TERMITES AFFECT on PHOSPHORUS in the JURASSIC
by Charles Weber
SHEET EROSION by TERMITES
Sheet erosion has the effect of moving phosphorus fertility toward the flood plains and swamps. In flat terrain, most of the sediments settle out in the swamps and flood plains. Some of it eventually ends up in the ocean, but not before contributing to flood plain fertility for a long time. When the phosphorus does reach the sea from flow out of swamps, most of it is in the form of organic material, which is maximally available to ocean life. Where sediment loads are low as in the Saint Lawrence River, much of the phosphorus is carried out to sea [Sundby et al. 1992]. In tropical Australia affected by large agricultural phosphorus contributions, 95% goes out to the ocean [Eyre 1995]. The Amazon brings most of the phosphorus down in inorganic particles [Richey][Berner], most of which settles out in the delta and never reaches the ocean. Normally there is a slow drift of phosphorus down in today's oceans with about 40% adsorbed on calcium carbonate coccolith shells, about 40% as organic matter (less than 2% as fish debris), 11% precipitation at hydrothermal vents, and less than 10% as phosphorites [Froelich p504]. Very little is adsorbed on pelagic (deep ocean) clay [Froelich p502]. Where uplift or inefficient predation of herbivores provides a lot of sediment in the tropics, there is a tendency for the phosphorus to be adsorbed on the iron and aluminum hydroxides and be buried deep under coastal sediments beyond reach of marine life before reaching the ocean. Stripping of a marine reservoir can not explain large phosphorus deposits and up welling can only explain the actual sites of deposition [Barron & Frakes 1990]. Therefore huge marine deposits must ultimately have a terrestrial largely organic source. When the erosion is extreme a larger proportion of the erosion is from the subsoil, which increases the fraction of phosphorus contained which is buried at the deltas. I suspect that phosphorus was transported in sediments to a noticeable extent as the cellulose digesting wood roaches and/or prototermites became increasingly more effective toward the end of the Permian and could be part of the decline in phosphorite formation. This was due to their partial removal of soil protecting mulch and, toward the end of the Permian, possibly partly the destruction of trees. The transport of the the red sediments toward the end of the succeeding Triassic probably owed their volume partly to removal of detritus by primitive termites or advanced wood roaches but perhaps even more so to more effective vertebrate reptilian herbivores descending from the Carboniferous carnivores. The development of large effective herbivorous dinosaurs from carnivorous bipedal dinosaurs in late Triassic probably contributed significantly to subsoil erosion because of damage that they inflicted on vegetative cover both by grazing and by trampling, thus allowing gully erosion. This may have been part of the reason for the lack of marine phosphorous deposits in the Triassic and the first part of the Jurassic. It could also explain why Ammonites, which used calcium carbonate instead of calcium phosphate for their skeleton, had such a big expansion in the Triassic [Paul] . It may also partly explain why the Trilobites with a 7.6% phosphorus content [Clarke 1908] became extinct. The rise of efficient predatory reptilian precursors to mammals on land also may account for part of the inability of dragonflies to maintain the large flow of available phosphorus toward the ocean by themselves. The reptiles and mammals did this by reducing the effectiveness of the vertebrate amphibian predators considerably as well as preying on amphibious herbivores. They may also have caused somewhat of a reduction in the contribution of phosphorus by dragonflies indirectly as well, primarily by competing for airborne prey from the ground even though vertebrate aerial competitors had probably not become sufficiently competitive yet. In addition, by eliminating large amphibians, there was no doubt a surge of small fresh water fish, which are probably the chief enemy of dragonfly nymphs.
JURASSIC
The Jurassic came to be characterized by huge well-boned terrestrial vertebrates. An excellent balance that developed across the Triassic (which permitted vertical posture and thus seeing prey, enemies, and mates at greater distances, as well as enabling the ability to attack from above), eggs that could survive in air, excellent care of their young, excretion of nitrogen as uric acid and probably fairly warm blood [Bakker p75-101] made for very effective predators which could function far from water if necessary. Amphibians had long since been superseded by mammal like vertebrates early in the Triassic since they never made much of a comeback after the Permian extinctions. Direct attack with tooth and claw should force up the size of prey. So even in savanna country large well-boned animals seemed to be present, for Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus were probably grazers of low growing vegetation. Their extravagant use of armor suggests that whatever soils they grazed on were unusually rich in phosphorus. If my contention that dominance of amphibians had shifted phosphorus away from uplands is the case, it is obvious that they must have completely lost that dominance by the Jurassic and that shift should have ended or at least largely subsided during the Triassic. This is quite plausible, since by the Jurassic some very effective terrestrial predators had evolved. In addition to the mammals' and Dinosaurs' inroads into amphibian vertebrates, there were flies, wasps, parasitoid Ichneumon wasps (which last make up 10% of insect species at present [Price, p197]), probably ants, and birds had eventually appeared and are important insectivores even today. Pterosaurs appeared sooner than birds and were almost certainly more efficient predators than ancient birds of aerial insects. If the dragonflies were the dominant insectivores of the Permian, it seems obvious that they no longer held much of that dominance by the Jurassic. Even pterosaurs could possibly catch dragonflies by diving on them. Forward pointing teeth in some [Bennet] hints that some did indeed use this strategy.
It could be said that the Jurassic was the age of the terrestrial vertebrate predators. All large ones were dinosaurs. They were very varied by this time, had excellent balance, and came in all sizes. Mammals were all tiny. The great advantage they had from the ability to provide milk for their young was superceded by the agility, bipedal stance, and excellent balance of dinosaurs. Milk was not nearly so advantageous in a land with plenty of phosphorus.
By this time terrestrial vertebrates had become well adapted to herbivorous habit if tooth structure is an indication, unlike the Carboniferous. Brontosaurus probably could not utilize the soils of the swamps and estuaries because of poor soil support. It avoided wet soil [Bakker p121-124]. There are very few footprints in lacustrine (shoreside) environments [Newton & Laporte (1989), p122]. Only where rock, sand or gravel provided support on shore would they dare go to make use of trees along the edge of reasonably deep rivers, deep enough to support most of their weight. However this huge animal could probably graze far up in the foliage of upland forests which must have been very fertile, at least on the deltas, because where large bones are found associated with an ancient soil, the soils are well drained upland soil [Retallack 1997, p350]. No doubt medium sized dinosaurs closer to an elephant in size such as Ceratopsia later in the Cretaceous could make good use of swamp vegetation with somewhat less concern about soil support and no concern about amphibious predation, as well as no need to run away from terrestrial predators over soggy terrain because of a very effective frontal defense. Crocodilia were no doubt now playing the role formerly played by amphibians, and probably were a threat to young animals but it is unlikely that they could attack a healthy adult large Dinosaur safely. It is more likely that crocodiles were themselves kept in check to a considerable extent by young Allosaurs. If so, phosphorus probably failed to move in a large flow toward the rivers, and indeed may not have had much of a net motion in either direction. In other words, this may have been a time of reasonably uniform fertility on land, flood plain and sea, but of course with a constant moderate flow toward the ocean, for the ocean contained many large vertebrates and the ocean phosphorus turnover time is less than one hundred thousand years.
In North America the climate remained mild with subtropical conditions well north of the Canadian border if plant fossils and present day distributions are an indication. The Appalachian Mountains had worn down considerably and the Rocky Mountains had not yet risen so unimpeded winds must have produced considerable areas of rain forest and savanna in North America. Sea levels were high with many inland seas. Therefore there were undoubtedly considerable areas of warm rain forests and monsoon regions, especially on the western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. Termites and Ponerinae ants were able to spread far north of their present distribution. In fact, termites must have been able to migrate even across the Bering sea, if not in the Jurassic, at least by the Cretaceous judging from present day distribution of termites. Leaf data indicate a fairly warm Arctic ocean [Herman & Spicer (1996)]. Eastern North America, Europe and the Mediterranean were one biological province [Cox p86] perhaps connected by lenses of fresh water derived from occasional catastrophic floods cascading down the western slope of the Appalachian Mountains to an ancient Saint Lawrence River and carried to Europe by the Gulf Stream. At the same time they were cut off from western North America by an inland sea [White] the warm waters [Herman] of which provided the moisture for the catastrophic Appalachian floods. If this is the way it happened, the implication is that the Mastotermitidae evolved in eastern North America and spread to the rest of the world through Europe.
CRETACEOUS
Before the close of the Jurassic phosphorites began to appear in marine deposits again. In the early Cretaceous there manifested a series of pulses of phosphorus ocean deposition of increasing magnitude in the greensand glauconite (ferrous iron clay) beds. There was widespread marine phosphogenesis middle early Valanginian to early Hauterivian early to early middle late Aptian, latest Aptian and earliest Albian [Follmi, (1994)].
TERMITES
There is a possibility that this phosphorus was furnished by the evolution of small colonies of primitive Amitermitinae (classified as combined with Termitinae at present) subfamily of termites of the Termitidae family and the effect which they had on monsoon savanna and desert erosion. Their effectiveness probably increased as colony sizes became larger across the Cretaceous. Probably what made larger colonies eventually possible was the ability to have more than one reproductive in each colony, as many as one hundred. The ability to synthesize nitrogen compounds [Schaefer][Hongoh] must enhance their success considerably also. Modern species from Amitermitinae have evolved mono- and sesquiterpenes including several unique cyclic ethers [Prestwick (1983)], which probably play a role in defense and could conceivably assist in furthering fungi. They have evolved a procedure of building runways over small plants. This smothers the plant, after which they can eat the funguses that grow on the dead plant in considerable safety from predation. They thus use the funguses to digest the cellulose instead of their own protozoa, which are much reduced. They also use the same technique as a subfamily to use dung, dead grass, dead herbs, rotten wood, bark, debris, seeds, and the surface tissue of woody plants [MacKay et al., (1985)] [Hill (1942)]. You may see a picture of twigs encapsulated by them in Wikipedia, The reason I propose that they probably evolved in monsoon and desert regions is that their runways are not very resistant to rain erosion [Weber (1993), p109]. I suspect that this is because they use saliva to build runways, and that this is an adaptation of an earlier use of saliva to entangle enemies [Noirot]. The entangling agent probably also entangles soil particles and may be fairly soluble. Such erosion could have furnished a significant flow of phosphorus toward the swamps, rain forests, and deltas. This is because Amitermitinae even further enriched its runways with respect to phosphorus, possibly by phosphorus in the termite's saliva [Weber (1993), p111]. Other genera and families use runways sometimes to reach food, but Amitermes use runways extensively as a tool. The flood plains and swamps became extremely fertile. Some herbivores reached 30 tons such as Brontosaurus and some were elaborately armored such as Stegosaurus. North American vertebrates declined some in bone and armor across the Cretaceous especially on the savannas. Even so, animals that probably lived on or near flood plains with firm soil such as the web-footed duck billed Dinosaurs (a Hadrosaur) remained fairly large up until almost the close of the Cretaceous, possibly partly because soil borne termites can not live on flood plains [Bown]. However, large Dinosaurs lost diversity, probably because of the diminished areas of very fertile soil, as Amitermitinae became more efficient. By the end Cerotopsia made up 80% of the dinosaurs while duckbilled Dinosaurs made up most of the rest [Bakker 1986]. One reason why Cerotopsia seemed to be more numerous is that their fossils are primarily found in swampy areas [Retallack 1997]. This is understandable since they were adapted to a frontal defense and could stand and fight. A Tyrannosaur would not dare to attack them from the front. Even a poorly aimed thrust of that huge horn into its thin ribs would have been disastrous. They would not be required to run fast in soft soils while the duck billed dinosaurs must have had to outrun predators and keep them at bay with whippings from their tail and so would have had to be on hard ground or have access to a river from a firm bank. Also there may not have been as many areas of hard ground left fertile enough to sustain the duckbill dinosaurs. Primitive Termitinae are thought to have arisen in the Orient in early Cretaceous [Krishna] but probably earlier yet. The Termes genus branch probably arose in Africa [Emerson 1955 p478]. Amitermitinae are thought to have arisen in southeast Asia [Emerson (1955)] probably from primitive Oriental Termitinae [Krishna] in early Cretaceous [Bouillon p162] but I suspect even more likely in Australia, since this is where phosphate deposits were clustered in late Jurassic and early Cretaceous [Cook 1984 p251, map]. The primitive Amitermitinae species are most numerous in those regions at present. Amitermitinae have 17 genera and 295 species. The few fossil termites found in the Cretaceous so far were Hodotermitinae, Termopsidae, and maybe Mastotermitidae [Thorne], but Termitidae must surely have been present, at the very least in the Indian Ocean region. This presence and its erosion may be the reason why Mongolian mid Cretaceous moderate sized Protoceratops and man sized Psittacosaurus were so small in size and lacking in armor.
It may also be part of the reason why birds lost their teeth as soon as early Cretaceous in China [How et al. (1995)], even though marine birds retained them until late Cretaceous. Ingestion by the reproductives of soil and humus eating termites (there are very many humus eating species in the Amitermitinae [Krishna p51] and other Termitidae) may have been the primary reason the birds lost teeth, however, because of the phosphorus binding attribute of bauxites and laterites in the bird's acid gut [Weber (1993), p115]. Pterosaurs also lost teeth and would have been even more affected by an insect diet since they were thought to be able to fly at 40% of adult weight, which would imply an insect diet for the young, especially in early Cretaceous. The termite mating flights take place in spring time, which is when the Pterosaurs were likely hatching. Evolution toward lightness can not explain it because stones in the gizzards of birds are also heavy and teeth are very valuable and can be very small. Pterosaurs did increase in size (Hone), but this was probably because birds took over the small size niche or because their low wing loading (Hazelhurst) meant aerial predation or maybe scavenging was possible. There is a small dinosaur present in upper Cretaceous called Albertonykus borealis, with a powerful claw on short front legs that was probably for digging for termites. It also was probably devoid of teeth..
The humus-eating termites themselves must have also had to solve the problem of phosphorus binding to iron and aluminum hydroxides. They may have done this by creating an alkaline medium in their gut because iron is bound tightly below a pH of 9 [Bjerrum]. The humus eating termites, which make up over half the species in the present day world, create an alkaline pH of 11 to 12.5 in the midgut (the p1 segment) [Brune & Kuhl]. This is 100,000 times as many hydroxyl ions as in a neutral solution, the equivalent of a solution of sodium hydroxide (lye). They must be doing it by removing all the carbonate and plant acid anions and leaving behind the potassium ions. Such a pH would displace phosphate from the iron and aluminum and make it available to be absorbed. Brune and Kuhl suggest that the reason for the high pH is to enable them to digest soil bacteria and/or to solubilize polyphenolic compounds. This may accentuate the desirability of a high pH to them, but I suspect the main imperative is to solubilize phosphate. The foregut and rectum are slightly acid. The silicate of the soil clays ingested would also tend to be displaced. This may be the reason why tropical soils have the silicon leached out of them these days. It could thus explain the laterization and large deposits of bauxite characteristic of tropical soils, which became increasingly apparent in the Mesozoic. It could also account for the source of the silicate to form the deposits of marine glauconite (greensand or iron silicate) laid down starting in early Cretaceous and the increase of diatoms with their silica skeleton. The earliest diatoms are from early Jurassic [Rothpletz 1895], but did not become prominent until early Cretaceous. Diatoms are algae with a silica skeleton. The sediments in the North American interior sea way averaged 81% silica in the Campanian [Young]. Most of it was thought to be from diatoms, but some from sponges and radiolarians. It is primarily in the form of cristabolite. It is possible that this silica made the oceans more fertile and able to support large vertebrates, since silica tends to prevent phosphorus from being absorbed by iron [Konhauser]. It could be that the rise of the diatoms was somewhat counter to this because they are suspected to be the main source of calcium polyphosphate, which is a poorly recycled part of the phosphate that sinks into ocean sediments [Diaz].
Desert soil is low in phosphorus in the present day American southwest [Whitford (1986)] and so are South American savannas. It also may account for the small sized Minmi, a northern Australian herbivore, which also probably inhabited savannas, just before mid Cretaceous. Perhaps these poorly armored animals escaped predation by running into patches of brush when threatened, something like South American Capybaras. Amitermitinae termites are well represented in Australia as well as southeast Asia in today's world. They are very successful on Australian savannas. As many as 217 large occupied nests of Amitermes laurensis can exist on each hectare in some areas [Wood & Lee (1971)]. It is conceivable that the constant peeling of sycamore bark disrupting runways is a reason why sycamore trees were common in the upper Cretaceous of Montana [Retallack (1994)]. The peeling of Eucalyptus bark may have a similar imperative in Australia.
Large animals have a considerable problem with heat transfer in hot weather. This may be why most of the North American fossils of large animals are found around the subtropics near the Canadian border during the Cretaceous. However that circumstance may have been considerably reinforced by the success of termites further south in degrading the soil fertility with respect to phosphorus.
It was only a small additional step for drainage from the swamps and rivers to provide phosphorus in the form of organic material to the estuaries and oceans. The largest marine vertebrates remained rather large and there was a considerable diversity of other types of marine animals throughout most of the Cretaceous. Toward the end the Ammonites declined considerably. This is not surprising in an ocean which was well supplied with phosphorus and which was so fertile that anaerobic conditions often obtained even at fairly shallow depths [Follimi (1994)] (the Ammonites were largely bottom dwellers).
Even in the last years of the Cretaceous, in spite of probable evolution of many diverse genera of ants and termite resistant trees, ant resistant termites must have been putting considerable pressure on trees, shrubs, mulch, and causing sheet erosion on other savannas. North American soils had low phosphorus in higher up soils in late Cretaceous [Retallack (1994)], about one fifth of the amount in African soils in the Miocene [Retallack (1995)] [Retallack (1994)]. A few hundred thousand years after the iridium spike signaled an impact at the close of the Cretaceous there was a rise of ocean phosphorites to double that in the late Cretaceous that lasted to the end of the Eocene [Zhow & Kyte (1992)]. I suspect that this resulted from an additional spread of Amitermitinae around most of the world's savannas.
It was probably coupled with a spread of potent underground pack hunting (legionary) ants in the rain forest eventually, probably from South America, which would tend to permit phosphorus leaving those flood plains located in high rainfall districts to do so in the organic form. Almost all of the Ponerine ants, from which ancestors of legionary ants were derived [Urbani] (or the reverse), and most of the Myrmicinae nest in rotten logs [Holldobler & Wilson (1990), p160] and can therefore cross ocean barriers. Therefore it must have been the Dorylenes which were primarily responsible for the recovery of the rain forest which seemed to take place by the Eocene, judging by the increase in size of vertebrates, which I suspect probably lived on delta rain forests then. It is possible that the army ants were considerably assisted in this recovery by migration out of South America of Nasuti type termites that would serve to competitively exclude termites more harmful to soil, because Nasuti squirted poisons are an excellent defense. It is a defense so effective that they can even send their soldiers out on above ground scouting expeditions [Cornelius]. One nasuti can repel ten to forty ants before running out [Carroll]. Thus the phosphorus could reach the oceans without settling out in sediments in many areas.
CONCLUSIONS
The development of at least 25 fundamentally different sesquiterpenes and several unique cyclic ethers for termite defense in Amitermitinae [Prestwick (1983)] hint at considerable success and large numbers in the past for such systems must be elaborate to evolve, so it is possible that small sized colonies of Amitermitinae prototypes as well as the others go back a long time, perhaps as far back as late Jurassic and thus make this theme possible. A spread of termites would be much enhanced by a rise in temperature of 10 degrees centigrade which took place at the close of the Cretaceous probably from a green house effect, but probably even more so from baring of soil by Mastotermitidae destruction of trees, rise of which temperature as has been proposed from botanical evidence [Wolfe (1990)], especially if it warmed up the land bridge at or above the Aleutian Islands. Baring of soils by extensive termite runways undoubtedly also contributed to an affect on temperature as great as the loss of trees, especially because small plants are almost as effective as trees in keeping soils cool. Also the hollow portion of the runways should insulate the runway surface and make them even hotter than bare soil, It has been proposed that the rise in temperature was more of a result of biological cloud feedbacks from reduced ocean productivity than it was from a green house affect [Kump]. However I suspect that removal of vegetative cover permitting sunlight to reach the soil may have been a dominant circumstance since this would have permitted the soil to warm up considerably. You can easily verify this by touching a stone walk and then the adjacent grass and noting the dramatic difference. Leaves tend to drop to a lower temperature in hot weather toward their optimum temperature for photosynthesis [Helliker].The reduced water infiltration into the soil would probably have reduced cloud formation as well.
Primitive Termitidae probably had already moved across the world earlier judging by present day distribution, even possibly into South America. Colonization of that continent by primitive Termitidae must have been by riding a fresh water lens of water across the Atlantic in a log as mentioned below. However colonization of North America in mid Cretaceous by Amitermitinae from Australia through Asia in the opposite direction may have been made possible by an Arctic Ocean that may have been as warm as six degrees centigrade in winter as determined by leaf design [Herman & Spicer (1996)]. It is possible that various termite species moved north on both sides of the Pacific each with its own climate zone as the climate warmed in the mid Cretaceous. Then as the climate cooled somewhat during the last age (the last 6 million years) of the Cretaceous [MacLeod & Huber (1996)], those species followed the climate zones back down the opposite shores to make a much different world by the last of that age and a much more varied ability to use organic matter. Amitermitinae are well adapted to varied climate zones. They can bore down many meters to water, for instance. Such an attribute would require large colonies, which I suspect evolved during the Cretaceous.
The Mastotermitidae family of termites had many Cosmopolitan fossils in the Tertiary. It also could have had a large effect on the savannas. I have no analysis of its runways. Its runways are not important if they were like the sole existing Australian specie since that species usually tunnels underground toward food. It can ring bark trees from the inside and could conceivably have done so then. If so, they would have reduced further the monsoon tree cover and extended the savannas well into the rain forest, at least in Eastern North America and Europe. Cretaceous open rain forest canopy extended into the Paleocene [Collinson]. When people move into an area where Mastotermitidae termites live, which areas are widespread outside of rain forests or bauxitic soils in Australia [Britton, p285], they rise from small colonies to enormous numbers. Vegetable gardens can not be grown [Hill (1942)]. It destroys wood, jute, silk, wool, sugar, flour, and dung. It is, however, rather ineffective in defense against ants. When their nest is broken open both soldiers and nymphs attack each other as well as the ants, which rush to the scene. [Hill 1921]. There is a good chance that they evolved initially in eastern North America and then migrated in a lens of fresh water surging out of a catastrophic flood coming from the Appalachians down an ancient St. Lawrence River across the Atlantic in a log propelled by an ancient Gulf Stream. Geologists think that North America and Europe were connected then but shallow earth quakes in the mid ocean ridges make this seem very unlikely to me and there are many marine fossils on both sides of the Atlantic.
If any savanna termites migrated between the continents since the close of the Cretaceous they must have done so across short water gaps because the specialized mammalian termite predators are fundamentally different animals in Africa, South America, and Australia and mammals are very poor at crossing water barriers. It is much more likely that the main modern features of termite evolution took place during the Cretaceous and that the prototypes of most of the Termitidae genera (now proved to be related to each other by genetic analysis [Miura] ) were established in the Jurassic probably from Rhinotermitidae [Weesner], spread across the Atlantic to South America by wood inhabiting types on a lens of fresh water from a catastrophic flood of an ancient Congo river. When these primitive Termitidae arrived in South America they evolved into Nasutitermitinae with poison squirting tubes. There were interchanges of vegetation other than mangroves as late as the Paleocene [Hus van der Hammer] and fresh water fish on both sides of the Atlantic during the Cretaceous until Aptian times [Tacquet]. Previously primitive Termitidae may have come from Australia or southeast Asia across the northern Indian Ocean or Tethys Ocean shores. The increase in warmth near the end of the Cretaceous permitted a dramatic diversification of termites as all Termitidae migrated from one continental area to another in both directions. Then, when the meteorite brought the Cretaceous to a close, it did so in a world that had had its areas of fertile tropical and subtropical land much reduced in size and thus highly stressed for large tropical and subtropical herbivores and their predators. Present day termites and ants are dramatically successful. They make up three fourths of the entire insect biomass in the Brazilian rain forest [Holldobler & Wilson 1990, p566] and may be as much as 95% of the insect biomass in the Cameroon rain forest [Bignell, p110]. It is highly probable that termites were even more successful on some of the Cretaceous and all of the Paleocene savannas, and had even more affect on the environment than they do today since ants hunting in packs is a late development.
Continue termites battles with ants in the Cretaceous
Back to Permian wood roaches and the coal hiatus
Flow of phosphorus by Permian dragonflies and amphibians"
Affect of runway building termites on ancient soil.
Affect of termites on the Paleocene and modern tropics.
This site shows very good photographs of all the termite families.
GEOLOGY of EARTH and MARS
---- The Canyons of Mars as Erosion by Rivers of Silicone Dust
---- For a hypothesis that explains the large volcanoes of Mars and the bulges associated with them. They are proposed as the disruption from the antipode (opposite side of a sphere) of a huge meteorite or comet impact.
----Cause of Indian Decca lava flows. Did disruption at the antipode (opposite side of a sphere) of a meteorite or comet impact cause the Decca (or Deccan) lava flows at the Cretaceous close and other large lava flows?.
---- The mid ocean ridges probably formed by shoving aside shallow plates by a wedge of basalt pushed up by molten and therefore light magma.
---- The earth’s ocean trenches probably formed by cold ocean bottom water creating a deep crack from thermal contraction, which then further contracted the rocks beneath the trench.
---- For a geological time scale.
SOME LINKS RELATED TO HEALTH
There is information here about how to obtain a very comprehensive book called “POTASSIUM NUTRITION” and thus cure or prevent rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, gout, and high blood pressure and ameliorate diabetes and high blood potassium. It discusses requirements, amounts in foods, cooking losses, supplements, and physiology of potassium.
-- Electrolyte regulation (sodium and potassium) -- VI. Purpose of cortisol -- VII. Copper Nutrition and Physiology -- -- Strategies for Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia
Fluoride in city water will cause fluorosis discoloration of teeth, weakened bones, damage to the kidneys and immune system, bone cancer, and, worst of all, damage to the nerves resembling Alzheimer’s disease.
There is evidence that cell phones can produce tumors. Using remote ear phones would seem to be a good idea.
There is a site that contains reviews of natural remedies for many diseases .
For a procedure that discusses tetrathiomolybdate for removing copper and thus preventing further solid cancer growth and Hodgkin’s, see this site. This might buy some time for this and other possibly other cancers until you can persuade a doctor to try tumor necrosis factor or interferon or an opioid antagonist drug called Naltrexone (Naltrexone in the large 50mg size, originally manufactured by DuPont under the brand name ReVia, is now sold by Mallinckrodt as Depade and by Barr Laboratories under the generic name naltrexone) that blocks some endorphin receptors. Said blockage is thought to cause the body to temporarily secrete more endorphins, especially after midnight at night. These endorphins are thought to stimulate the immune system, and in particular to stimulate the TH-1 or type 1 antiviral response by decreased interleukin-4 and with increased gamma interferon and interleukin-2 and a simultaneous decrease of type 2 anti bacterial response [Sacerdote]. It appears to be especially effective for minimizing symptoms and retarding progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) (also see these sites hereand here and this site) and. A few doctors have had encouraging results in Crohn's Disease (prompting Penn State College of Medicine to plan 4mth Study of Crohn's Disease & LDN and) CFIDS, and even to some extent in cancer. Low doses of Naltrexone (LDN), 1.5 to 4.5 milligrams, at bedtime is used (timing is important, and it is important not to buy slow release forms). It is said to have no known bad side effects at those doses other than insomnia the first week or two in some. There is also reports from an extensive survey in this site. I think some clinical studies on Naltrexone are in order, and it should not be a prescription drug. Though side effects appear unlikely, it is not proven over longer periods. If you try it (it is a prescription medicine in the USA), it seems likely that you should discontinue if you get a bacterial infection in view of its inhibition of antibacterial response. Naltrexone is currently being used by Dr. Enlander, a New York City doctor, but with limited success for chronic fatigue syndrome using 3 to 4.5 milligram doses for CFIDS.
Olive leaf extract has shown clinical evidence of effectiveness against a wide range of viruses, including AIDS [Bihari], herpes, and cold viruses. It sometimes produces a Herxheimer or pathogen die off symptoms (from effectiveness against bacteria?). There is evidence that it is synergistic (reinforce each other) with Naltrexone. There have been a few case histories of improvement in what were probably arthritis patients and CFIDS patients. The active ingredient is said to be oleuropein or enolate. There has been very little follow up research done on it.
. Also it has been found that curcumin in turmeric or curry powder will inhibit several forms of cancer, including melanoma. People who live in India where these spices are eaten, have one tenth the cancer elsewhere.
Here is an article with anecdotal evidence for pressurized oxygen, zinc, vitamin B6, and vitamin C after head injuries. They also claim a fair percentage of prison inmates from psychiatric disorders after head injuries.
See this site for evidence of a correlation between magnesium deficiency and cancer. It has been found that supplements of the amino acid, taurine, will restore the abnormal electrocardiogram present during a potassium deficiency by an unknown mechanism. This information has been used in a single case history by George Eby [private communication] to control a long standing type of cardiac arrhythmia called pre atrial contractions (PACs), a benign but irritating and nerve racking heart problem, with 2.5 grams of taurine with each meal. Taurine is an amino acid that is sulfonated instead of carboxylated, which is essential to babies. It has been used for therapy in high cholesterol, epilepsy, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease, liver disorders, alcoholism, and cystic fibrosis.
It has been found that supplements of the amino acid, taurine, will restore the abnormal electrocardiogram present during a potassium deficiency by an unknown mechanism. This information has been used in several case histories by George Eby to control a long standing type of cardiac arrhythmia called pre atrial contractions (PACs), a benign but irritating and nerve racking heart problem, with 2.5 grams of taurine with each meal.
You may see a discussion of the practical aspects of supplementation with taurine and food sources, including possible use for high blood pressure, migraine headache, and depression here.
A site is available which shows. foods which are high in one nutrient and low in another (including calories). This last site should be especially useful for a quick list of foods to consider first, or for those who must restrict another nutrient because of a genetic difficulty with absorption or utilization
If you use medication, you may see technical evaluations and cautions of drugs at the bottom of this site.
The very extensive USDA Handbook #8 may be seen here. To access the information you must press "enter" to search, and then divide Kcal into milligrams of potassium. This last table is very comprehensive, is used in search mode, and even lists the amino acids. There are also links in it to PDF types of printouts from the table for individual nutrients available here Just click on the “A” or “W” button for the nutrient you desire. A table that has already done the potassium calculation is here in descending concentration or in alphabetical order.
SOME INFORMATION FOR YOUR COMPUTER
There is a free browser called Firefox, which is said to be less susceptible to viruses or crashes, has many interesting features, imports information from Iexplore while leaving Iexplore intact. You can also install their emailer. A feature that lists all the URLs on a viewed site can be useful when working on your own site.
There is a free program available which tells on your site what web site accessed you, which search engine, statistics about which country, statistics of search engine access, keywords used and their frequency. It can It can be very useful.
This article updated in Nov. 2010