Ancient nuclear detonation on Mars?

This story saysGamma Ray maps of Mars point to an ancient nuclear detonation, allegedly occurring naturally.

About 180 million years ago, a planet-shattering yet naturally occurring nuclear reaction may have wiped out everything on Mars, sending a shockwave that turned the planet into dry sand.

So they are saying this detonation was equivalent to 1 Million Megaton yield device.

Story

I am calling BS on this occuring naturally.
I have heard of naturally occurring fission events in uranium deposits(as described in the story). I agree that 1 million megaton detonation would kill a planet.

But that this could happen naturally? I just don't see it. The amount of energy released is unimaginable (Think of the Death Star) Thats the only thing i can think of that could compare.

The amount of material that would require, and a source of Neutrons. I just dont believe this could happen in nature, granted I have no idea what nature might have been like on Mars before this happened.

I don't know, I am thinking we dont have the technology to make a device that powerfull. So if it wasn't natural, it must have been advanced alien weaponry. Thats the only conclusion i can come to.

What are your thoughts?

reply to post by watchitburn


If that happened mars would look like a deflated basketball and it would have shifted it orbit alot.

Originally posted by pcrobotwolf
reply to post by watchitburn

 

If that happened mars would look like a deflated basketball and it would have shifted it orbit alot.

Well considering this is said to have happened 180 million years ago it could very well have shifted it's orbit. What information are you going on with that statement? The measly recordings of man?

I don't see how this could possibly happen. Further, if true, even though it happened millions of years ago, could we possibly see some leftover evidence of the vitrification process?

Originally posted by pcrobotwolf
reply to post by watchitburn

 

If that happened mars would look like a deflated basketball and it would have shifted it orbit alot.

Just curious...Do we know what it looked like 180 million years ago? It could have been 50 times its current size and the orbit could have been vastly different. Maybe?

I honestly don't know. Just thought the post was interesting.

reply to post by pcrobotwolf


How would we know?

1 million megatons is beyond anything we have ever seen.

Is there a way we could tell if Mars's orbit has ever shifted?

By the time you get up to a mile-wide asteroid, you are working in the 1 million megaton range. This asteroid has the energy that's 10 million times greater than the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. It's able to flatten everything for 100 to 200 miles out from ground zero. In other words, if a mile-wide asteroid were to directly hit New York City, the force of the impact probably would completely flatten every single thing from Washington D.C. to Boston, and would cause extensive damage perhaps 1,000 miles out -- that's as far away as Chicago. The amount of dust and debris thrown up into the atmosphere would block out the sun and cause most living things on the planet to perish. If an asteroid that big were to land in the ocean, it would cause massive tidal waves hundreds of feet high that would completely scrub the coastlines in the vicinity.

Source

reply to post by jude11

Just curious...Do we know what it looked like 180 million years ago? It could have been 50 times its current size and the orbit could have been vastly different. Maybe? I honestly don't know. Just thought the post was interesting.

Could that be where the asteroid belt came from?

It would be interesting if instead of Iron some asteroids where made of highly radioactive material that when the impact happened caused a critical mass event.

Not likely but interesting to think about as Space is full of all sorts of cool and dangerous stuff.

reply to post by watchitburn

Even more incredible: A natural nuclear reaction could have occurred on our own planet -- and could happen again, said Dr. John Brandenburg, a senior propulsion scientist at Orbital Technologies Corp.

So thats natural nuclear explosion, comet, asteroids, diesese, earthquake, tsunamis, super-novas, global warming, ice ages, solar flares, volcanos and still counting. Is there anything else they would like to add to keep us living in fear.

Oh and this "natural" nuclear explosion, what could cause such a thing!?! Humans! Thats what! I guess after destroying our old home world we decied to move to this one...

No but seriously, there saying it was a natural nuclear explosion, is that even possible?

ALS

Originally posted by YouAreDreaming
It would be interesting if instead of Iron some asteroids where made of highly radioactive material that when the impact happened caused a critical mass event.

Not likely but interesting to think about as Space is full of all sorts of cool and dangerous stuff.

I think this is more plausible than a nuclear explosion just naturally occuring on the surface of Mars. I mean how do elements like Uranuim become part of a planet in the first place, throught asteriods, right.

ALS

Yeah, I have never heard of a natural nuclear explosion eithe.

You can have criticality events if pieces of fissile material are in close proximity to each other, but when that happens you just see the "Blue Flash" that tells you, you have about a week to live.

reply to post by YouAreDreaming


Yes, that could definately be possible also. I was thinking maybe a large plasma ejection from the sun? I'm not sure if thats possible , just an idea.

reply to post by watchitburn


There are also people who theorize that there was nuclear war on our planet in ancient times as well:

In India:

Are the Indian remains of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, their sudden abandonment and the apparent discovery of an ancient site with a layer of radioactive ash the best available evidence for the possibility that our ancient ancestors possessed a highly advanced technology – which might have included atomic warfare?

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...


As well as possibly North America and Egypt:

Studies of layered deposits laid down by lakes provide confirmation of irregularities in the chronological record Fused desert sands have been found, notably in the Egyptian desert. All the evidence seems to support the existence of an ancient nuclear war having taken place in the past.

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...


Not saying I agree with the theories, not really sure what to think about it quite honestly, just sharing the info-something to think about...

reply to post by watchitburn


I have heard of naturally occurring nuclear reactions.

The Oklo Natural Nuclear Reactor-About.com

Earth does many surprising things, for instance explosions of diamonds, volcanoes of carbonate lava, eruptions of asphalt and red lightning flashing upward toward space. But Earth's neatest trick may be the time it created a nuclear reactor all by itself.

Today we run reactors by taking uranium and enriching it in the one isotope, U-235, that fissions the most so that an energy-producing chain reaction can take place. Without enrichment, you can pile up tons of uranium and it won't make any heat. Nevertheless, in 1972 the remains of a natural, spontaneously formed uranium reactor were found in ancient rocks of the African nation of Gabon, in the Oklo uranium mine.

From the Physics Department at Idaho State University

THE NATURAL NUCLEAR REACTOR AT OKLO: A
COMPARISON WITH MODERN NUCLEAR REACTORS-(PDF)

Now, if mars had enough of a concentration of uranium and some seriously high pressures and other conditions conducive to a nuclear chain reaction, then this theory is VERY possible.

There are some theories that propose that a natural nuclear explosion may have formed the moon:

Moon May Have Formed in Natural Nuclear Explosion

But there's another theory called the fission hypothesis that could account for the similar isotopic content. This idea is that the Earth and Moon both formed from a rapidly spinning blob of molten rock. This blob was spinning so rapidly that the force of gravity only just overcame the centrifugal forces at work.

In this system, any slight kick would have ejected a small blob of molten rock into orbit. This blob eventually formed the Moon.

The fission hypothesis has been studied for 150 years but ultimately rejected because nobody has been able to work out where the energy could have come from to kick a lunar-sized blob into orbit.

Now Rob de Meijer at University of the Western Cape and Wim van Westrenen at VU University in Amsterdam say they know where that kick might have come from.

Their idea is that centrifugal forces would have concentrated heavier elements such as uranium and thorium near the Earth's surface on the equatorial plane. High concentrations of these radioactive elements can lead to nuclear chain reactions which can become supercritical if the concentrations are high enough.

The question is how concentrated could these elements have become. De Miejer and van Westrenen calculate that it is quite possible for the concentration to be high enough for a runaway nuclear reaction.

This story saysGamma Ray maps of Mars point to an ancient nuclear detonation, allegedly occurring naturally.

Answered your own thread....Next....

reply to post by projectvxn


Yes, criticality events do happen naturally,(as talked about in the source and the OP) But not nuclear detonations.

Also, the Moon theory you referenced would have taken place Billions of years ago when the Earth was still mostly molten.

The nuclear detonation referred to in this article supposedly happened 180 million years ago.

As I said though, I am stumped on what caused this.
.

reply to post by watchitburn


I'm not.

Mars is not a twin of Earth. A high potency nuclear explosion would explain why there's little to no geological movement on Mars. It would also explain how a once wet planet went desert in such a fast time period. 1 million megatons is a STELLAR amount of energy. And could not be produced by nuclear weapons of any design.

There would need to be as much nuclear material as you could fit into a mountain. Consider that 50 megatons would wipe out much of the Texas. 1-5 megatons would wipe out New York city.

While it is theoretically possible to create a nuclear weapon that could do this. The fact is, it is more impractical to create such a bomb(which would be HUGE physically) than it would be to build a directed energy weapon that would have similar results as far as destruction. ALIENS did not do this.

Originally posted by watchitburn

So they are saying this detonation was equivalent to 1 Million Megaton yield device.

What are your thoughts?

Maybe it wasn't a single detonation....maybe it was many that were the equivalent of 1,000,000 Megatons? As in an all-out nuclear exchange as another poster suggested happened in ancient India?

Just my 2 pennies....ETee

Sorry...doubled down on that bet...

reply to post by Illustronic


What that means is that radiation looks to be emanating from a single point. This is not evidence of a naturally occuring event.

If you don't have anything productive to add, then keep quiet, there are grown-ups talking here.

reply to post by projectvxn


Absolutely,
I am not doubting that a nuclear explosion occurred. I just find it hard to believe it happened naturally.