who then also are killed by 271 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: the fumes, and it leads to this feedback cycle. Yeah, yeah, 272 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: it's uh. I think in some cases they definitely are 273 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: serving as predator traps um. So in this particular study, 274 00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: one of the reasons this tooth was so important is 275 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: that the researchers were studying the influx of humans into 276 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: the America's and wanted to see of a specimen such 277 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: as this with a skull shape that was that is 278 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: unusual among other Native American lineages. They wanted to see 279 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: if it fell in line genetically with those lineages or 280 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: represented something else, perhaps lining up with theories about migration 281 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: from Southeast Asia or even Australia that didn't come in 282 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,960 Speaker 1: through the bearing straight um. And they found that their 283 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,760 Speaker 1: remains did line up with with the bearing straight or 284 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: Barringian migration. So that's just one cool example. Okay, let's 285 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: hear another, all right, Yeah, here's one from nineteen Researchers 286 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: from the Florida Museum of Natural History looked at the 287 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: preserved bones of a Craton's carcara and an extinct carrion 288 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: eating falcon from the Caribbean that was killed off roughly 289 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 1: a thousand years ago when humans first entered the region. 290 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: And they were looking at these remains in a flooded 291 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:59,000 Speaker 1: sinkhole um on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, and 292 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: the whole is a amill sink, a a hundred foot deep, dark, 293 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:06,680 Speaker 1: oxygen free environment that preserved the two thousand, five hundred 294 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,720 Speaker 1: year old bones of this creature enough that they could 295 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:12,679 Speaker 1: they could conduct genetic studies of it. In fact, the 296 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: bone yielded ninety eight point seven percent of the bird's 297 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:21,120 Speaker 1: mitochondrial genome, which is pretty impressive. Again, it's like it's 298 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: like a deep cooler, you know, it preserves these remains, 299 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,640 Speaker 1: uh that if they were dropped, you know, in other 300 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: places on the world, would have just been long lost, 301 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:36,399 Speaker 1: no ice required. UM. Here's another one of note. In 302 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,160 Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen, another study from the University of Illinois, 303 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: your Banno Champagne studied the remains of a giant sloth 304 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: that fell into a sinkhole in what is now Carriblanca 305 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: in central Belize twenty seven thousand years ago. And in 306 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: this the tooth, humorous and femur were partially fossilized, but 307 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,040 Speaker 1: there was still enough unaltered tissue for stable carbon and 308 00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: oxygen isotope analysis to study what the slow off eight. 309 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,639 Speaker 1: And this in turn revealed details about local climate and 310 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: local environment there in that region at that time, which 311 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:11,159 Speaker 1: is pretty pretty astounding. Did did it say exactly what 312 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: the sloth did eat? Um? I didn't get into the 313 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: the the nuts and berries of that. Basically, suffice to say, 314 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,919 Speaker 1: I'd love to come back and discuss um. Uh, giant 315 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: ground slots more in the future though, But but basically 316 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,159 Speaker 1: it provided them the the information they needed to, you know, 317 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: to actually gaze back in the past and consider, you know, 318 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: what it was consuming, and that means what was around it, 319 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: what was you know, how it was able to make 320 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,080 Speaker 1: its home in in the world at that time. So 321 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: it's pretty amazing. We could probably do a whole episode 322 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: or series of episodes just on really interesting studies finding 323 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: out what ancient peoples and creatures eight using analyses and 324 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: chemical analyses of these kinds. Yeah, I mean it reveals 325 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 1: so much, so much. Absolutely. One I was just reading 326 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: not too long ago that was kind of funny to 327 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:05,439 Speaker 1: me was, um, was a chemical analysis of a gigantic 328 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: copper light found I think it was around the city 329 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: of York in England that revealed it was left by 330 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,959 Speaker 1: a human I think like a thousand years ago or so, 331 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: you know, roughly, and revealed a diet heavy and meat 332 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: and bread, but also just just riddled with intestinal worms. 333 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,280 Speaker 1: So then you get the double You have the fossilized poop, 334 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 1: but then the fossilized creatures that were writhing inside it. 335 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 1: But I guess if it's about a thousand years ago. 336 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I'm not sure if that counts as fossilized. 337 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know. 338 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,360 Speaker 1: So it was, you know, poop from hundreds of years ago, 339 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: so you know, roughly around a thousand years ago. But 340 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 1: is that technically a fossil or is that just very 341 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,320 Speaker 1: well preserved poop. We'll have to come back and discuss 342 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: in the future. Okay. Um, here's a two thousand twenty 343 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: study from go Through University in Frankfort. They dove into 344 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: one of the most impressive sinkholes in the world, the 345 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,119 Speaker 1: Blue Hole. I believe we mentioned this um in the 346 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: last episode, at least in Passing Uh. This is a 347 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:10,479 Speaker 1: flooded cart sinkhole on Lighthouse Reef in Belize and they 348 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: were able to to to drill up and analyze a 349 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:18,640 Speaker 1: sedimentary quote storm archive covering two thousand years of history, 350 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,359 Speaker 1: built layer by layer by layer in the dark depth 351 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: of this whole, and it revealed a lot about the 352 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 1: frequency of tropical storms in the area. Over time. They 353 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 1: found quote hurricanes in the Caribbean became more frequent in 354 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:36,160 Speaker 1: their force varied noticeably around the same time that classical 355 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:40,439 Speaker 1: mind culture in Central America suffered its final demise. So 356 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: again just a chance to do gaze back in time 357 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: and see what what was going on, um, you know, 358 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,160 Speaker 1: with the climate and with weather patterns by looking into 359 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: the sinkhole. So is the suggestion there. I assume it's 360 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,360 Speaker 1: not totally known, but the suggestion there may be that 361 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: the organizational decline of the mind Civilis station was in 362 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: some ways possibly related to changes in weather patterns. That's 363 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,640 Speaker 1: my understanding that it would have would have impacted UH, 364 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: that that civilization UH and would have potentially contributed. Yeah. 365 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,959 Speaker 1: I also ran across a two thousand seventeen study from 366 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: the University of Hawaii at Manoa that looked into uh 367 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: uh Makawai Cave and Kauaii, the largest limestone cave in 368 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: y and only accessible via a sinkhole. So it's a 369 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 1: it's a rich fossil site providing insight into Hawaiian life. 370 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: The sinkhole Paleo Lake contains ten thousand years of sedimentary information, 371 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,399 Speaker 1: revealing a rich diversity of natural information as well as 372 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: Polynesian artifacts. So in this study they were able to 373 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:48,880 Speaker 1: find supporting evidence in the coral fragments there to discover 374 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 1: the source of the mega earthquake UH in the Aleutian 375 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: Islands that spawned the devastating fifteen eighties six tsunami that 376 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: hit uh sen Riku, Japan. And so uh, you know again, 377 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: it's it goes beyond merely being able to go in 378 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: and find the remains of creatures, you know, which is 379 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: I think the first place your mind goes when you 380 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,679 Speaker 1: think about sinkholes. But able to to be able to 381 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,679 Speaker 1: go in there and find some some shattered bits of 382 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: coral and then compare that to um two other bits 383 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:23,200 Speaker 1: of information and sort of piece together like seismic activities 384 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,679 Speaker 1: that occurred centuries ago. And I have I have one 385 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: more here. This one's really fun too. Back in v 386 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:34,640 Speaker 1: a twenty five thousand year old sinkhole in Wyoming Natural 387 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 1: Trap Cave and Big Horn Canyon was found. It measured 388 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: fifteen feet across about eighty five ft deep, and when 389 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 1: they went into it, they discovered fossils of mammoths, short 390 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: faced bears, camels, and um collared limmings. But they ended 391 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,399 Speaker 1: up boarding it up after that for thirty years to 392 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 1: prevent accidental falls. Because the Natural Park Service I was 393 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:59,160 Speaker 1: reading describes that Uh, this particular sinkhole is quote virtually 394 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,199 Speaker 1: impossible to see until it is directly underfoot, and if 395 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,200 Speaker 1: you look at pictures of it, yeah, it looks because 396 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: if you fell, like it widens out underneath, so you 397 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: wouldn't like skid along the side of this or even 398 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: like it would just you would just plummet down to 399 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: the bottom. Yeah. It's not a cone. It's not even 400 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: a cylinder. It's like a jug with the with the 401 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,640 Speaker 1: you know, bottle opening. Yeah, so it's it's very impressive. 402 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: You should look it up. They have some wonderful pictures 403 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:28,920 Speaker 1: of it in the National Park Service does. But so, yeah, 404 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:30,439 Speaker 1: they ended up bordering it up, boarding it up for 405 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,679 Speaker 1: thirty years. But when scientists finally got a chance to 406 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: dig in again, they discovered numerous large prehistoric mammal bones 407 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,879 Speaker 1: and even complete skeletons of smaller mammals, and they said 408 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,000 Speaker 1: that it ultimately functioned like a refrigerator, even preserving collagen 409 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:47,040 Speaker 1: and some of the bones. It wound up containing a 410 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 1: whopping thirty thousand specimens, they say, And on top of this, 411 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: scientists are still studying what the cave can reveal about 412 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:59,200 Speaker 1: ancient human migration, ancient climate. So again, just another cash 413 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: of information shan about about the past that we find 414 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 1: in one of these sinkholes. Now, I'm sorry if I 415 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 1: missed this. Do they know if this this huge cache 416 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: of different animal specimens, is that a result of some 417 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: kind of natural deposition process, or is that the result 418 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: of humans like humans putting animal remains into the sinkhole? Um? 419 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: My understanding is that this would have been animals accidentally 420 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: falling in over over the ages. Um. But it could 421 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,920 Speaker 1: be wrong on that. Um. There's I guess it's possible 422 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: that that some of these bodies would have been thrown in. 423 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:35,160 Speaker 1: But uh, my impression was that we were dealing with 424 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: with things that had had made the very mistake that 425 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,679 Speaker 1: the Natural National Park Service was was warning about, you know, 426 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:43,919 Speaker 1: that it being virtually impossible to see it until it's 427 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 1: directly underfoot. Like you've got to do a real dexterity 428 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,360 Speaker 1: saving throw to avoid fall into the bottom of this baby, Yeah, 429 00:24:50,720 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: at disadvantage? Yes? Thank? Okay, Well I've got another one 430 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,159 Speaker 1: for you. Obviously, it would be bad to suddenly plunge 431 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: down into a sinkhole unwittingly on Earth, But what if 432 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: you were to do it in space? Oh? Wow? Well, 433 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,680 Speaker 1: that would be even worse. Well, actually you might think so, 434 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 1: but I just I just now thought of a condition 435 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: that would make it maybe not nearly as bad. I 436 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 1: don't know what we'll get into that. I mean, I 437 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:21,719 Speaker 1: would hate to fall into a sinkhole like the one 438 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: we just described in general. But what if then you 439 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: I mean, because if you get to the bottom, what 440 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,520 Speaker 1: you're injured, maybe you maybe you're gonna starve to death, 441 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: or you know, dive your wounds or dive exposure down there. 442 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: Maybe there's a recently uh fall an animal down there 443 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 1: you can you can eat, or maybe there's something down 444 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:40,920 Speaker 1: there that is going to eat you. There's so many 445 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,119 Speaker 1: horrible ways it could go. But space is a lonely 446 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 1: place to die. So I don't know how true that is. 447 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: So I want to talk about a space object, an 448 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:55,119 Speaker 1: object called comment six P Trumov Garasimenko. Now, this comment 449 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 1: is called sixty seven P because it is the sixty 450 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: seven periodic comment discovered in our solar system. It was 451 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:05,880 Speaker 1: found in nineteen sixty nine at an observatory in Russia 452 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: by an astronomer named Klim Ivanovich Churyumov from a photographic 453 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 1: plate that was taken by some fed Lana Ivanova Garasimenko 454 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: and like I said, as a periodic comment, meaning that 455 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: it's a comment with a relatively short orbit that we've 456 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: documented repeatedly returning to the inner Solar system. Some comments, 457 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: you know, they're just way way out there and they're 458 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:30,919 Speaker 1: never going to get close to the Sun, so we 459 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: don't really have any chance to get a good look 460 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: at them. This is one of the ones that comes 461 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: in at one angle of its of its orbit, pretty 462 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,840 Speaker 1: close to the Sun, and astronomers have of course cited 463 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:43,880 Speaker 1: it a bunch of times since it was first discovered, 464 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: since it comes around every six and a half years 465 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,439 Speaker 1: or so, if you've seen pictures of a comet up close, 466 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: there's a good chance it was this one. Uh. It's 467 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,960 Speaker 1: it's kind of l shaped, or sort of like a 468 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,440 Speaker 1: bent barbell with a very short handle. It has these 469 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:03,400 Speaker 1: two lobes of frust or rocky icy material and its nucleus. 470 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,480 Speaker 1: It also kind of looks like a bent double mushroom. 471 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: It probably originally came from the Kuiper Belt, which is 472 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: a large loose collection of icy objects that extends far 473 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:16,159 Speaker 1: out past the orbit of Neptune. So if you go 474 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,119 Speaker 1: out past all of the planets, you know, you go 475 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,360 Speaker 1: past the gas giants, past Neptune, into the realm of Pluto, 476 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: and then from there on out there's just sort of 477 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: this big shell around the Solar System of of space, 478 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,959 Speaker 1: and these icy objects that if they're perturbed in just 479 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 1: the right way, if they get flung off of their 480 00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: their deep orbital path and thrown down into the inner 481 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: Solar System, they can become these familiar periodic comets. And 482 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:45,199 Speaker 1: that appears to be what happened to Six. It was 483 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 1: probably flung on this path that occasionally brings it close 484 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,639 Speaker 1: to the Sun when long ago it was subject to 485 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: a collision or gravitational disturbance by some other object. At 486 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,639 Speaker 1: its biggest dimensions, it's a little over four pometers or 487 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: about two point five miles long and wide, so it 488 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: would be big enough to walk on, but not nearly 489 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,880 Speaker 1: as big as a planet or even a moon. Now 490 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,200 Speaker 1: we know a lot about six and have great pictures 491 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,920 Speaker 1: of it because it was the target of the e 492 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:19,120 Speaker 1: s A, the European Space Agency Rosetta mission, which actually 493 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: landed a probe on the surface of this comment and 494 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: took a bunch of amazing photos. Among other things, Uh, 495 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:27,919 Speaker 1: and there's a lot that's really interesting about this comment. 496 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: There's likely one amazing short video or gift that you've 497 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 1: seen from its surface, and this was made out of 498 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: a series of still images taken by the lander. That's 499 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: that we're sequenced together into an animation where it looks 500 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: kind of like there's a snowstorm or a blizzard raining 501 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: down onto the surface. Rob have you seen this animation before, Yes, 502 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: it's really amazing. Now it does need some qualification that 503 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: this is not actually a snowstorm like we would experience 504 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: here on Earth. Uh. And the animation that we see 505 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: is a sped up animation. It takes something I think 506 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:05,240 Speaker 1: like twenty five minutes of original uh you know, time 507 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: lapse between the different photos, and compresses it into a 508 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: few seconds of of panning camera shot. So it's not 509 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: actually a snowstorm, but probably more like the movements of 510 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: dust particles and the star field as the comet travels. 511 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: But it's still just one of the most strange and 512 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: beautiful images I've seen made out of photos taken by 513 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: space probe. Yeah, I mean, it's it's absolutely other worldly. Now, 514 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:29,800 Speaker 1: there are a lot of things that were interesting about 515 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: the Rosetta mission, including the ways that the Rosetta mission 516 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: kind of went wrong. Do you do you remember this 517 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: when it was trying to put the phile a lander 518 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: down on the surface of the comet, and how it 519 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 1: kind of bounced in a way it wasn't supposed to. 520 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: I I remember, I remember this being a point in 521 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: the news around the time it happened. Yeah. Yeah, So 522 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 1: the so the Rosetta mission had it had a lander 523 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: that separated from the orbiter craft, and then the lander 524 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,480 Speaker 1: was supposed to touch down on the surface of the comet, 525 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: and I believe it was supposed to fire these harpoons 526 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: that would lock get into the surface so it didn't 527 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: float away again, because again, thinking about the gravity of 528 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 1: a comet, uh, it's mass is so small compared to 529 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: the kind of gravity we're used to on planets or 530 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,520 Speaker 1: moons that you can quite easily drift away from it 531 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: if you've really got any momentum at all. I believe 532 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 1: I read that the escape velocity from this commet was 533 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,160 Speaker 1: one meter per second. So if you're you know, moving 534 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: away from its center of mass at one meter per 535 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: second or more, you're not going to fall back down. 536 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 1: You're just gonna keep drifting away. But anyway, what I 537 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: think happened with the lander was that it was supposed 538 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,400 Speaker 1: to fire these harpoons to lock it into the surface, 539 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: but that didn't work correctly, so instead it kind of 540 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: bounced after it touched the surface, and then bounced a 541 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: couple of times and eventually came to rest under a cliff. 542 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 1: Because remember this is not like a spherical commet, but 543 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: it's kind of bent l shaped with these round edges. 544 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,040 Speaker 1: It came to rest under some kind of cliff or overhang, 545 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: the shadow of which mostly blocked the solar panels that 546 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 1: were supposed to power the lander. So then that led 547 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 1: to you know, uh laed to it not having enough 548 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 1: power to do all the things it wanted to do. 549 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: But despite that, there was still a huge amount of 550 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: um really great science that came out of the rosett 551 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 1: emission and these wonderful photographs. And one of the interesting 552 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 1: findings about this comet sixty s P that I wanted 553 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,200 Speaker 1: to mention this was from a NASA press release from 554 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:25,400 Speaker 1: September of called comet discovered to have its own northern lights. 555 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: Uh this was actually revealed with the help of NASA 556 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 1: instruments that were part of the essay Rosette emission. What 557 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: they found was that the comet has this invisible glow. 558 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:39,719 Speaker 1: It has an aurora of far ultra violet radiation. Uh. 559 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,680 Speaker 1: These findings were published in Nature Astronomy of last year, 560 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,479 Speaker 1: and this electromagnetic glow was an aurora much like we 561 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,080 Speaker 1: see in the polar regions of Earth. So on Earth, 562 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 1: the northern and southern lights are created when charged particles 563 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: from the Sun collide with gas particles in our upper atmosphere, 564 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:01,840 Speaker 1: and this results in reactions that create patterns of green, red, 565 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: and white across across the sky. Other planets in the 566 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: Solar System also have a rural phenomenon. Jupiter does, I 567 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,600 Speaker 1: think even Mars does. Mini planets, but this is the 568 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: first time we've ever observed it surrounding a comet. And 569 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,240 Speaker 1: quote from the press release here quote electrons streaming out 570 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 1: in the solar wind. The stream of charged particles flowing 571 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 1: out from the Sun interact with the gas in the 572 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 1: comets coma, breaking apart water and other molecules. The resulting 573 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:34,640 Speaker 1: atoms give off a distinctive far ultraviolet light, invisible to 574 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,640 Speaker 1: the naked eye. Far ultra violet light has the shortest 575 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,920 Speaker 1: wavelengths of radiation in the ultra violet spectrum, which makes 576 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,080 Speaker 1: me wonder if this comet could give you a sunburn. 577 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: But anyway, I want to get around to the main study. 578 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about tying into our our overall 579 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: theme today. So this is a study published in Nature 580 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:59,480 Speaker 1: by Jean Baptiste Vincent at All called large heterogeneityse and 581 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: commets et seven p as revealed by active pits from 582 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: sinkhole collapse. So the authors here talk about how a 583 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 1: lot of times when we get a look at the 584 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 1: surface of a cometary nucleus, that's the hard icy core 585 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 1: of the comment. Remember comment has so it's got a 586 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: hard core that's made of like ice and dust, the 587 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,080 Speaker 1: part you could walk on, and then it's surrounded often 588 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: by sort of cloud or tail. The coma is made 589 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:27,560 Speaker 1: of water, vapor, dust and gas. And when they get 590 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: a look at this hard nucleus of a comet, we 591 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,560 Speaker 1: often observe pits. Now, there's one way that that might 592 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: not be surprising, because if you think about other objects 593 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: in the Solar System, like the Moon or asteroids the 594 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 1: dwarf planet like series, they have a lot of pits also, 595 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 1: and these are quite clearly impact craters. As these objects 596 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: are bombarded by space junk over millions of years, these 597 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: pits accumulate, and if the planets or moons don't have 598 00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:59,560 Speaker 1: active geology like volcanoes and plate tectonics to repeatedly pave 599 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: and smooth over the surface, the pits from ancient impacts 600 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:05,280 Speaker 1: just sit there and they stay there, and we can 601 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: see them easily. But there is a problem with explaining 602 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:12,239 Speaker 1: the pits on commets as impact creators. First of all, 603 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: our best guests about how often commets encounter large impacts 604 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:19,040 Speaker 1: does not seem to correlate with the number of pits 605 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,560 Speaker 1: that we see. And then second, when we try to 606 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,880 Speaker 1: create physical models of what would happen when a comet 607 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,400 Speaker 1: suffered a high speed impact, these models just don't create 608 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: pits like the ones we actually observe. So what's making 609 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 1: the pits? Uh? Some researchers have hypothesized that the pits 610 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:39,120 Speaker 1: are a result of internal explosions of some kind, But 611 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,240 Speaker 1: in the words of the author's quote, the driving process 612 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:46,640 Speaker 1: remains unknown. Uh So do we have any better guesses? Well, 613 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:50,600 Speaker 1: according to this study, yes we do. Zarab. I want 614 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:52,839 Speaker 1: you to look at this next picture picture I've got 615 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:55,960 Speaker 1: for you here. This is a picture of Commet six 616 00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 1: seven shared by the E s A. And if you 617 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,759 Speaker 1: look at this comment from a close orbit under the 618 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 1: right conditions, you can see what look kind of like 619 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:08,440 Speaker 1: shafts of light, almost like those Spielberg lights, you know, 620 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,640 Speaker 1: from Steven Spielberg movies. He loves these God lights, the 621 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:16,319 Speaker 1: shafts of light piercing through a dusty patch of air 622 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,880 Speaker 1: or you know, cutting through different obstacles in the foreground. 623 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 1: You see these shafts of light blasting out of the 624 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: surface of the comet, like it makes me think of 625 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,359 Speaker 1: Indiana Jones saying, you know, lightning, fire power of God 626 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:31,880 Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, yeah, it does bring to mind the 627 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:34,680 Speaker 1: you know, the fires of the art or or the 628 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:38,400 Speaker 1: lights of you know, the UFOs, the very spaceships that 629 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:42,880 Speaker 1: are that they are encountered in Spielberg films. So I 630 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,479 Speaker 1: was reading an article about this study by phil Plate 631 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:48,600 Speaker 1: the Bad Astronomer, at his blog on sci Fi, and 632 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: he highlighted this image in particular, the one you're looking 633 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: at now, rob in connection with the subject matter the study. 634 00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: This photo is taken from a distance of about a 635 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,360 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy seven kilometers. And the point of it 636 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,399 Speaker 1: is that what's being shown in these shafts of light 637 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,640 Speaker 1: in the image is not actually lightning or fire a 638 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 1: power of God. They're not actually shafts of light. It 639 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 1: is actually jets of water vapor that are gassing out 640 00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,960 Speaker 1: from the surface of the comet and being illuminated by 641 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:20,239 Speaker 1: the sunlight. And I've got another photo for you to 642 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 1: look at this up close of these jets. It truly 643 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: does look amazing. Yeah, it creates this feeling that it 644 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,880 Speaker 1: is glowing or emitting energy. Um what whicheness since it 645 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,880 Speaker 1: is emitting energy here. Uh, but yeah, it creates these 646 00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:38,800 Speaker 1: are very these are beautiful images like these would not 647 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:42,120 Speaker 1: look out of place, like framed on the wall of 648 00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:46,239 Speaker 1: some sort of you know, trendy uh you know in 649 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,880 Speaker 1: New York eatery or something. Yeah, I agree. I mean 650 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 1: they have an almost artistic quality with their their real photos. 651 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,919 Speaker 1: So scientists believe these jets are caused in the following way. 652 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 1: A large part of the nucleus of a comet is 653 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,319 Speaker 1: made of water ice. As a comet with an irregular 654 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,279 Speaker 1: orbit gets to that part of its orbit closest to 655 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: the Sun, of course, the ice in its crust heats 656 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:13,640 Speaker 1: up and it melts or its sublimates, it vaporizes, turns 657 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:17,120 Speaker 1: into a gas, and these jets we see in the photos, 658 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:20,479 Speaker 1: this is the water vapor that is being exhaled into 659 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:24,279 Speaker 1: space by the crusty lobes. But here's where all of 660 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:27,480 Speaker 1: the different subjects we've been talking about come together. What 661 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,640 Speaker 1: we have recently observed in these images is that many 662 00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 1: of these jets seem to be shooting directly from the 663 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,800 Speaker 1: mysterious pits in the surface of the comet. Now what 664 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: does that mean. Well, the authors of this study in 665 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:48,640 Speaker 1: Nature conclude that the pits are probably sinkholes, sinkholes in space. Well, 666 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:51,840 Speaker 1: that makes sense given what we've just discussed about the 667 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:55,720 Speaker 1: water vapor jetting out of them. Right, it is leaving 668 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,960 Speaker 1: a hollow and uh, and that's the very kind of 669 00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,160 Speaker 1: situation that on on Earth can lead to a sinkhole 670 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 1: exactly right Now, These wouldn't be caused by the exact 671 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:08,759 Speaker 1: same process as natural sinkholes on Earth, just because it 672 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:11,440 Speaker 1: wouldn't involve things like rain, drainage and such. But it's 673 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,279 Speaker 1: pretty close. It's it's almost exactly the same thing. And 674 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:16,800 Speaker 1: what you're what you're saying rob is exactly correct. So 675 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:21,160 Speaker 1: the hypothesized mechanism works like this. The comet travels into 676 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 1: the inner parts of its orbit so it gets close 677 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:25,840 Speaker 1: to the sun. Heat from the sun warms the comet, 678 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,239 Speaker 1: turning the ice into water vapor, and apparently sometimes this 679 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 1: heat penetrates the surface, sublimating large pockets of ice underneath 680 00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:37,719 Speaker 1: the top layer of the comet, and then the water 681 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:41,160 Speaker 1: vapor gets blasted off into space, leaving these voids or 682 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:45,960 Speaker 1: caves underneath the surface where the ice used to be. Eventually, 683 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:50,560 Speaker 1: the overburden lying above these evaporated comet caves can't support 684 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,120 Speaker 1: itself and it collapses, leaving a pit. And this can 685 00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:57,600 Speaker 1: create an interesting feedback cycle because now that there's a pit, 686 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:01,160 Speaker 1: radiation from the Sun can pin to trade deeper into 687 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:04,280 Speaker 1: the surface of the comet, warming even more ice below, 688 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,440 Speaker 1: which is why we see jets of water vapor shooting 689 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:10,439 Speaker 1: out of the pits themselves. These are sort of hot 690 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:14,400 Speaker 1: spots where the solar radiation can access pockets of ancient 691 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:17,799 Speaker 1: ice and heat them up very fast. The author's right 692 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: quote here. We report that pits on Comet six Triuma 693 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:26,759 Speaker 1: of Garrisimenko are active and probably created by a synk 694 00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:31,719 Speaker 1: whole process, possibly accompanied by outbursts. We argue that after formation, 695 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:37,040 Speaker 1: pits expand slowly in diameter owing to sublimation driven retreat 696 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:42,239 Speaker 1: of the walls. Therefore, pits characterize how eroded the surface is. 697 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:45,960 Speaker 1: A fresh commentary surface will have a ragged structure with 698 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,840 Speaker 1: many pits, while an evolved surface will look smoother. The 699 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,520 Speaker 1: size and spatial distribution of pits imply that large heterogeneitys 700 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:58,719 Speaker 1: exist in the physical, structural, and compositional properties of the 701 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:02,160 Speaker 1: first few hundred meter is below the current nucleus surface. 702 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,240 Speaker 1: So what they're saying there is that there's also probably 703 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:07,680 Speaker 1: a way to tell how old the pits are and 704 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:10,560 Speaker 1: how old the surface of the comet is by looking 705 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 1: at these pits. Over time, the vaporization of ice eroads 706 00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:17,840 Speaker 1: and smooths over the walls of the pit. So if 707 00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:20,640 Speaker 1: you're looking at a comet, uh, the older a comet 708 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:24,279 Speaker 1: sinkhole is, the smoother its walls and the shallower its 709 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,360 Speaker 1: pits become. And very new pits in in less evolved 710 00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:32,160 Speaker 1: comets are the ones with very steep, straight walls. It's 711 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:36,400 Speaker 1: kind of the exact opposite of like how human faces age, right, 712 00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,359 Speaker 1: So a very old piece of comet terrain that's been 713 00:40:39,719 --> 00:40:41,920 Speaker 1: exposed to the sun many times. I guess would probably 714 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:45,879 Speaker 1: have a smoother surface with shallower pits, and one where 715 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:49,439 Speaker 1: the pits are fresh. It's gonna be craggier. Yeah, yeah, 716 00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:52,719 Speaker 1: it's it's interesting. But but but, like you said, this 717 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,880 Speaker 1: is essentially a sinkhole in space, and not even in 718 00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,000 Speaker 1: the most likely place you might think to find it, 719 00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:03,040 Speaker 1: not on a planet, but on the surface of a comet. Now, 720 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,759 Speaker 1: the one reason I said maybe, actually it wouldn't be 721 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:07,920 Speaker 1: quite as bad to fall into a sinkhole in space, 722 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,120 Speaker 1: at least in this example, is that the gravity of 723 00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: the comet is so low that when you fell into 724 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,359 Speaker 1: the sink whole, you wouldn't fall very fast, so you'll 725 00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:18,680 Speaker 1: probably be fine when you hit the bottom. Yeah, or 726 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,440 Speaker 1: maybe you can catch an upward boost on one of 727 00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:24,480 Speaker 1: those jets right right. It sounds like a great place 728 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:28,480 Speaker 1: for an action scene to take place. Yeah, Ice pirates 729 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,360 Speaker 1: to sinkhole City. I think all city sounds great. That 730 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:35,560 Speaker 1: sounds like exactly like the kind of place you'd want 731 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: to wind up in and um like a space noar 732 00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:42,359 Speaker 1: kind of a um you know fiction. Yeah, sinkhole City, 733 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: I like it. Well, we've I feel like we've really 734 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:48,800 Speaker 1: expanded even more on the idea of the sinkhole and 735 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,520 Speaker 1: hopefully worked a little more to to rescue the sinkhole 736 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:55,840 Speaker 1: from the what you call it, the the the the 737 00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:58,879 Speaker 1: section at the bottom of blogs. The chum box. Chum box. 738 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:01,360 Speaker 1: That's not a word of Mike Pointage. That's like a 739 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:04,160 Speaker 1: well known term. I think it was a term innovated 740 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:06,000 Speaker 1: by somebody who wrote, like a I don't know, like 741 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:08,680 Speaker 1: a Gawker article or something about them a long time ago, 742 00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:10,719 Speaker 1: about like how they're put together and what's in them. 743 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,880 Speaker 1: But yeah, that that that is not a term original 744 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:15,839 Speaker 1: to me, but I think it is a very good term. 745 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:19,760 Speaker 1: It's an apt description. Yeah, returning, I guess it's referring 746 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:23,360 Speaker 1: to the kind of like a slurry of meat that 747 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:26,160 Speaker 1: you throw out of a boat to attract sharks. Yes, exactly, 748 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:29,160 Speaker 1: that is exactly what those boxes are. They're just like 749 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:32,120 Speaker 1: kind of throwing rotten garbage out there to see what 750 00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:36,360 Speaker 1: comes up. Yeah, and the sinkhole deserves better. The sinkhole 751 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:40,839 Speaker 1: is far more interesting. Yet. Yeah, certainly they do, uh, 752 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:44,480 Speaker 1: they do have this this visceral impact on us. Just 753 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:46,600 Speaker 1: this again, this idea of the earth opening them up, 754 00:42:46,719 --> 00:42:50,000 Speaker 1: opening up and swallowing his whole, or exposing dark realms 755 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,279 Speaker 1: beneath the earth. But but there's much more beyond that, 756 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:57,719 Speaker 1: much more than just sheer terror titilation. So hopefully we've 757 00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:01,680 Speaker 1: we've you know, urged everyone out there too to uh, 758 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:04,879 Speaker 1: you know, respect the sinkhole a little bit more. And obviously, yeah, 759 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:06,800 Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from anybody out there, you know, 760 00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,359 Speaker 1: if you've traveled any of these sinkholes we've mentioned, if 761 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:11,439 Speaker 1: you've been to impressive sinkholes that we didn't get into 762 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,760 Speaker 1: in these episodes, um, or you just have general thoughts 763 00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:17,840 Speaker 1: about them, we would love to hear from me. In 764 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,120 Speaker 1: the meantime, if you would like to listen to other 765 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:22,200 Speaker 1: episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, you can find 766 00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:24,360 Speaker 1: the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed wherever you 767 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:27,480 Speaker 1: get your podcasts and wherever that happens to be. We 768 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:29,840 Speaker 1: just asked the you rate, review, and subscribe if the 769 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:32,640 Speaker 1: platform allows you to do so. Huge thanks as always 770 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:35,800 Speaker 1: to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you 771 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:37,720 Speaker 1: would like to get in touch with us with feedback 772 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:39,959 Speaker 1: on this episode or any other to suggest a topic 773 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:41,799 Speaker 1: for the future, or just to say hello. You can 774 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,480 Speaker 1: email us at contact at stuff to Blow Your Mind 775 00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:54,520 Speaker 1: dot CARM. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of 776 00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:57,200 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio 777 00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:59,920 Speaker 1: because at the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts or were 778 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:17,279 Speaker 1: ever you listening to your favorite shows? U