A joint team of geochemists has found evidence of high levels of helium-3 in rocks on Baffin Island, which means the Earth's core is leaking.
In the paper published in Nature, the team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Caltech describes their study of helium-3 and helium-4 in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Previous researchers found trace elements of helium-3 in lava flows on Baffin Island, the fifth largest island in the world, indicating possible leakage of the Earth's core. This is because it is an ancient isotope, and was prevalent during the period in which the Earth was formed.
But because of its nature, the helium-3 that makes its way to the surface soon escapes into the atmosphere and disappears into space. Therefore helium-3 is rare. If it is found on the surface, chances are good that it made its way out of the core.
Based on the possibility of a leak in the Earth's core, the science team ventured to Baffin Island and began testing multiple lava flows.
They found much higher levels of helium-3 than observed in previous research efforts, higher than anywhere else on Earth. They also found high ratios of helium-3 to helium-4 (a common isotope), the highest ratio ever measured in terrestrial rocks.
The researchers point out that these high percentages are another factor that indicates that helium-3 is leaking from the core.
The research team points out that finding such high levels of helium-3 at a terrestrial site is significant, because if it can be proven that the material is indeed leaking from the core, it will provide scientists with a way to study basic materials. Which has never been done before.
This could reveal more about the nucleus than previously thought. They note that if helium-3 is coming from the core, other materials surrounding it should also be present, providing more physical examples of fundamental materials.
An ancient Turkish Bedouin burial with a horse was found in the Russian Altai Mountains
In the Altai Mountains a Turkic nomadic burial with a horse dating back to the 8th-9th centuries was found.
In one of the three hills that were excavated, Russian and foreign archaeologists discovered the remains of a person and an animal along with parts of horse equipment and a weapon of unknown purpose.
An intact Turkish Bedouin burial ground from the eighth and ninth centuries AD was discovered. In the Russian mountainous Altai region by the international archaeological mission to study ancient Turkish monuments in the northern Altai Mountains entitled “Greater Altai, Turkish Heritage - 2023”.
This was stated by Sergey Groshin, Vice President of the Scientific and Enlightenment Center for Altai Turkish Studies “Greater Altai” of the Russian Altai State University.
He said: “This year we excavated three hills, and it turned out that two of them contained no burials, and that they were just hills. But in the third hill we found a Bedouin burial accompanied by a horse and parts of horse equipment, and the explanation for this is that the horse is “ready” to transport its owner to the afterlife. .
An iron stirrup and some bridle decorations were also discovered. In the human burial, a piece of a tool was discovered, the purpose of which has not yet been determined.
Grushin pointed out that “the excavations took place in the Charysh region of the Altai Territory, at the northern foothills of the Altai Mountains. The artifacts are located next to the “Royal Mound” from the Scythian era, which dates back to the 3rd - 5th centuries BC. It is a huge complex, with a diameter of about 100 meters. Around this hill, mounds dating back to a later time were built, including Turkish mounds and other medieval mounds dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. This year we documented these discoveries, and counted 40 mounds, but in reality there are more than 100 mounds. The scientist said that many burial sites are covered with grass where agricultural activities are carried out, and for this reason many mounds are not visible.
The results of the work of archaeologists were presented at the III Altai International Forum “Unity of Slavic and Turkic peoples in history and modernity”, which was held in the city of Barnaul at Altai University from October 19 to 20. The focus of the forum is the topic of archaeological research and its role in studying the processes of development of Turkic society in the Greater Altai region and the ethnic, cultural, ethnographic, political and legal groups in the Greater Altai region and Central Asia in ancient and modern times.