1 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,559 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 2 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: is Robert Lamb. It's Saturday. We're venturing back into the vault. 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: This is going to be part one of our let's see, 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: this was a four part series that we did on mud. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: You know, if you listened recently, you may have heard 6 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: our series on dust. Well, similar we're talking about mud 7 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: and there so we get into all sorts of different 8 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: angles here in these four episodes. So it might seem 9 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: mundane on the surface, but once you sync into it, 10 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: I think you'll find it as fascinating as we did. 11 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 1: This episode originally published on seven six, twenty twenty three. 12 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: Here we go. 13 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 14 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name 15 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: is Robert. 16 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 3: Lamb, and I am Joe McCormack. And today we are 17 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 3: going to be starting a series of episodes on mud, 18 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 3: a topic that I promise is more interesting than you 19 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,559 Speaker 3: might think. And to get us started today, I wanted 20 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 3: to talk about a section from an English epic poem 21 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 3: that endorses the belief that mud just happens to give 22 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 3: rise to monsters or monstrous creatures of various shapes. So 23 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 3: the poem in question is a late sixteenth century epic 24 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,319 Speaker 3: poem by the English poet Edmund Spencer called The Fairy Queen. 25 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 3: I took a class in college where we read this, 26 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 3: or we read part of it. To be honest, there's 27 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 3: a lot that I forget about it. But it's very 28 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 3: much your classic epic poem, with heroic knights, the Red 29 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 3: Cross Knight, and damsels in distress and witches and ogres 30 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 3: and all that. And there's an interesting passage toward the 31 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 3: beginning of The Fairy Queen. I think it's in book one, 32 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 3: Canto one, where Spencer implies a belief about the way 33 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 3: nature works, a belief that the mud, specifically the mud 34 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 3: of the Nie River, spawns monsters, and Spencer writes quote 35 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 3: as when old father Nilus gins to swell with timely 36 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 3: pride above the Egyptian veil, his fatty waves do fertile 37 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 3: slime out well and overflow each plane and lowly dale. 38 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 3: But when his later spring gins to a veil, huge 39 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 3: heaps of mud he leaves wherein their breed ten thousand 40 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 3: kinds of creatures, partly male and partly female, of his 41 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 3: fruitful seed, such ugly, monstrous shapes elsewhere may no man read. 42 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 3: And then Spencer later cites the same belief again as 43 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 3: a kind of illustration of a general principle. He writes, 44 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 3: but reason teacheth that the fruitful seeds of all things 45 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 3: living through impression of the sunbeams in moist complexion, do 46 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 3: life conceive and quickened are by kind. So after Nilus inundation, 47 00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 3: infinite shapes of creatures men do find inform in the 48 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 3: mud on which the sun hath shined. So I think 49 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 3: he seems to be saying like mud plus sunshine equals monsters, 50 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 3: or at least creatures of infinite shapes, which in some 51 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 3: passages he seems to think might be monsters. Maybe among 52 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 3: infinite variation there will necessarily be some monsters. And I'm 53 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 3: interested in this belief because, on one hand, it just 54 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 3: sort of reflects some ancient beliefs that are carried over 55 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 3: into the Medieval and Renaissance period about where life comes from, 56 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 3: ideas now obsolete theories like spontaneous generation that you know 57 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 3: that life forms, which is sort of like arise in 58 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 3: the mud or in like a wet bag of flower 59 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 3: or something. But I also like it because it imagines 60 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 3: the mud in the floodplain of a great river like 61 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 3: the Nile as a source of both like sort of 62 00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 3: mystery and danger but also great possibility. And this does 63 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 3: correspond to the kind of the double nature of mud 64 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 3: and of a river like the Nile. So you think 65 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 3: of the Nile River delta, it is a place of 66 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 3: incredibly fertile soil that you know, that supplies food and 67 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 3: crops for all of the areas around. But also if 68 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 3: you know, you get stuck in the mud, that's a 69 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 3: place you don't want to be. And it is a 70 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 3: place where you will find lots of life that is 71 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 3: maybe life that's kind of strange to you. You don't 72 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 3: usually go wading into the mud, and if you do, 73 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 3: I don't know, all kinds of weird little mollusks and 74 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 3: creepy crawleys and critters are in there, and you don't 75 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 3: know what you might find. 76 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, this is really interesting. We should also note, 77 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: you know, it does accurately, though monstrously refer to the 78 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: the the inundation of the Nile, which is a topic 79 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: we did an entire episode at least one episode on 80 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,679 Speaker 1: in the past. I mean, the Nile overflows its banks 81 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: and it brings life and has this this very prominent 82 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: role in especially in ancient Egyptian belief and mythology. But yeah, 83 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: this dual nature of mud is quite interesting and something 84 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: that that we're going to be talking about quite a 85 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,480 Speaker 1: bit in these episodes because it at once it is 86 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 1: like you want to build something, well, you're gonna need 87 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: something like mud or mud itself. But of course it's 88 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: also the place where you know, many a famous military 89 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: campaign has perished in the mud, so you know, it's 90 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: the thing from which monsters emerge, but it's all you know, 91 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: it's the thing where you might find a pig, but 92 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: you also will find gleaming butterflies, you know, cascading and 93 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: swirling around something some stinking pile of mud. So yeah, 94 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: it does seem to have this dual nature, at least 95 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:43,479 Speaker 1: from the human vantage point. 96 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 3: So our goal is after we're done with this series, 97 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,040 Speaker 3: you will never think about mud the same way. And 98 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 3: when it gets stuck to your shoes, you might still 99 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:52,720 Speaker 3: be mad, but there will also be a part of 100 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 3: you that that's kind of reflective and stops to be 101 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 3: amazed at what it is. Your dog has just gotten 102 00:05:58,360 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 3: all over your couch. 103 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, and if you're like me too. Just even thinking 104 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: about this topic, it means that you've had the Primus 105 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 1: song my Name is Mud just flipped on in your brain. 106 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 1: I haven't even listened to it to encourage or extinguish it, 107 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: but it's just there as I read these various papers 108 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: about mud or mummama mud, Right, I guess that's the way. 109 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 3: It's said, and so I'll take your word for it. 110 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: It's a solid jam. It's got some colossal bass and 111 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: drums on there. 112 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's primus. They rattle the furniture. But anyway, 113 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 3: we should go straight to the question what is mud? 114 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 3: What is it made of? In general, mud seems to 115 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 3: have a kind of loose definition. We all know it 116 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 3: when we see it, but there may not be strict 117 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 3: scientific criteria about what counts, except maybe in certain contexts, 118 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 3: like when you're talking when you get to some things 119 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 3: we'll get to in a minute about like particle size 120 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:58,040 Speaker 3: and what solidifies into certain kinds of rock. But just generally, 121 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 3: I mean, mud is some sort of wet soil, but 122 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 3: exactly how wet, Exactly what are the properties of the 123 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 3: soil for it to count as mud versus just being 124 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 3: kind of like I don't know, damp, gross stuff that 125 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 3: might be in the eye of the beholder, of the 126 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 3: beat or of the bee treader. 127 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, I would. I would. I think that sometimes we 128 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: know it when we see it, but we definitely know 129 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: it when we step on it or step in it. 130 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: I guess that's the thing, right. If I'm able to 131 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: step on it, well maybe it's not fully mud. But 132 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: if I'm in it, well I am in mud now. 133 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: But I think the other Yeah. The other interesting thing 134 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,280 Speaker 1: about mud is a lot of it does depend on 135 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: where you're coming from, you know, like if you were 136 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: a domesticated hog, well, mud is just simply good. There's 137 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: not much else to say about that, though. We will 138 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: get into how various animals use mud later on in 139 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: a subsequent episode, but just from the human perspective, it's 140 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: kind of interesting. One of the books I was looking at, 141 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: and we'll come back to later when we get more 142 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: in depth on this is a book titled Mud, a 143 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: Military History by ce Wood, which, if you haven't thought 144 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: about it much before, or you haven't you're not like 145 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:13,679 Speaker 1: a military history enthusiast, you might not realize that, oh yeah, mud. 146 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: Mud is the sort of thing that you could write 147 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:20,119 Speaker 1: an entire book about just from the perspective of war 148 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: and military operations. But that's what this book is. 149 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 3: When I think of mud and armed conflict. Obviously, you know, 150 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 3: terrain and especially mud have played a big role in 151 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:32,319 Speaker 3: worse throughout history, but I think especially of Eastern Europe 152 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 3: for some reason. 153 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, big big war machines, big tanks stuck in the mud, 154 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: or as as Wood mentions a time or two, the 155 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: idea of one of these colossal tanks just going down 156 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: a muddy hill, as if it were like a sled 157 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: on a snowfield or something, you know, just out of control. 158 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: Things like that. Occurring mud changes what you can and 159 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: can't do in many instances with any with things ranging 160 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: from infantry to horses to modern industrial war machines. But 161 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: like I said, we'll get back to that more in 162 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: the future. But I thought it was interesting that Wood 163 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: opens just dealing with his basic ambiguity concerning mud and 164 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 1: writes that, Okay, if we're going to be just very 165 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: broad about it, it comes down to soil consisting of 166 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: mineral and organic matter combined with moisture at such a 167 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 1: level relative to the exact compositions of the soil to 168 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 1: make it unstable and likely to move and flow underfoot 169 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: or underhoof or under wheeler track, etc. Wood points out 170 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: that while many military minds have considered mud and other 171 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: soil issues beneath their strategic consideration, but they have always 172 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: done so at their peril, because mud, as we'll get 173 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:54,840 Speaker 1: into later, does make a difference in war has come 174 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: to very famously define certain war zones. He points out 175 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: that not everyone has certainly ignored this fact, and in 176 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: nineteen forty four, the US Army conducted a series of 177 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: tests regarding mud. They're like, all right, let's get down 178 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: to it. Let's classify some mud. Because we have only 179 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: so many resources for our rubber tires, so we needed 180 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 1: to decide where we need to send them, where we 181 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: need to prioritize our best tires. And so this is 182 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: a situation where we're dealing with sort of a narrowed 183 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: perspective concerning mud. This is just mud concerning like, let 184 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: me roll some vehicles across it. But they classified mud 185 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: into two types and two subtypes. Okay, Type one bottomless mud. Now, 186 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: this just means that the MUD's consistency cannot support a 187 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: vehicle with tires that have twenty pounds of pressure, or 188 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: that the underlying hard layer of earth beneath the mud 189 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,319 Speaker 1: beneath the layer of mud is too far beneath the 190 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: vehicle's ground clearance. 191 00:10:57,040 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 3: Okay, so this sounds like dangerous mud. 192 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:02,439 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the mud that your vehicle is going 193 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:05,320 Speaker 1: to get stuck in and or sink into. And then 194 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: type two is just all other types of mud. But 195 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:13,199 Speaker 1: this does feature two subtypes, Type A and type B. 196 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 1: Type A has a quote unquote cleaning quality, meaning that 197 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: it contains enough moisture to work as a liquid. So 198 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: like this, like type A mud gets on your vehicle 199 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:27,199 Speaker 1: and you know, it kind of flows off. I mean 200 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:30,679 Speaker 1: it's I don't think cleaning quality means that your tank 201 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 1: or your truck is going to be clean after the 202 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: mud has a rent stock a little bit. Yeah, it 203 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: flows away, but it's it's this a cleaning quality. Type 204 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: B is adhesive or sticky. So this is the the 205 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:46,680 Speaker 1: mudd in type of mud. This is the type of 206 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: mud that the the big pickup pickup truck driver seeks 207 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,679 Speaker 1: out when they go out into the wilderness to make 208 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: sure that they return to city life with a vehicle 209 00:11:56,480 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: completely encased in mud. Okay, So more on the military 210 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:04,199 Speaker 1: angle later on. So this is not necessarily a helpful 211 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:06,840 Speaker 1: way to understand mud as a whole, but rather to 212 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: a way to underline that the meaning of mud kind 213 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 1: of depends on what you're trying to do in it 214 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: or through it, and mud therefore could be your threat 215 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: or your treasure, depending on what you're looking to get 216 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: out of the situation. 217 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 3: Very true. Now, I found an article that I thought 218 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 3: was helpful. It was from two thousand and three in 219 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 3: the Washington Post, and being in the Washington Post, I 220 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 3: would say a little overly concerned with these specific types 221 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 3: of mud found around the Washington d C. Metro area. 222 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 3: But I'm mostly ignoring those parts because it does helpfully 223 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:42,080 Speaker 3: consult a bunch of soil scientists on the definitions and 224 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 3: categories of mud. So it was called a World Gone 225 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 3: Mud by Joel Aikenbach from June fifteenth, two thousand and three. 226 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 3: First of all, it consults a researcher named Trish Steinhilbert 227 00:12:54,600 --> 00:13:00,199 Speaker 3: from the University of Maryland Agricultural Nutrient Management Program, who says, 228 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,319 Speaker 3: you know, we would just call it wet soil. So 229 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:06,199 Speaker 3: that's one perspective. It's just wet soil, But then the 230 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 3: article cites another soil physicist, or sorry, another soil researcher, 231 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 3: this time a soil physicist also from the University of 232 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 3: Maryland named Robert Hill, who says mud should be differentiated 233 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 3: from merely wet soil because it has different physical properties. 234 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 3: As commonly understood, like we've been saying, mud is sticky 235 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,800 Speaker 3: in a way that not all wet soils are, and 236 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,679 Speaker 3: this stickiness is due to the presence of a higher 237 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 3: proportion of smaller particles, especially clay particles. So, as you 238 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 3: probably know, soil is made from a mixture of different materials. 239 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 3: Some of those materials are organic, so they can be 240 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:51,720 Speaker 3: you know, decaying organic matter or decaying bits of plants 241 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 3: and animals and all that, but also inorganic matter, and 242 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 3: we're going to focus on the inorganic matter for the moment. 243 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:03,319 Speaker 3: The inorganic solid particles that make up soil are generally 244 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 3: produced by the erosion and breakdown of larger rocks over time, 245 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 3: which can happen due to physical forces like wind, rain, 246 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 3: and ice, or it can be due to break down 247 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 3: by organisms like fungi and bacteria. And we all know 248 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 3: soil can have different consistencies you stick your hands into 249 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 3: the soil in one place, it just feels different than 250 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 3: the soil in another place. One of the major factors 251 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 3: that you can use to sort soil into different categories 252 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 3: is the average particle size in the soil. So if 253 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 3: particles are bigger than two millimeters, that's gravel. You know 254 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 3: that's going to pop under your car tire. Particles of 255 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 3: less than two millimeters in diameter but more than zero 256 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 3: point zero five millimeters are sand. Then smaller than sand, 257 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 3: you've got silt, which is made of particles less than 258 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 3: zero point zero five million meters in diameter. And then 259 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 3: at the very bottom, the finest grain soil is clay, 260 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 3: which means particles smaller than zero point zero zero two 261 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 3: millimeters in diameter. Now, apart from particle size, there are 262 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 3: also some at least common chemical properties you'll find at 263 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 3: these different areas, like they tend to derive from different 264 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 3: types of minerals, like clay typically features a standard mineral constituent, 265 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 3: which is hydrous aluminum philosilicates. But for the moment, we 266 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,680 Speaker 3: can just think about these as particles of different sizes. 267 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 3: So by one definition, any sufficiently wet soil made of 268 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 3: any mixture of these particles could be mud. But if 269 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 3: you're going with the definition of mud as sticky slop 270 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 3: that kind of sucks to the bottom of your shoes 271 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 3: and you might get stuck in it usually means it's 272 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 3: made up of mostly silt and clay sized particles. Silt 273 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 3: sized and clay sized particles, and things get especially sticky 274 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:02,120 Speaker 3: if it has a lot of clay. 275 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: And again there's this fine line, Like I know, I 276 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: instantly think back to some cave environments that I've been in, 277 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 1: and mud at just the right consistency, it's like it's sticky, 278 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: but you're not slipping in it. It's almost something you 279 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: want to walk on. But that line is very thin 280 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: between between that and like the treacherous mud that you 281 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: will slip in. So it's fascinating when you start getting 282 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: into the way this breaks down. 283 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, is the mud grippy like maybe rubber? Or will 284 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 3: it fly out from under you like a banana peel? 285 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 3: And that does, I think come down to something having 286 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 3: to do with the water content as well as the 287 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 3: particle size. So if mud is wet soil or sticky 288 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 3: wet soil, we've explained the soil part. It tends to 289 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 3: be the smaller particle sizes clay sized and silt sized 290 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 3: particles that make mud. But there's also the wetness angle. 291 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 3: How wet does soil have to be for it to 292 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 3: be mud. Here we get to the concept of cohesive 293 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:09,720 Speaker 3: soil and what are called Aderberg limits. So cohesive soils 294 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:13,880 Speaker 3: are soils that tend to stick or clump together as 295 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 3: opposed to crumbling. Cohesive soils tend to have again more 296 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 3: clay sized particles. Smaller particles stick together better, and cohesive 297 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 3: soils can be in three states, depending on how wet 298 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 3: they are. These states are non plastic, plastic, and viscous. 299 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 3: Non Plastic means hard, you know, difficult to mold or deform. 300 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 3: This is usually when they're dry. Cohesive soils dry up 301 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 3: kind of hard like bricks, and they form tough earth, 302 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 3: so you can think about like hard clay ground, you 303 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 3: know what that's like. When cohesive soils get wet, though, 304 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,119 Speaker 3: they can cross one of these Aderberg limits, that the 305 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 3: plastic limit and become plastic, so this means they become 306 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 3: soft or moldable, think about wet clay, and then beyond 307 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,160 Speaker 3: that limit there's another limit, another limit which is the 308 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 3: liquid limit, and this is the viscous stage where there's 309 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,919 Speaker 3: sort of like a liquid goop. So you can add 310 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 3: water to non plastic soil until it crosses the plastic limit, 311 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 3: becomes soft and mouldable, you can add more water until 312 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 3: it crosses the liquid limit. Where the liquid limit is 313 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 3: explained in this Washington Post article as if you cut 314 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 3: a groove in the mud, the mud will flow back 315 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,120 Speaker 3: in to fill it. That's the liquid limit, which actually 316 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:38,399 Speaker 3: has some analogies in the culinary world, like if you 317 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 3: ever did the back of the spoon test for the 318 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 3: thickness of a sauce in the kitchen. The French term 319 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,280 Speaker 3: for that is nape, where if you like wipe your 320 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 3: the tip of your finger along the back of a 321 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,199 Speaker 3: spoon coated in the sauce, it should leave a trail 322 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 3: rather than having the sauce flow back in to fill 323 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 3: the gap. That's nape. 324 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: One of the many culinary techniques in you just like 325 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,160 Speaker 1: jab your finger into things like. 326 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, stick, yeah, stick your finger in the food. 327 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, let the meat touch your face, and that will 328 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: determine if it is the right temperature. 329 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 3: But so the definition of the liquid limit is that 330 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:13,120 Speaker 3: it does not pass the back of the spoon test 331 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 3: if you cut a groove in it, it will flow 332 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 3: back in to fill the gap. So it sounds to 333 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:22,119 Speaker 3: me like the definitional sweet spot for mud is a 334 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,440 Speaker 3: wet cohesive soil. It's made primarily of silt or clay 335 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 3: sized particles, especially if there's a lot of clay sized 336 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 3: particles that is above the plastic limit and below the 337 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:39,040 Speaker 3: liquid limit. Somewhere in there, though, I was thinking that 338 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 3: even sort of fully liquid glop we do sometimes call mud, 339 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:45,679 Speaker 3: don't we, But that's not usually the first kind of 340 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:46,880 Speaker 3: substance I think of. 341 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,639 Speaker 1: Right, right, Like, I come back to the example of 342 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 1: mud pies. You know, I think a lot of us 343 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: did this as a kid. If you're allowed to play 344 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: in the mud, do you get some little like pie 345 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:03,160 Speaker 1: crust or little whatever, you know, cups and pans pour 346 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: the mud up, slap the mud together, and then you 347 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: set it in the sun too dry into mud cakes. 348 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: But yeah, it's like if you're pouring it, if you're 349 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 1: just complete all you know it is completely pouring it 350 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 1: into the pan, that doesn't really feel like mud. That's 351 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 1: just like mud water or something that's like on the 352 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 1: way to mud. But not mud quite yet. The moisture 353 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:25,359 Speaker 1: still level is too high. And I guess in baking 354 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: you have variations of that as well. Right like you said, 355 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 1: the sauce is too runny, the batter is too runny, 356 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:31,399 Speaker 1: et cetera. 357 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,720 Speaker 3: Oh, I think the mudpie test is a good one. 358 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 3: And you know what, that actually brings me to the 359 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 3: next thing I want to talk about, which is this 360 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 3: might be something you've never considered before. Was there a 361 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,880 Speaker 3: time on Earth when it would have been really difficult 362 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,640 Speaker 3: to make a mud pie? I would argue, based on 363 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 3: some research I've been reading about that, Yes, if you 364 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,199 Speaker 3: go back before five hundred million years ago, go to 365 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 3: the pre Cambrian period, and you walk around on Earth's 366 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,880 Speaker 3: continents trying to find a place to make a mud pie, 367 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 3: you're gonna probably strike out. You're gonna be out of luck, 368 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:21,960 Speaker 3: because there was a time basically before there was mud 369 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 3: on land on Earth, or before there was very much 370 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 3: mud to be found on land. So here I want 371 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 3: to go to an article I was reading in the 372 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 3: journal Science in the year twenty eighteen by Woodward Fisher, 373 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 3: who is a Caltech geobiologist. The article is called Early 374 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:44,119 Speaker 3: Plants and the Rise of mud, and this article is 375 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 3: primarily summarizing and contextualizing a study that was published by 376 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 3: a couple of different authors in the same issue of 377 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 3: the journal Science in twenty eighteen. This article is very 378 00:21:56,040 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 3: good in putting these findings in context. So Fisher mentions 379 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 3: that you know, life on Earth has several times that 380 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 3: we know about reshaped fundamental geophysical features and processes at 381 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,360 Speaker 3: the Earth's surface. There are ways in which you could 382 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 3: say that life has fundamentally changed the planet itself, at 383 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,360 Speaker 3: least what's happening on the surface and in the atmosphere. 384 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,199 Speaker 3: So perhaps the first example that will likely come to 385 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 3: your mind is the oxygenation of the oceans in the atmosphere. 386 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:35,440 Speaker 3: It was the evolution of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria and other 387 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,760 Speaker 3: life forms that triggered this shift. You know, we didn't 388 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:43,479 Speaker 3: always have an oxygen atmosphere. Another major geophysical change triggered 389 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 3: by life that Fisher mentions is the evolution of mineral 390 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:53,920 Speaker 3: skeletons by life forms, again, particularly algae, and the presence 391 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,920 Speaker 3: of those skeletons change the way that ocean floors are formed, 392 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 3: and then subsequently the kinds of rock lay that would 393 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,159 Speaker 3: form when they solidified. Over the eons. But this article 394 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,679 Speaker 3: is focused on another discovery of this sort, how the 395 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:16,160 Speaker 3: evolution of land based plants changed the Earth by affecting mud. 396 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 3: So the citation for the study here is William J. 397 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 3: McMahon and Neil S. Davies. The article is called evolution 398 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 3: of alluvial mud rock forced by early land plants again 399 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:34,040 Speaker 3: Journal Science, twenty eighteen. So when soil made mostly out 400 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,480 Speaker 3: of clay or silt sized particles gets compacted in the 401 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 3: ground and lithifies into rock, the resulting rock layer is 402 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 3: called mud rock, and there are many kinds of mud rock. 403 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 3: When geologists look for layers of mud rock from the past, 404 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 3: they notice something interesting. There is extremely little mud rock 405 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:01,200 Speaker 3: from river bottoms and floodplains before a geologic period in 406 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:02,879 Speaker 3: the history of the Earth. So if you look in 407 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 3: the pre Cambrian era or the early Paleozoic era, there's 408 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:11,480 Speaker 3: very little mud rock on the continents. And I'll do 409 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 3: a little refresher on the basic geologic timeline of the 410 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 3: early to mid Palaeozoic, So you've got the Cambrian period. 411 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,159 Speaker 3: This is roughly five hundred million years ago. Before the 412 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 3: Cambrian period, most life on Earth is small soft and unicellular, 413 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:32,360 Speaker 3: and then the Cambrian period represents a sort of explosion 414 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:36,680 Speaker 3: of life, a massive proliferation in the diversity of life forms. 415 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:41,119 Speaker 3: Life Forms get bigger, more complex, with hard body parts 416 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,359 Speaker 3: that get fossilized. So think of the age of trilobytes 417 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 3: and anomalicaras. That's a period of like forty or fifty 418 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 3: million years, roughly five hundred million years ago. And then 419 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,160 Speaker 3: you've got after that the Ordovician period, which is about 420 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 3: four hundred and eighty five to four hundred and forty 421 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 3: four million years ago, more diversification of life forms, primarily 422 00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:05,919 Speaker 3: in the ocean, arthropods, molluscs, so forth, and the appearance 423 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 3: of the very first primitive land plants. Then you've got 424 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 3: the Silurian period, which is like four forty four to 425 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 3: four nineteen million years ago. Note that this is separated 426 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:21,119 Speaker 3: from the previous era by the Ordovisian Silurian extinction event. 427 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 3: There's often an extinction event separating these periods. This period 428 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:30,200 Speaker 3: shows diversification in fish and other marine fauna, but it's 429 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,639 Speaker 3: also important because of sort of a terrestrial revolution, the 430 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:38,880 Speaker 3: terrestrialization of many branches of life. Suddenly a lot more 431 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,679 Speaker 3: is happening on land instead of just in the ocean. 432 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 3: So you have the evolution of vascular plants and terrestrial fungi, 433 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 3: and these lead to changes in land ecosystems, including the 434 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:55,000 Speaker 3: ones we're talking about now. Also, land based arthropods diversify, 435 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,919 Speaker 3: so you get the ancestors of animals like spiders and 436 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,000 Speaker 3: insects and so forth. After that, from like four nineteen 437 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,160 Speaker 3: to three hundred and fifty nine million years ago, you've 438 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,679 Speaker 3: got the Devonian Period, sometimes called the Age of Fishes. 439 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 3: Obviously there's a lot of fish diversification here, the terrestrial 440 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,439 Speaker 3: revolution continues, and then later in the Devonian period, this 441 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 3: is the first time that you have the continents covered 442 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,679 Speaker 3: in forests of plants of the kind of things we 443 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 3: would recognize as trees. But coming back to how this 444 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:29,119 Speaker 3: geologic timeline relates to mud, So in the Precambrian in 445 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 3: continuing into the early Paleozoic, there is very little river 446 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,400 Speaker 3: mud rock showing up in the geologic strata. Instead, lithified 447 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 3: river beds seem to contain sand and gravel, and as 448 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 3: the Paleozoic era progresses, there is a rise in the 449 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:52,280 Speaker 3: formation of mud rocks in river deposits, which seems to 450 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,760 Speaker 3: indicate a global change in how sediment gets pushed and 451 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 3: pulled around by rivers, and this change is associated with 452 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:05,119 Speaker 3: the colonization of the continents by plant life. There's an 453 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 3: interesting analogy which is Mars. Mars we believe once had 454 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,359 Speaker 3: flowing rivers, but presumably did not have plants. And it 455 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 3: also appears that Mars has very little mud rock in 456 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 3: its river deposits. 457 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: Though we will come back to the topic of mud 458 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: on Mars. Is there mud on Mars? You might ask, 459 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 1: how we'll tune in to a future episode. 460 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 3: Mars needs goloshes. Yeah. So the authors of this twenty 461 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 3: eighteen paper, McMahon and Davies, they wanted to zero in 462 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 3: on this change in mud rock deposition in Earth's history 463 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,119 Speaker 3: and understand it better. So they were looking at samples 464 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 3: of rock strata from ancient river beds before and after 465 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 3: the land plant revolution all throughout this time period to 466 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,440 Speaker 3: measure the relative amount of mud rock corresponding to the 467 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:56,920 Speaker 3: different eras, and after crunching the numbers, they concluded that 468 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:02,040 Speaker 3: the fractional portion of mud rock the geologic strata rose 469 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,119 Speaker 3: by more than an order of magnitude an order of 470 00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 3: magnitude is ten times, so more than ten times increase 471 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,560 Speaker 3: in the proportion of mud rock I think in their 472 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 3: abstract they actually say it was one point four orders 473 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 3: of magnitude. This is after land plants evolved, so when 474 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 3: plants colonized land, it made a huge profound change in 475 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:29,040 Speaker 3: what was happening with sediment, meaning mud, primarily in river 476 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:33,959 Speaker 3: bottoms and floodplains. The increase in these rocks made out 477 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 3: of mud began in the late Ordovisian and continuing to 478 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 3: the beginning of the Silurian, and this does implicate early 479 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,000 Speaker 3: land plants, but it's also interestingly it's earlier than the 480 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 3: researchers expected to find it, perhaps in part because or 481 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 3: perhaps their expectations for finding increases in mud rock in 482 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 3: this period were low, because the earliest land plants here 483 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 3: were they're really, I think mostly like bryophytes. They're these 484 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 3: kind of little patchy green things that would resemble mosses 485 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 3: or liver warts, so you know, we're not talking about 486 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 3: jungles yet. Vascular plants meaning plants that have tissues that 487 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 3: allow them to grow tall because they can conduct water 488 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,280 Speaker 3: and mineral nutrients up their stems. They start to appear 489 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 3: in the late Silurian and early Devonian, but the earliest 490 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,880 Speaker 3: of these plants would only be a few centimeters off 491 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 3: the ground and could only survive in wet environments. It 492 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 3: isn't until again the Late Devonian, maybe like three hundred 493 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 3: and seventy million years ago or so, that you first 494 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 3: get what we would think of as forests, landscapes thick 495 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 3: with relatively tall, vascular plants. But according to this research, 496 00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 3: even these earlier phases of puny, little baby plants, little mossy, 497 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 3: liver warty type things, made a pretty big difference in 498 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 3: how mud was distributed on the earth. But when you 499 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 3: get to the later div and then into the Carboniferous period, 500 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 3: there is an even bigger shift. This is the phase 501 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:09,360 Speaker 3: where there would again be forests of like impressive woody 502 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:13,720 Speaker 3: trees with deep root structures, like the things we think 503 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:19,280 Speaker 3: of as forests today. Rob I'm including an illustrated graph 504 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 3: with a timeline from this article for you to look at. 505 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 3: You can see that the amount of mud rock starts 506 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 3: to go up during the period of like the bryophytes, 507 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 3: these little primitive land plants, and then it really reaches 508 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:35,560 Speaker 3: its peak in the era of vascular plants, and especially 509 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 3: like woody trees and later vascular plants, it seems like 510 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 3: those deep root systems played a big role in that 511 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 3: later period. However, I think, to come back on this, 512 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 3: it's really worth noting that the Earth was not without 513 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 3: mud as a planet before the proliferation of land plants. 514 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 3: It looks like land plants played a huge role in 515 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:02,320 Speaker 3: forming these continental mud rock But there was mud before 516 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 3: the plants. A sediment of clay and silt sized particles 517 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 3: has been produced by erosion of surface rocks for billions 518 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 3: of years. So what appears to have changed with the 519 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 3: evolution of land plants is that mud started to stay 520 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 3: on land, to stay on the continents, as opposed to 521 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 3: just being blown or washed out to sea and settling 522 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 3: on the seafloor. So the question is why did the 523 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 3: evolution of plants lead to the retention of mud on land? 524 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 3: And the article mentions a few ideas. One thing, first 525 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 3: of all is that the authors say that the presence 526 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,960 Speaker 3: of land plants may actually have helped produce more mud 527 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 3: particles to begin with, lead to erosion processes that would 528 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:51,000 Speaker 3: produce more mud. Now, how would plants help produce more 529 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,800 Speaker 3: mud well. For one thing, I was reading this in 530 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:58,640 Speaker 3: another article that plants with strong root structures actually break 531 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 3: and crumble large pieces of rock. Those roots can break 532 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 3: up the rocks physically, crack and break them, but can 533 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 3: also lead to changes in the chemical composition of soil 534 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 3: that break down rocks even further into smaller pieces. But again, 535 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:17,160 Speaker 3: we don't need plants for mud to exist. There's always 536 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,520 Speaker 3: been these mud sized the soil particles. So what other 537 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 3: changes did plants introduce? Fissure rites quote. It is therefore 538 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 3: likely that early plants affected the mechanics of flood plain construction. 539 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 3: For example, the presence of plants on the landscape decreases 540 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 3: erosion rates, and thus it was long hypothesized that erosion, 541 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 3: in particular by wind, removed sediment from pre vegetated landscapes. 542 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:46,560 Speaker 3: Even if mud was deposited on pre vegetated floodplains, its 543 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:51,280 Speaker 3: removal by erosion might have been efficient. So before there 544 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 3: were plants on land, it was just too easy for 545 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:58,120 Speaker 3: small particles of soil to get washed out to the 546 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 3: sea one way or another. They could get by wind, 547 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,560 Speaker 3: they could get carried along by the flow of water 548 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,320 Speaker 3: after storms and rain, and they would all just end 549 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,840 Speaker 3: up on the floor of the ocean. So it seems 550 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:13,320 Speaker 3: like plants and their root structures helped prevent small soil 551 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:17,680 Speaker 3: particles that form mud from escaping into the sea. But 552 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,239 Speaker 3: it doesn't stop there. Plants and the mud that the 553 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:27,480 Speaker 3: plants retained changed how rivers form, Fisher writes quote. In 554 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:31,640 Speaker 3: addition to an inhibiting erosion, plants also interact with river 555 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,479 Speaker 3: flows and promote the deposition of fine grained sediment. This 556 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 3: can help armor river banks and slow their lateral migration. 557 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 3: Such process might also aid in preserving muddy floodplain deposits, 558 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:48,680 Speaker 3: so plants might sort of help stabilize the structure of 559 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:52,080 Speaker 3: rivers and keep the banks from drifting all over the 560 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 3: place and changing too rapidly, especially during floods, which helps 561 00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 3: protect the mud that gathers in floodplains and keeps it there. 562 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,880 Speaker 1: Fascinating. Fascinating that the plant's kind of corralling the mud 563 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: in many cases. And I think if you've ever been 564 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,479 Speaker 1: in a like especially I'm thinking of like estuary type 565 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:15,360 Speaker 1: environments that I've visited, Like you see these elaborate root systems, 566 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,160 Speaker 1: You see the mud and the sediment. So that's what 567 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 1: I'm picturing during all of this. 568 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:23,400 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And so actually, to help us 569 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,040 Speaker 3: better picture it, I found another great article that's on 570 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 3: the same subject, that's on this type of research, but 571 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 3: it includes a lot more context and imagery to help 572 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 3: us understand it. So this other article was called the 573 00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 3: Origin of Mud from a magazine called Knowable, written by 574 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:44,720 Speaker 3: a writer named Laura Poppic, published in August twenty twenty, 575 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,480 Speaker 3: and I thought this was interesting. This article starts with 576 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:50,600 Speaker 3: this anecdote about one of the two authors of that 577 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:54,640 Speaker 3: twenty eighteen study, the geologist Neil Davies. It starts with 578 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 3: this anecdote about him picking through a large fossil formation 579 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:00,719 Speaker 3: from about four hundred and sixty million years ago in 580 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:07,120 Speaker 3: Bolivia containing just tons of smothered fish fish that all 581 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:09,480 Speaker 3: seemed to die at the same time. And apparently this 582 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:14,360 Speaker 3: is not uncommon for marine fossil formations from this period. 583 00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:19,080 Speaker 3: You'd have large numbers of fossil fish living near an 584 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:21,960 Speaker 3: ancient shoreline that appear to have all died around the 585 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,920 Speaker 3: same time by being choked by mud. So the explanation 586 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,920 Speaker 3: for this is probably that there's all this muddy sediment 587 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,880 Speaker 3: that is suddenly washed into the water into the ocean 588 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,880 Speaker 3: along the shore, possibly by a storm, and then the 589 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:40,440 Speaker 3: fish underwent death by mud. So this was four hundred 590 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,720 Speaker 3: and sixty million years ago before the proliferation of land 591 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:47,880 Speaker 3: plants Poppic writes quote magnified this effect globally, and the 592 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,479 Speaker 3: impacts would have been substantial, not just on coastal life, 593 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,360 Speaker 3: but on the landscape of the entire planet. Before plants, 594 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:59,359 Speaker 3: rivers would have stripped continents of silt and clay key 595 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:03,200 Speaker 3: constituents of mud, and sent these sediments to the seafloor. 596 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,880 Speaker 3: This would have left continents full of barren rock and 597 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,040 Speaker 3: seas with smothered fish. 598 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:11,880 Speaker 1: So primordial muddy oceans. 599 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 3: Yes, especially at least around like where the rivers would 600 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:18,759 Speaker 3: drain into them, and landscapes with very little mud at all, 601 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 3: you know, I mean, you can just let your dog 602 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 3: run all over it and then come inside the house. 603 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:22,840 Speaker 3: There's no problem. 604 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,080 Speaker 1: Yeah. I keep wondering if a wellsy and time traveler 605 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:30,480 Speaker 1: would have to bring his Victorian galoshes in visiting this 606 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:31,280 Speaker 1: time period. 607 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,120 Speaker 3: But of course plants change all of this. Vegetation, especially 608 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 3: along river banks, gave mud sized particles something to cling to, 609 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 3: and so the mud stayed on land rather than getting 610 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:46,440 Speaker 3: washed or blown out to sea. And in the words 611 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,800 Speaker 3: of Neil Davies, this retention of mud on land quote 612 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:53,200 Speaker 3: fundamentally changed the way the world operates. 613 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: Wow. 614 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,560 Speaker 3: And so there are some examples of how this mud 615 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:11,640 Speaker 3: revolution changed the continents, changed the world. Essentially, one thing 616 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:15,160 Speaker 3: is that the geological record reveals that before the evolution 617 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:19,319 Speaker 3: of plants, earth rivers probably would have looked more like 618 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:23,160 Speaker 3: the comparison that Poppuic uses is the rivers found around 619 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:27,680 Speaker 3: the Gravelly Coast of Alaska today, And she describes these 620 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 3: I'm trying to say, so like, imagine if you've ever 621 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:35,239 Speaker 3: seen the kinds of branching, braided channels you see as 622 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 3: a stream flows into the ocean across a sandy beach. 623 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:43,200 Speaker 3: So not mud, but you've seen like a stream flowing 624 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:44,280 Speaker 3: over a sandy beach. 625 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 1: Yeah. 626 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,640 Speaker 3: Yeah. What you'll usually notice is there is not a 627 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 3: very strong, unified channel. Instead, there's just lots of little 628 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:59,240 Speaker 3: threads of channels crisscrossing and always changing. This is referred 629 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:00,880 Speaker 3: to in several sos as I looked at as a 630 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:07,240 Speaker 3: braided structure of alluvial flow. The introduction of plants seems 631 00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:10,319 Speaker 3: to have changed this by holding mud in place, and 632 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,960 Speaker 3: the mud being sticky would solidify the form of river banks, 633 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:19,600 Speaker 3: and this led to stable single channel rivers with fixed 634 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:23,920 Speaker 3: banks and boundaries, rather than these little shrubs of different 635 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:27,279 Speaker 3: rivulets changing all the time, so you end up with 636 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:31,400 Speaker 3: the curving, defined s shaped rivers that we see today. 637 00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 3: These rivers are made possible by the presence of mud, 638 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:40,040 Speaker 3: which is held on land by plants. Now, these changes 639 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:44,560 Speaker 3: in rivers had all kinds of interesting biological consequences. For example, 640 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,400 Speaker 3: the bins in a river can alter things like the 641 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,760 Speaker 3: temperature and chemistry and the water compared to a straight 642 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,640 Speaker 3: flowing river, which can create different micro environments along the 643 00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 3: river's length, so that gives all kinds of different little 644 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,960 Speaker 3: tiny eco systems and habitats that organisms would have to 645 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:07,080 Speaker 3: adapt to. But the presence of mud itself is also 646 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 3: biologically relevant because mud is a habitat, so it takes 647 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:16,239 Speaker 3: special skills and evolutionary adaptations to live in mud and 648 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:19,760 Speaker 3: move around and navigate your way through it. For example, 649 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:23,239 Speaker 3: it takes different types of adaptations for movement for a 650 00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:26,120 Speaker 3: small animal to get through mud than it does to 651 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 3: get through sand or some other type of surface. And 652 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:33,920 Speaker 3: Poppy's article consults a geologist at the University of Oxford 653 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,759 Speaker 3: named Anthony Shalito on this subject. I thought this was 654 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:41,760 Speaker 3: so interesting, so Shaldo says, here, I'm quoting from popic quote. 655 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 3: To get through mud, and animals such as a worm, 656 00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:49,680 Speaker 3: creates cracks to shuffle through by contracting its body, extending it, 657 00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:53,719 Speaker 3: squeezing water out of the way, and moving forward. This 658 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:57,359 Speaker 3: is mechanically different from traveling through sand, which requires an 659 00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:01,680 Speaker 3: animal to excavate material out of the way. Chiledo says, 660 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:04,880 Speaker 3: so early land worms and insects would have had to 661 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:08,920 Speaker 3: evolve body parts equipped to deal with muckier movements, but 662 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,360 Speaker 3: then in turn the animals that adapt to those muddy 663 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 3: environments change them because Poppic then sites a paleobiologist from 664 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,960 Speaker 3: Yale named Lydia Tehran who says that you know, like 665 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,240 Speaker 3: these animals living in the muddy soil around river banks, 666 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:28,399 Speaker 3: they dig in the mud, they excavate the mud, and 667 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:32,480 Speaker 3: this for one thing, it affects the chemistry of the mud, 668 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:35,719 Speaker 3: but it also sort of like breaks and loosens it up, 669 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:39,160 Speaker 3: which allows the mud to further disperse throughout the rivers 670 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,560 Speaker 3: and then also across flood plains, so you know, the 671 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,920 Speaker 3: valleys where rivers form between the higher areas of the land. 672 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:49,920 Speaker 3: So because you get these single channel s shaped rivers 673 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:54,560 Speaker 3: with more defined banks, you get these downstream processes that 674 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 3: lead to the build up of muddy flood plains around them, 675 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:02,040 Speaker 3: which don't form as easy along the kind of rivers 676 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:04,000 Speaker 3: you see forming in sand or gravel. 677 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: This is fascinating. I'm looking forward to getting back to 678 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,919 Speaker 1: some of this in our episode that's going to deal 679 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,960 Speaker 1: more with the specifics of some of the animals in 680 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,840 Speaker 1: the world today that make their home on the mud. 681 00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:21,000 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, absolutely. But I love this story because it's 682 00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:24,160 Speaker 3: just one of these amazing examples of how much, you know, 683 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:30,520 Speaker 3: sometimes we don't stop to appreciate the inner play between 684 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,600 Speaker 3: like earth and water and life, and the way that 685 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 3: they all are constantly changing each other. That there's this 686 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:41,440 Speaker 3: like massive, you know, process like the mud revolution caused 687 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,399 Speaker 3: by the evolution of plants on land further gives rise 688 00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:49,600 Speaker 3: to all of these these changes in land based life, 689 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:53,319 Speaker 3: which helps give give rise to more changes in like 690 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:56,920 Speaker 3: how mud accumulates and how sediment is distributed in floodplains 691 00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:59,320 Speaker 3: and so forth. So I guess by way of research, 692 00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:02,640 Speaker 3: we have once again and arrived at cliche. But sometimes 693 00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,200 Speaker 3: that's how it is. I mean, it's the life and 694 00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:08,200 Speaker 3: the inorganic systems that support life, the surface of the earth. 695 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:10,240 Speaker 3: It's a web of interactions. 696 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:12,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think it is easy to sort of 697 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:16,040 Speaker 1: fall back on just sort of the school textbook mental 698 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:21,560 Speaker 1: image of fish flops onto a beach, fish flops onto 699 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:24,480 Speaker 1: some rocks, and now life on earth has begun, you know, 700 00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:28,720 Speaker 1: like sort of not considering mud is this vital realm 701 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:32,040 Speaker 1: of evolution and transference. 702 00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:35,359 Speaker 3: And human culture and technology, Because this is another thing 703 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:39,120 Speaker 3: that Poppic gets into in her article, like she quotes 704 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,759 Speaker 3: Woodward Fisher talking about how there are still things that 705 00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:45,640 Speaker 3: we don't fully understand about mud and the way that 706 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:49,440 Speaker 3: riverbanks work and stuff, and this research could help contribute 707 00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:52,560 Speaker 3: to that, for example, by giving us better ideas of 708 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:56,560 Speaker 3: how to do river engineering projects like dam construction. You know, 709 00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:58,799 Speaker 3: if you have a better idea of the way that 710 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:04,360 Speaker 3: vegetation controls the flow of rivers and how the banks 711 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:07,520 Speaker 3: of the rivers change and respond to flood conditions, you 712 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:12,600 Speaker 3: could better anticipate and prevent, for example, river engineering failures. 713 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,040 Speaker 3: The example given in the article here is like flooding 714 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:18,920 Speaker 3: along the Mississippi River. But you know, this is of 715 00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:21,040 Speaker 3: concern to societies all around the world. 716 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:24,440 Speaker 1: All of this reminds me of that great quote from T. S. 717 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:28,080 Speaker 1: Eliot from four Quartets quote. I do not know much 718 00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:30,360 Speaker 1: about gods, but I think that the river is a 719 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,919 Speaker 1: strong brown god, sullen, untamed and intractable. 720 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,359 Speaker 3: Well, that's beautiful. And to know that that god may 721 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,160 Speaker 3: have been formed out of many other lesser gods over 722 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:45,400 Speaker 3: time by the accumulation of mud by plants. Oh, this 723 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:47,520 Speaker 3: is just a random thing I remembered, but I wanted 724 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:49,880 Speaker 3: to throw it in quickly. Another interesting thing mentioned in 725 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:53,960 Speaker 3: that popic article is the idea that once forests are 726 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:58,000 Speaker 3: formed on land, they can also help contribute to the 727 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,640 Speaker 3: accumulation of mud on the continents because they act as 728 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:05,279 Speaker 3: a sort of filter for dust and sediment that is 729 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,000 Speaker 3: blown by the wind. So the wind, you know, you 730 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,520 Speaker 3: can imagine it picking up fine grain particles of soil, clay, 731 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:15,200 Speaker 3: and silt, blowing them around when they're dry, and normally 732 00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:17,040 Speaker 3: they just get blown out to sea. But if there 733 00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:20,040 Speaker 3: are forests, they get stopped by the forests, they get 734 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:22,600 Speaker 3: stuck in the sort of the sieve of the trees 735 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,080 Speaker 3: they fall to the earth, and then they can accumulate 736 00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:28,840 Speaker 3: and become mud on the forest floor, flow down into 737 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,800 Speaker 3: a river over time with the wash of the rains 738 00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,040 Speaker 3: and so forth, and then become new muddy banks. 739 00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:39,080 Speaker 1: It's amazing. Yeah, it's so easy to take mud for granted, because, 740 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:40,480 Speaker 1: like I say, if you're just coming at it from 741 00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:42,520 Speaker 1: the perspective of someone who wants to go on a 742 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:44,880 Speaker 1: walk in the woods, and then mud is what happens 743 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:49,120 Speaker 1: when when something has failed or or conditions are not optimal. 744 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:54,120 Speaker 1: But this, this look at the MUD's roll in the 745 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:56,440 Speaker 1: emergence of life and the sort of the construction of 746 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:59,400 Speaker 1: the world as we know it, Yeah, really really casts 747 00:44:59,400 --> 00:44:59,600 Speaker 1: it in. 748 00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:03,160 Speaker 3: A different But we're by no means done with this topic. 749 00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:04,840 Speaker 3: I think we should wrap it up for today. But 750 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:08,320 Speaker 3: when we come back, we will be talking about mud 751 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:12,080 Speaker 3: and warfare, Mud in human civilization, Mud on Mars, mud 752 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,839 Speaker 3: and animal behavior and more mud, monsters. There's all kinds 753 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 3: of stuff. Yeah. 754 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:19,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, So this is one of those where we definitely 755 00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,200 Speaker 1: don't know how many episodes it'll be, so we can't 756 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:23,640 Speaker 1: give you a heads up that this is going to 757 00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:26,560 Speaker 1: be two episodes, three episodes, We're just going to have 758 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:29,239 Speaker 1: to listen to the mud and follow the mud and 759 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:32,759 Speaker 1: let it take us. Like someone's stepping in it on 760 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:34,799 Speaker 1: a muddy path. We just got to let it see 761 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:38,240 Speaker 1: where we go, how far we're going to slide into mud? 762 00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:39,960 Speaker 1: All right, Well, on that note, we're going to go 763 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:42,040 Speaker 1: ahead and close it out, but we'll be back next 764 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:45,000 Speaker 1: time with more mud. So just remember that. Our core 765 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,120 Speaker 1: episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind publishing the Stuff 766 00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:50,319 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind podcast feed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 767 00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:52,799 Speaker 1: Mondays we do listener mail, Wednesdays we do a short 768 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:55,120 Speaker 1: form artifact or monster Effect, and on Fridays we do 769 00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,399 Speaker 1: Weird House Cinema. That's our time to set aside most 770 00:45:57,440 --> 00:45:59,960 Speaker 1: serious concerns and just talk about a weird film. 771 00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:04,319 Speaker 3: Huge thanks to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway. If 772 00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:05,840 Speaker 3: you would like to get in touch with us with 773 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:08,440 Speaker 3: feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a 774 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:10,480 Speaker 3: topic for the future, or just to say hello, you 775 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,319 Speaker 3: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 776 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:21,880 Speaker 3: Mind dot com. 777 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,880 Speaker 2: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 778 00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:28,799 Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts 779 00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:44,880 Speaker 2: or Wherever you're listening to your favorite shows,