1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. When 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: we think about fire, and we do think about fire 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: a lot on this show, let's come out the time 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: and time again. What are you are you confessing something 7 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:27,639 Speaker 1: that we that we love fire, that we worship fire, 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: that we delight in its um, its growth, and its consumption. Um. No, 9 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: but it is it must be fed. But it is 10 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,599 Speaker 1: an important aspect of Earth. You know, as we discussed 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: on past episodes. You know, Earth is the only planet 12 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,599 Speaker 1: known to have fire, and there was a time when 13 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: there was no fire on Earth because it wasn't possible yet. Um. 14 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: You know fire. When we think about fire, we think 15 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: about its fleeting nature, but also it's potential, it's tremendous 16 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: power provided conditions are just right. Um. It's uh. It's 17 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: always interesting to think about how fire is in many 18 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: ways more un event than a thing, and for it 19 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 1: to happen you need heat, fuel and oxygen, and the 20 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: fuel and the oxygen we're not always present on our planet. 21 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: Fire is more or less an aspect of the New 22 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 1: Earth and The earliest evidence of charred vegetation dates back 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: a mere four hundred and forty million years. Right, So 24 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 1: today natural forest fires are just part of the cycle 25 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: of life on the surface of Earth. But there was 26 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: a time when Earth had its first forest fire. Can 27 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: you imagine that, like the first time that ever happened. Yeah, yeah, 28 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: it's crazy to imagine. And so this is this has 29 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: been an aspect of life under their earth ever since. Um. 30 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: And yeah, with with fire, it's it's interesting too because 31 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:49,559 Speaker 1: there's this trifecta. Obviously this necessary for it to exist. Um, 32 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: but it is a delicate tripod. Remove one of the 33 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: legs of the fire tripod and the fire will perish. 34 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: Uh So. Yeah, our relationship with fire is sometimes like 35 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: whoe is out of control? And other times it is 36 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: you know, I can't get this thing to light at all? Um. 37 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: You know. So I think we're all familiar with that, 38 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: with the dual nature of fire. Uh So. For today's episode, 39 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: and this will spill it into the next episode as well, 40 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: I thought we might start with just what I thought 41 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,119 Speaker 1: was just really tantalizing question because I'd never really thought 42 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: about it before, not not until you brought up this topic. 43 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: And that is what is the longest that a single 44 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: fire has raged? Uh? And I guess they're all sorts 45 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: of sort of artificial parameters we might throw in. You know, 46 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: what constitutes a single fire versus multiple fire spread out 47 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: over time? Uh? I guess we kind of have to 48 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: take the human scenario of like a hearth or a 49 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: camp fire and imagine that is sort of our basic principle, 50 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: like a single a single flame that keeps eating things, 51 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 1: keeps consuming, maybe it moves. But what is the longest 52 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: that such a fire has raged without snuffing out completely 53 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 1: and having to be reset one way or another? Great question? Yeah, 54 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,079 Speaker 1: so of course you know the answer, and I that 55 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: I know the answer to now. But but putting ourselves 56 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: in the mindset of someone who doesn't know the answer, 57 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: you might likely turn to a few different categories to 58 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 1: start off. And the first would be what we just 59 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: talked about, forest fires. Um. So you know, as long 60 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: as we've had forests and fire, uh, this has been 61 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: a possibility here on earth. Uh. Many of the worst 62 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: forest fires in history, though, are measured in terms of acres, destruction, 63 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: and fatality rather than in time. But if you dig, 64 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: dig down, you you can start seeing some some time 65 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: stamps on things. Many of the worst are dated to 66 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: just a single day in human history um. Others last 67 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: longer though some of the consist of multiple blazes, So 68 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: it becomes perhaps a little more of a challenge to 69 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: think of a continuous fire in these cases. Uh, though 70 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: in many of the cases I think it does fit. 71 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 1: Some wildfire seasons, of course, span many months, and then 72 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: you have you have particular fires that have raged for 73 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: a period of time. There's the Coyote Fire of nineteen 74 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: siour in Santa Barbara, California, which lasted from September one 75 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: to October one. So it seems we might if we're 76 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,040 Speaker 1: thinking about about modern forest fires, we're gonna probably look 77 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: at something lasting days months, um uh, somewhere in that range. Now, 78 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: as for wildfires of yesteryear, as well as blazes caused 79 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: by prehistoric extinction events, I I couldn't find any stats 80 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: on this, but I suppose it's worth thinking about. But 81 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: it's also worth thinking about the fact that when you 82 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: have a particularly large energetic fire, it can ultimately become 83 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: something entirely different. You've become this this fire storm which 84 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: creates and sustains its own wind system. So I mean, 85 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: I guess that's one of the reasons when we start 86 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: looking at some of these big blazes, they do tremendous damage, 87 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: they can cover a pretty large area, but they're still 88 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 1: not lasting long and time because they're just eating through 89 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,480 Speaker 1: all of that fuel in a relatively short period of time. 90 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: And of course, with when we're talking about wildfires, we 91 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: also have to think about the fact that, uh, you know, 92 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: the human civilization has a has an impact as well 93 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: on just how wildfires will play out through a given 94 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: forest scenario. Uh, you know, and to a certain extent, 95 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: you know, we've we've been able to to jump in 96 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: with um with orchestrated burns, control burns to try and 97 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:33,159 Speaker 1: uh simulate sort of the natural cycle of fires that 98 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 1: would normally occur um. But another area where you have 99 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: to factor in human civilization is of course when you're 100 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: dealing with urban fires, where the trees and various other 101 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: aspects of the natural world have been remade into an 102 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: artificial environment a city, and then what happens when that 103 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: catches fire. Well, I think a lot of the same 104 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: practicalities are involved here as well. Some of the great 105 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: fires to ravage cities are often measured to a single 106 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: date in time UM, though there are some exceptions. There's 107 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: the uh There's the one b C burning of Carthage, 108 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: which reportedly took seventeen days. But this was also said 109 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 1: to be a systematic burning of the city by the Romans, 110 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: So I'm not sure if that would count UH so 111 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: much because it was it was one of these situations obviously, 112 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: where the Romans are like, let's burn the city down, 113 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: let's make sure everything burns through. There are some other 114 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: fires that are that are worth mentioning. There's the Great 115 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 1: Fire of Utricht in the Netherlands that lasted nine days 116 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: reportedly in twelve fifty three. There's the eighty nine first 117 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: Great Fire of Lynn, Massachusetts, reportedly last two weeks, destroying 118 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: roughly a hundred buildings. So it looks like, if we 119 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: were going to say it looked to the world of 120 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: like urban fires, for some sort of a candidate for 121 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 1: longest fire, you're gonna be looking at something in the 122 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: realm of days two weeks, But figures beyond that seemed 123 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: kind of doubtful. All right. The next area to think about, though, 124 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: would be, of course, human sustained fires. What about situations 125 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: in which a human cultivated flame, a flame that's kept 126 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: and fed more or less like a pet either for 127 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: technological purposes, say like a forge or a pilot light, 128 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: or something that's more religious or secular, or a secular 129 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: symbol in nature, you know, something like a holy fire 130 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: that's kept going, or some sort of a monument that 131 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: has an eternal flame hooked up to it. I was 132 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: shocked to discover how many monuments there are that have 133 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: so called eternal flames on them because I don't know, 134 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: maybe it's just uh, my morbid brain, but it seems 135 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: like calling a flame eternal is just tempting the faces. 136 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: Like you you know, this is not this flame will 137 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: not burn forever. It's like settled down. You can't call 138 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,119 Speaker 1: it eternal. I was trying to think what you should 139 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: call it instead. I can't come up with anything. I 140 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: don't know, maybe the long burning flame or something, or 141 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: the attempted eternal flame. It's just eternal is not gonna happen, right, Yeah, 142 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: I mean I guess, and to a certain extent, I 143 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: guess this is obvious. Like they're getting into the idea 144 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: of like the fire is something that is that it 145 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: can go out and it has to be cultivated. And 146 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of these are tied to two 147 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:16,119 Speaker 1: causes and memories with the with the idea of saying like, hey, 148 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 1: let's let's let's make a point of remembering this individual 149 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: or remembering this cause. Um, and and we'll use the 150 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:27,679 Speaker 1: fire as a symbol. Uh. But that that yeah, And 151 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: there have been a number of these that that have 152 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 1: sprung up just at the end of the twentieth century 153 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: and and even you know, in the twenty one century. 154 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: And uh and and it's also and it's certainly with 155 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: the older ones that it gets more difficult to really 156 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: figure out. Okay, has this been truly a perpetual eternal 157 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,199 Speaker 1: fire or has it gone out at least once, if 158 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:49,319 Speaker 1: not multiple times over the span of time that is 159 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: attributed to it. I'm sorry that Roger Corman is invading 160 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: my brain right now, but I'm thinking of a line 161 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: and attack at the Crab Monsters where the giant psychic 162 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,319 Speaker 1: crab they're assaulting it with with different types of weapons. 163 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 1: The humans are trying to defeat it, and at some 164 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: point they use a fire based weapon and the crab 165 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: counters by telling them he says something like that was 166 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: quick thinking Dale, but the pity is that all fires 167 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: must one day burn out. True, it's true. Um. But 168 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: by the way, more fairly recently, someone was asking, I 169 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: think in the discord for Stuff to blow your mind, 170 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 1: what are all the episodes in which Joe has mentioned 171 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 1: attack of the crab monsters. No one had a clear answer, 172 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: but a few a few episodes were brought up in 173 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: which people remembered you you mentioning it. We'll add this 174 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,199 Speaker 1: to the list. Okay. Uh So, out of the various 175 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:40,839 Speaker 1: examples that come up, but one that I thought was 176 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: pretty interesting is that of the the dast show in 177 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: Temple Complex in Japan that has a flame that is 178 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: said to have been burning for about twelve hundred years. Obviously, 179 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 1: it's impossible to say with something like this, uh. And 180 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,959 Speaker 1: ultimately I guess the it's the idea of the continuous 181 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: flame that is most portant here. Uh. But but still 182 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 1: this is an example of one that has supposedly been 183 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: burning for over a thousand years. Now. This is not 184 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:12,319 Speaker 1: quite a flame. But I ran across this as well, 185 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: and I thought I mentioned just because it's amusing and 186 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:16,959 Speaker 1: and maybe we have some listeners who can who can 187 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,679 Speaker 1: report on this firsthand. But there is something known as 188 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:25,199 Speaker 1: the Centennial light bulb in Livermore, California, specifically in the 189 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: firehouse there. It's been burning there, uh, the bulb since 190 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 1: nine one, though this has not been continuous. There have 191 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:37,439 Speaker 1: been power outages and electrical issues, etcetera. So I'm not 192 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: sure exactly like what the ratio is between the time 193 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,679 Speaker 1: during that century plus that the light has been out 194 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 1: versus on. But it's certainly a very old light bulb 195 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: that still lights up. And there is a webcam you 196 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: can like check in on its status at centennial bulb 197 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: dot org. So this is same filament, no, no replaced parts, 198 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: it's the same bulb old and it still works, still works, 199 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,960 Speaker 1: yeah uh, And and you can go visit it like 200 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 1: on the website. It has information about how you can 201 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,520 Speaker 1: see this bulb for yourself. That is very impressive because 202 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: obviously this is not an LED bulb or something. This 203 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: is Lord knows how they're making light bulbs in nineteen 204 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: o one, but this was in some form an incandescent 205 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: filament based light bulb. Yes. Now, now getting back to 206 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: the idea of fire and technology, I will say that 207 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: I don't have an answer regarding things like pilot lights 208 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 1: or you know, forge fires, industrial flames. Um, So there 209 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: might be a really good example out there that I 210 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: just couldn't find of a of a verified long burning 211 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 1: pilot light or long burning forge fire, that sort of thing. 212 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: But if listeners out there have have have something to 213 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:56,559 Speaker 1: submit on that count, let us have it. So, based 214 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:58,719 Speaker 1: on everything I've mentioned here and then, this very much 215 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 1: reflects my mindset going into this. I was thinking, Uh, 216 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: you know, before we did any research, before we brought 217 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:05,679 Speaker 1: up the idea of the episode, I would have guessed, well, 218 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: the longest raging fire, you know, maybe maybe it's it's gone, 219 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: you know, a few weeks, a few months, uh, and 220 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: you know the conditions are just right. But beyond that, 221 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: I mean, how how long can a fire rage? Uh? Joe, 222 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: would you like to get into uh one of the 223 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,440 Speaker 1: answers that that we're going to discuss in these episodes. Well, 224 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 1: for the rest of the series, we wanted to talk 225 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:33,200 Speaker 1: about naturally fueled flames. Flames that can burn for a 226 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: long long time because humans weren't even necessary to create them, uh, 227 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:40,679 Speaker 1: that they're in they can arise in various ways. We're 228 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: going to talk about some major categories I think more 229 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: in the next part of this series. But there are 230 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: various kinds of of of burning and ignition processes that 231 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: it turns out have been going on on the surface 232 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:59,319 Speaker 1: of the Earth for hundreds or even thousands of years, 233 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 1: which of course absolutely just dwarfs everything that that I 234 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,560 Speaker 1: that I've mentioned so far. It really puts things on 235 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 1: an entirely different time scale, right, So I wanted to 236 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: talk in uh in this episode about one example that 237 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:14,960 Speaker 1: really struck me when I was reading up for this 238 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: that's sort of an odd man out, it's not exactly 239 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: fitting into the other categories that we're gonna be talking 240 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:23,319 Speaker 1: about in part two, so I figured to be good 241 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: to start with this one. So in the Northwest Territories 242 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: of Canada, there is a stretch of seaside cliff faces 243 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:36,200 Speaker 1: and hills along the eastern coast of a place called 244 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:42,319 Speaker 1: Cape Bathurst where the earth and the rocks themselves seem 245 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: to be perpetually burning, and they have been that way 246 00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:51,080 Speaker 1: probably for thousands of years. In English, this place is 247 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:55,720 Speaker 1: known as the Smoking Hills or sometimes the Smoky Mountains, 248 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: not to be confused with the ones in along the 249 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: Tennessee North Carolina border. Different and smoky mountains literally smoking 250 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: in this case, but in the language of the anuvialu It, 251 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: and these are the people native to the western Canadian 252 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 1: Arctic region. It is known as nar you At, which 253 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 1: means big fire. And I was poking around for good 254 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 1: historical resources on this place. A lot of the articles 255 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: I dug up actually seemed rather confused, offering contradictory details 256 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:28,280 Speaker 1: about early observation. So the best thing I found was 257 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: a piece in a magazine called Twosaiosat, which is a 258 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: publication devoted to the language, culture and history of the Innuvvaluate. 259 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: This article is by Charles Arnold and it's called ing 260 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: Near you at the Smoking Hills of Franklin Bay. So 261 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 1: Arnold identifies the earliest written account of the Smoking Hills 262 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: as one tracing back to a Scottish naturalist, explorer and 263 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: naval surgeon named Sir John Richardson, who wrote about the 264 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: hills in the eighteen twenties while documenting an expedition that 265 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: he made to chart the coastlines of northern Canada. And 266 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 1: as a side note, this mission was actually organized in 267 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: cooperation with another Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin, who many 268 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: years later in eighteen forty five, would head up the 269 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: infamous Lost Franklin Expedition, the goal of which was to 270 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: fully chart a northwest sea passage through Canada. They were 271 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:27,440 Speaker 1: hoping to find a way to get around the northern 272 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: part of the continent by water. Obviously, this is even 273 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: though you know, if you look at a map you'll 274 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: see a lot of gaps between the islands of northern Canada. 275 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: This is more difficult than it might sound because often 276 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: these waterways are are choked with ice. So when Franklin 277 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 1: got lost in the eighteen forties, he was trying to 278 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,000 Speaker 1: find this northwest passage. And if you want to know more, 279 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: you can look up what's known and unknown about the 280 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:54,000 Speaker 1: voyage of the HMS Terror and the HMS arab Us. 281 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:56,800 Speaker 1: If you want some good hair raising mystery with hints 282 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: of cannibalism. Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a faculous score. Um. 283 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: You know what we've been able to piece together over 284 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: the years through you know, the original history and then 285 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,360 Speaker 1: the finding of the wreckage and so forth. Um. Dan 286 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: Simons wrote a fictional take on the Terror and the 287 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: Arabis titled The Terror, which was a brick of a 288 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,080 Speaker 1: book that was then made in to an excellent AMC 289 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: mini series a few years back. Uh. In this Franklin 290 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: is played by the actor Kieren Hines. But I highly 291 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: recommend this series. It's a wonderful mix of detailed historic 292 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: depiction as well as fantasy and horror. Jared Harris and 293 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: Tobias Menzies also star in that. It's really good. Rob 294 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: can you do a short version of what we actually 295 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: do know about the Lost Franklin expedition? Well, uh, there's 296 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:49,160 Speaker 1: a killer monster that shows up. No, No, that's the 297 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: that's the that's the mini series I'm thinking of. Um, 298 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: I mean, it's really really story. We could get into 299 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: the full episodes really, but but basically, you have these 300 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: two vessels that were that we're seeking the North Passage 301 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:04,479 Speaker 1: and they went missing, and and you get into like 302 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:06,400 Speaker 1: what happened to the crew, Like how long were they 303 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: marooned out there in the ice and their ships locked 304 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: in frozen in Where did where did they get to? 305 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: Did anybody actually, you know, make it out. It's presumed, 306 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:19,000 Speaker 1: I think still that they all died. But you know, 307 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: there's a lot of there's been a lot of analysis 308 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,719 Speaker 1: over the years about uh, you know what happened to them, 309 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 1: and then and then later on we we actually found 310 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:30,920 Speaker 1: the wreckages. There's a famous painting I think that has 311 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:34,760 Speaker 1: to do with this, uh, with this lost voyage called 312 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 1: It's got a really metal album name. It's called something 313 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:43,200 Speaker 1: like Man Proposes, God disposes or something um and it's 314 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:46,360 Speaker 1: the painting is just a polar bearers fighting over scraps 315 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: of the wreckage. Yeah, for the for the longest the 316 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: wreckage was was just lost entirely, but it was in 317 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:59,680 Speaker 1: September and expedition by Parks Canada discovered first the Arabis 318 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,399 Speaker 1: and then two years later they found a terror as 319 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: well well. Anyway, coming back to the story, Sorry, so 320 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: Dr John Richardson, the author of the account I'm about 321 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: to site, was not involved in the lost expedition. He 322 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: just was an early collaborator with Franklin. So turning back 323 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: to his survey several decades earlier, in traveling along the 324 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,440 Speaker 1: shore of the place that would come to be known 325 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: as Franklin Bay, Richardson made some observations of something marvelous 326 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:32,879 Speaker 1: cliffs that themselves appeared to be quote on fire giving 327 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: out smoke, and where the ground appeared to consist of 328 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: quote burnt clay's variously colored yellow, white, and deep red. 329 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: I found another source quoting one of Richardson's accounts, where 330 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,439 Speaker 1: he says, quote at Cape Bathurst, the northern end of 331 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: Franklin Bay, bituminous shale is exposed in many places, and 332 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 1: in my visit there in eighteen six was in a 333 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: state of ignition, and the clays which had been thus 334 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: at supposed to the heat were baked and vitrified, so 335 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: that the spot resembled an old brick field. And I 336 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: will say I understand what Richard is is getting at here. 337 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:13,680 Speaker 1: Of course, brick fields are places where bricks are manufactured. 338 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:15,720 Speaker 1: You can look these up on the Internet and you 339 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,640 Speaker 1: can see the resemblance with the unnatural look of the 340 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,399 Speaker 1: baked earth. But when I look at pictures of the 341 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: smoking hills, my computer ruined brain sees these landscapes, and 342 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: unfortunately the first place it goes is that it looks 343 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 1: like a level in doom. Yeah, it does. Um it. Also, 344 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: I have to say it looks kind of delicious, like 345 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 1: I'm also reminded of I don't like red velvet cake. 346 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,119 Speaker 1: It's like red velvet cake emerging from the earth. Yeah, yeah, 347 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 1: And it's very interesting the way they produce these protruding 348 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 1: rock formations. They're very jagged, uh, and they seem to 349 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: be rather resistant to weathering compared to the unbaked rock 350 00:19:56,359 --> 00:20:00,280 Speaker 1: all around them, which is more smoothed over. Yeah, very jagged, dairy, 351 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: and very bloody looking in some cases. Say it looks 352 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: like some sort of rock formation that is just gouged 353 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,919 Speaker 1: into the flash of a titan. Totally. So that's what 354 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 1: Richardson saw in the eighteen twenties. He says, Hey, you know, 355 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: we went past these cliffs. They appeared to be on fire. 356 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: They're giving off smoke. We see a lot of burnt clay. 357 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: It's yellow white and deep red. Very weird. Looks like 358 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 1: an old brick field. But then the written history of 359 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 1: the Smoking Hills continues after the disappearance of the Franklin 360 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:30,120 Speaker 1: expedition in the eighteen forties. So Franklin, the two ships Franklin, 361 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: and the crews go missing, and in the year eighteen fifty, 362 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: a ship called the HMS Investigator, under the command of 363 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: Captain Robert McClure was searching for survivors of the Franklin 364 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 1: party in the area around Franklin Bay. Once again, when 365 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: the crew of this ship came across the same weird 366 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: site cliffs by the sea that were strangely covered, and 367 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: we're giving off plumes of smoke. And at first they 368 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 1: thought that these might be campfires or signals from the 369 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 1: Franklin survivors, so they sent out a small boat to 370 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 1: check it out, see what's going on. But no, it 371 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: was not survivors of the Franklin mission. Arnold in his 372 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:15,119 Speaker 1: article identify as testimony left by a Moravian missionary named 373 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:18,679 Speaker 1: Johann mr Sing who was a member of the shore party. 374 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: And this is one where I really wanted to find 375 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 1: the original text, but I don't. I can't if this 376 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 1: has been digitized anywhere, I could not find it. It 377 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: appears to be from what's called the Arctic Diary of 378 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:34,159 Speaker 1: Johann mr Ching eighteen fifty eighteen fifty four. That was 379 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,119 Speaker 1: that was published in print form in Toronto in nineteen 380 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,920 Speaker 1: sixty seven. But but I couldn't find the digital version. 381 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: So I'm relying on arnold summaries of of what mr 382 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: Ching says. But he says that when they got to 383 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,359 Speaker 1: the source of the smoke, they found no human life 384 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,719 Speaker 1: alive or dead. Only quote a thick smoke emerging from 385 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,000 Speaker 1: various events in the ground, and a smell of sulfur 386 00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: so strong that we could not approach the smoke pillar 387 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: year than ten or fifteen feet flame there was none, 388 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,359 Speaker 1: but the ground was so hot that it scorched the 389 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,640 Speaker 1: soles of our feet. Arnold says that Mr. Ching compared 390 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: the landscape to a huge chemical factory. He says that 391 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,400 Speaker 1: water from nearby ponds had been fouled by something from 392 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: the earth, and that it that the water tasted sour, 393 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,080 Speaker 1: and they brought back samples of rocks from the smoking hills, 394 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: brought him back to the ship where he Merching apparently 395 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 1: claims that they ended up burning a hole in the 396 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 1: mahogany table where Captain McClure kept them. So they took 397 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: some rocks back to the captain and they're burning up 398 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:39,200 Speaker 1: his furniture. You know this This reminds me again of 399 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,679 Speaker 1: the mini series of The Terror because one of the 400 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:44,800 Speaker 1: things that they stressed in that show and Uh, and 401 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:48,400 Speaker 1: they have some of the people involved in the production 402 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: that didn't mention this as well. They mentioned that when 403 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: then they were researching the ships to portray them on 404 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:58,639 Speaker 1: the show. Uh, there was this this realization that you know, 405 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: these were some of them most advanced vessels of any 406 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,359 Speaker 1: kind of that time period, and if we were to 407 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 1: compare them to to our modern world, we might well 408 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 1: compare them to spaceships. We might well think of them 409 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 1: in terms of of of something that is meant to 410 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: venture beyond our atmosphere. Um. And and here we have 411 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 1: one of the and and Uh. Specifically, this was referring 412 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 1: to the Terror and the Arabis. I'm not quite sure 413 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: about the investigator, but I'm assuming that it may have 414 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,359 Speaker 1: been a similar in a similar fashion, may have been 415 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,640 Speaker 1: a very advanced ship. Um. But but here they are 416 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: with the ship essentially arriving at an alien landscape. You know, 417 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 1: it must have just been such a strange sight to behold. 418 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,399 Speaker 1: Here you are, um this, you know, this far flung 419 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 1: and ultimately very very hostile, very dangerous environment. And here 420 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 1: here are shores where things are are bloody and burning 421 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:55,480 Speaker 1: and it's like a chemical that, uh, you bring a 422 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,800 Speaker 1: piece of it inside the ship and it begins to 423 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: burn a hole through the table in front of you. 424 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: It's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, So here I guess we come 425 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 1: to the question of what is actually causing these hills 426 00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:17,680 Speaker 1: to smoke. You might assume, based on background knowledge that, okay, 427 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 1: if there's heat and sulfurous gas coming out of the 428 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: ground the sources volcanic, right, that that would be the 429 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: obvious assumption. Yeah, that's that's where your mind instantly goes. 430 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: But in this case, no, I found one source on 431 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,479 Speaker 1: this that that was pretty helpful. It was a paper 432 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: called why do the Smoking Hills smoke? Why? Um? It 433 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: was published in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences in 434 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:48,000 Speaker 1: four by W. H. Matthews and R. M. Bustin. And 435 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: this paper invokes a term that I've never heard before. 436 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:56,240 Speaker 1: It refers to areas of fire baked rock as um. 437 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 1: I think this word is French, so I think it 438 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,119 Speaker 1: would be pronounced bocan, but it's bo c A N 439 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: N E s. And the author is right that you 440 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 1: find these these fire baked rocks in quote cretaceous mudstones 441 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:13,639 Speaker 1: along sea cliffs and in areas of recent slumping. So 442 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:15,920 Speaker 1: the fire baking of the rocks and the earth lead 443 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,919 Speaker 1: to these weird patterns of coloration that can easily be 444 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:20,880 Speaker 1: seen with the naked eye, and that we heard described 445 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: in the literary sources we just mentioned. So these color 446 00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:27,720 Speaker 1: changes include bleaching and reddening of the mud stone, which 447 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: is otherwise dark in color, and these colors can remain 448 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:36,240 Speaker 1: even after one of the bocans has stopped burning. And 449 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,479 Speaker 1: in places where these rocks are still burning and baking, 450 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: you get smoke pouring out, you get sulfurous fumes as 451 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,159 Speaker 1: well as high ground temperatures. So the the earth you 452 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: walk on gets hot. So what's the cause. Well, the 453 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,959 Speaker 1: authors of this paper, they performed a number of different analyzes, 454 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 1: including petrographic, mineralogical, chemical, and calorific analyzes, and they determined 455 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 1: that quote, the boca on are fumed by oxidation of 456 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 1: pyrite and or organic matter. With heating of the strata 457 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,639 Speaker 1: by oxidation, combustible gases are driven off that may burn 458 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:17,399 Speaker 1: in restricted areas, resulting in localized melting of the strata. So, 459 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: in reading this and a few other sources and putting 460 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 1: things together, I think I understand this now and trying 461 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: to put my understanding into other words, A lot of 462 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:30,160 Speaker 1: the rock in this area is mudstone or or type 463 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:34,440 Speaker 1: of shale rock. Mudstone is a sedimentary rock that can 464 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 1: contain hydrocarbon or organic contents, So some amount of fossil 465 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: fuel is naturally present in this rock, even if in 466 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:45,440 Speaker 1: low concentrations, and in this case, one of the main 467 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:49,400 Speaker 1: carbon constituents seems to be a form of lignite, which 468 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 1: is a soft brown type of cold that is generally 469 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: formed by the underground compression of pete. But this rock 470 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: also contains a significant amount of iron pyrite, a mineral 471 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: form of of iron sulfide which UM is also known 472 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: as fool's gold. Yeah, and you know it's I think 473 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:11,639 Speaker 1: it's always a shame we call fool's golded because it 474 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:13,879 Speaker 1: implies it. It's into a certain extent, it's ugly and 475 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: it's without value. But UH, pyrite can can look quite impressive, 476 00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:22,119 Speaker 1: you know, if I've seen examples of it in UM, UH, 477 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,920 Speaker 1: in mineral museums before UH and UH. And of course 478 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,160 Speaker 1: in the fact that it can be used to ignite something. 479 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:33,159 Speaker 1: I believe it was used in UH in firearms in 480 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: the past. UM. I did not know that, but that 481 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,399 Speaker 1: would make sense now reading about this, because so so 482 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: what's going on here is that UM. When the cliff 483 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:47,160 Speaker 1: faces erode here at the smoking Hills and new faces 484 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:51,400 Speaker 1: of the mudstone strata are exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere, 485 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,640 Speaker 1: the carbon based fuel and the natural iron pyrite together 486 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:01,200 Speaker 1: undergo oxidation, a chemical reaction which leads to heating. The 487 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: oxidation of the iron pye rite here is an exothermic reaction. 488 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:09,399 Speaker 1: It heats up the surrounding rock and this oxidation based 489 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 1: heating leads to the release of flammable gases that are 490 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: embedded in the rock. And so the authors think when 491 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: these gases are released, they become a form of fuel 492 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: evaporating in an environment of extreme heat with exposured oxygen. 493 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 1: So here you have the three magic ingredients, right, you 494 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:30,119 Speaker 1: have fuel escaping, you have it's very hot, and you 495 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 1: have oxygen nearby. So they burn, and these fires further 496 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,199 Speaker 1: heat and melt the strata of the rock. And I 497 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 1: believe the implication is that this melting, uh this melting 498 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,640 Speaker 1: and baking helps continue to reveal new faces of strata 499 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 1: to the atmosphere so that more oxidation can happen in 500 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: the process can just continue it's auto ignition. It ignites 501 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: automatically by being exposed to the oxygen, and the process 502 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,719 Speaker 1: is self sustaining. The author's right that you tend to 503 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 1: find these bocan only in places where the strata of 504 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: sedimentary rock has been suddenly exposed to the atmosphere, maybe 505 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: by a landslide or some of the form of erosion 506 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,960 Speaker 1: or erosion UH that's left behind after the retreat of glaciers. Now, 507 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: coming back to these historical counts, while the stories from 508 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 1: Richardson and the McClure expedition are the earliest written accounts 509 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,920 Speaker 1: of the Smoking Hills, UH a new value at oral 510 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: traditions about the mountains have been in circulation for much longer. 511 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: As I mentioned the the traditional name for this place 512 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: is in near you Wat, which means big fire. And 513 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:40,760 Speaker 1: this article by Charles Arnold, then after it recounts the 514 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,360 Speaker 1: literary section, it goes into a section on the oral tradition, 515 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,640 Speaker 1: including one excellent story that was told to the Danish 516 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 1: anthropologist Canude Rasmussen in nineteen twenty four by a person 517 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 1: living in the Cape Bathurst area named Alan all right Sake. 518 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: So this is the story told by on our rightside, 519 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: recounted to Rasmussen and and quoted in Arnold here. In 520 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: the early infancy of man, people were never alone, whether 521 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: they lived in a settlement or were traveling on long journeys, 522 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: they were surrounded by a spirit people who lived as 523 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,479 Speaker 1: human beings, and were in fact human beings, except that 524 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: they were invisible. Their bodies were not for our eyes 525 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: or their voices for our ears. And when people traveled 526 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,959 Speaker 1: and pitched camp and began to build their snow huts, 527 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 1: one might see round about the snow drifts that the 528 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 1: snow blocks began to move, being lifted out of the 529 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,560 Speaker 1: drifts and piled together into a snow house, which seemed 530 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,320 Speaker 1: to grow of itself. Occasionally one might see the glitter 531 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:47,360 Speaker 1: of a copper knife, and that was all. They did 532 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: not mind people coming into their houses, which were arranged 533 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 1: just like those of human beings. All their belongings were visible, 534 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: and people could trade with them very profitably. If one 535 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,760 Speaker 1: wished to buy something, all that was necessary was to 536 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: point to it and at the same time show what 537 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: one was prepared to give for it. If the spirit 538 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,760 Speaker 1: people agreed, the object required lifted itself up and moved 539 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,760 Speaker 1: towards the man who wanted it. But if they declined 540 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 1: the bargain, the object remained where it was. So people 541 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: were never alone. They always had small, silent and invisible 542 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: spirits around them. But one day it happened that during 543 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: a halt, A man seized his knife and cried, what 544 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: do we want with these people who were always right 545 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 1: on our heels. Saying this, he flourished his knife in 546 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: the air and thrust it in the direction of the 547 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: snow huts that had made themselves. Not a sound was heard, 548 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 1: but the knife was covered in blood. From that moment, 549 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: the spirits went away. Never again did anyone see the 550 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: wondrous sight of snow drifts forming themselves into snow huts 551 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,719 Speaker 1: when one made camp, And forever the people lost their silent, 552 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,240 Speaker 1: invisible guardian spirits. It was said that they had gone 553 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 1: to live inside the mouths in order to hide from 554 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: man who had mocked and wounded their feelings. That is 555 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,680 Speaker 1: why to this day one can see the mountains smoking 556 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:13,280 Speaker 1: from the enormous cooking fires flaming inside them. Oh wow, 557 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: that's wonderful. Yeah, I thought this was beautiful, and it 558 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: also made me so sad that like the humans betrayed 559 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: their their invisible companions. Yeah yeah, and that it also 560 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: of course reminds me of of various other accounts that 561 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: you see, particularly like Irish traditions, where you have these 562 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:36,040 Speaker 1: traditions of the former people or other other intelligent beings, 563 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,120 Speaker 1: be they some sort of spirit fulk or or or 564 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: what have you, or something very humanoid in form, and 565 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: they've been driven into the earth by the newer people. 566 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: And we see a similar trend here. Yeah. Yeah. Arnold's 567 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: site stories remembered by other inuvaluate people of the present 568 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 1: describing their their memories of the stories about these people, 569 00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:59,120 Speaker 1: describing the smoke from the hills as the cooking fires 570 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 1: of the little people bowl who live inside the mountains. 571 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:05,760 Speaker 1: And there was one story he recorded that really struck me. 572 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:10,040 Speaker 1: This was wonderful. This was quoting a source named Fred 573 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,440 Speaker 1: Wolki who said, quote, they're as big as a fork 574 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,800 Speaker 1: that you eat with. They use a caribous ear for 575 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 1: a parka. They turn it inside out and they just 576 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,640 Speaker 1: have to put it on, just take the inside off 577 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,600 Speaker 1: skin it already made park a. One thing that strikes 578 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: me as interesting is how there's a convergence on everyone 579 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 1: identifying in some way the smoking hills or in near 580 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:39,720 Speaker 1: you at as as artificial in nature. So in in 581 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 1: these oral traditions, the smoke coming off of the hills 582 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 1: or the cooking fires of the little people or the 583 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: invisible people living inside the mountain, but also some of 584 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:54,120 Speaker 1: the earliest written records like uhr Ching's compared the area 585 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,320 Speaker 1: to a huge chemical factory. Richard compared it to a 586 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 1: brick field. Both of these are products of human into story. 587 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,080 Speaker 1: It's interesting that that everybody seems to look at these 588 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: things and think artificial made by people. Yeah, I mean 589 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,960 Speaker 1: we just as as Earth is the fire planet, like 590 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: we are the people of fire, we are the only 591 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 1: organism that that has come to master it and and 592 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:22,240 Speaker 1: created works with it. So yeah, it makes sense that 593 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 1: that the various cultures would look to this and their 594 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,320 Speaker 1: mind would at least temporarily go in the same direction. 595 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:30,759 Speaker 1: In any case, coming back to the question about some 596 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:33,640 Speaker 1: of the longest burning fires, um, I guess part of 597 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:36,800 Speaker 1: this would be dependent on what you're what you're counting 598 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,799 Speaker 1: as a fire. When you look at something so like 599 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 1: I think the smoking hills, you will often not some 600 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 1: maybe sometimes you will, but you will often not be 601 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 1: seeing big gouts of flames like you would see at 602 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: a camp fire. You'll just see this continuous smoking and 603 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,200 Speaker 1: baking of the rock, and so the burning there I 604 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,800 Speaker 1: think would be more akin to what you'd see probably 605 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,600 Speaker 1: with like a burning coal. You know a piece of 606 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: coal that has been ignited. But considering that, we we 607 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 1: can know for pretty sure that the Smoking Hills have 608 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: probably been burning for hundreds or thousands of years. And 609 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:14,879 Speaker 1: there are multiple ways you can know this. I think 610 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:18,319 Speaker 1: there's some geological methods, but actually came across one study 611 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 1: offering one interesting piece of evidence for how long these 612 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: hills have been burning that I wouldn't have thought of, 613 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 1: which is archaeology. So there was a paper by Raymond J. 614 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: LeBlanc in American Antiquity in nineteen ninety one called Prehistoric 615 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: Clinker Use on the Cape Bathurst Peninsula, Northwest Territories, Canada, 616 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,360 Speaker 1: the Dynamics of formation and procurement and talking about the 617 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:46,239 Speaker 1: background going into this study, LeBlanc says, quote field work 618 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: conducted on the Cape Bathurst Peninsula and that's where the 619 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,840 Speaker 1: Smoking Hills are um has resulted in the discovery of 620 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:57,400 Speaker 1: seventy five sites representing occupation spanning more than three thousand years. 621 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 1: Nearly all of these sites are characterized by the predominant 622 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:05,799 Speaker 1: use of a distinctive rock called a clinker, resembling a 623 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:09,320 Speaker 1: basalt to obsidian like material. It is formed by the 624 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 1: spontaneous combustion of local organic rich shales. So some of 625 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,719 Speaker 1: the weird baked rocks left over at these auto ignition 626 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,640 Speaker 1: sites liking near you at uh these rocks have been 627 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,760 Speaker 1: used to make tools by the people living in the area, 628 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,319 Speaker 1: spanning back thousands of years. And I found that so 629 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 1: interesting too, that you would take these these strange clinker 630 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:37,000 Speaker 1: rocks and turn them into technology. Yeah, yeah, from this 631 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,600 Speaker 1: from from this site that we interpret through the lens 632 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,960 Speaker 1: of biotechnology. Interesting. Now, one more paper I wanted to 633 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,759 Speaker 1: mention before I'm done with the Smoking Hills is by 634 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:51,360 Speaker 1: Magna Havas and Thomas C. Hutchinson, published in Nature in 635 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:57,320 Speaker 1: nine three called the Smoking Hills Naturaliscidification of an Aquatic Ecosystem. 636 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 1: So you remember how those early reports of of the 637 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,320 Speaker 1: area report they said that the water of nearby ponds 638 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,920 Speaker 1: was foul and sour. Well, we know why that happens. Now. 639 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,440 Speaker 1: This is due to the acidification of the water by 640 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:15,920 Speaker 1: the sulfur dioxide produced by these mineral burning sites. So 641 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:19,760 Speaker 1: the water is very acidic, and this has actually changed 642 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:23,600 Speaker 1: the composition of the local microbial life and and insect 643 00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: life and stuff that the life that inhabits the area. 644 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,120 Speaker 1: So the authors here right quote. In an area of 645 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:33,000 Speaker 1: typically alkaline ponds with pH above eight point oh, ponds 646 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:37,080 Speaker 1: within the fumigation zone have been acidified below a pH 647 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: of two point oh. Elevated concentrations of metals including aluminum, iron, zinc, nickel, manganese, 648 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:49,400 Speaker 1: and cadmium occur in these acidic ponds. Soils and sediments 649 00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:52,560 Speaker 1: have also been chemically altered. The biota and these acidic 650 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 1: ponds are characteristic of acidic environments worldwide in contrast to 651 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:01,839 Speaker 1: the typically arctic biota in adjacent alkali ponds. So the 652 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:06,080 Speaker 1: burning of the earth alters the chemical characteristics of the landscape, 653 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:11,200 Speaker 1: which in turn changed the bioecology. The chain reaction started 654 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,240 Speaker 1: thousands of years ago when these cliff faces and rocks 655 00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:19,879 Speaker 1: were eroded and exposed the minerals to oxygen. The oxidation 656 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,840 Speaker 1: of the pyrite and the organic contents of the mudstone 657 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,960 Speaker 1: and the burning began. And this led to, over the 658 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:29,720 Speaker 1: thousands of years, a complete transformation of the surrounding ecosystem 659 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 1: into one of these strange extremophile, acid rich biosystems. Wow, 660 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,360 Speaker 1: that's impressive, um, you know, and and thinking about this 661 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:43,319 Speaker 1: and thinking about extreme environments and uh and uh and 662 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:45,319 Speaker 1: so forth, and and also kind of going back to 663 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:48,640 Speaker 1: the idea of these uh, these these these ships being 664 00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:53,640 Speaker 1: sort of like spaceships, uh, sailing upon these uh the strange, 665 00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:59,440 Speaker 1: alien seeming environment. I I ran across a two paper 666 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,799 Speaker 1: in Chemical Geology the Journal Chemical Geology by Graspy at 667 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:07,360 Speaker 1: All that looked at the Smoking Hills as a possible 668 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:13,680 Speaker 1: analog for some geological conditions that have been observed on Mars. Um. 669 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,759 Speaker 1: Just to read a quick quote, um oxidative weathering of 670 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:23,480 Speaker 1: this unit creates extensive gerocide rich deposits and bandage gerocide 671 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:29,360 Speaker 1: and philo silicate rich mudstones similar to those observed on Mars. 672 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:33,319 Speaker 1: So I read through this paper here and it's it's 673 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:37,000 Speaker 1: it's pretty pretty deeply. It's the Chemical Geology general, so 674 00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:40,560 Speaker 1: it's it's a bit dense of for my taste anyway. 675 00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:42,840 Speaker 1: But the author is, if I'm understanding that correctly, they're 676 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:47,400 Speaker 1: suggesting that such signs on Mars some some similar looking 677 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:51,359 Speaker 1: details that we've observed on Mars via the probes we've 678 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:54,479 Speaker 1: sent there, if we interpret them through the lens of 679 00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:58,960 Speaker 1: the Smoking Hills, it could possibly suggest a more habitable 680 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:05,000 Speaker 1: period Mars ancient past so that's fascinated to think about 681 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:08,520 Speaker 1: that as well. Absolutely so. I think maybe this is 682 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: where we need to cap it for part one here, 683 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:13,239 Speaker 1: but there's so much more to talk about because the 684 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:18,520 Speaker 1: world is full of surprising and fascinating naturally fueled flames, 685 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: and I think it will make for a carnival of 686 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,520 Speaker 1: geological wonders to to explore in the next part of 687 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: this series. That's right, so tune in on Thursday as 688 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:31,000 Speaker 1: we continue with more fire from the Rocks. In the meantime, 689 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,160 Speaker 1: if you like to check out other episodes of Stuff 690 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:36,240 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind, you can find them on Tuesdays 691 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:39,719 Speaker 1: and Thursdays and the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed. UM. 692 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 1: I think most of the invention episodes that we recorded, 693 00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:45,520 Speaker 1: several of which are dealt with fire technology and fire 694 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:49,239 Speaker 1: related technology. I think most of those have been republished, 695 00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:51,320 Speaker 1: if not all of them have been republished in this feed, 696 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,520 Speaker 1: but if not, you can also find the the podcast 697 00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,879 Speaker 1: feed for Invention out there. UM. That was a fun 698 00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:00,160 Speaker 1: though short lived show that we did on the side 699 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,480 Speaker 1: dealing with inventions UM in the Stuff to Blow Your 700 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:06,880 Speaker 1: Mind podcast feed. Though we also do listener mail on Monday's, 701 00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:09,720 Speaker 1: we do in a short form artifact or monster fact. 702 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,640 Speaker 1: On Wednesdays and on Friday we do something called Weird 703 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:15,000 Speaker 1: House Cinema. That's our time to set aside most serious 704 00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:18,319 Speaker 1: concerns and just talk about a strange film, huge things. 705 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,920 Speaker 1: As always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. 706 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:23,960 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us 707 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:26,600 Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 708 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:28,759 Speaker 1: topic for the future, or just to say hello, you 709 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,640 Speaker 1: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 710 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:41,800 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production 711 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:44,600 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 712 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,640 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're 713 00:41:47,680 --> 00:42:04,280 Speaker 1: listening to your favorite shows. B twenty fo pographic posts 714 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:05,239 Speaker 1: Far Back bo