1 00:00:04,300 --> 00:00:07,100 This is geology B with Oliver stimple. 2 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:12,000 Since the first geological surveys of Southern Greenland in 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,100 the 19th and early 20th centuries, it has been 4 00:00:15,100 --> 00:00:18,500 recognized that the region contains some remarkable igneous 5 00:00:18,500 --> 00:00:22,600 rocks these include extraordinarily thick Dykes up 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:27,000 to 800 meters, thick and elliptical intrusions several 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:31,700 kilometers in size containing a profusion of exotic minerals in 8 00:00:31,700 --> 00:00:34,200 the 1930s, this period of igneous. 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,200 Activity was christened the Gada period after the north are 10 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,100 Bishopric of God are established in the area in the 12th century. 11 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,600 In the 1970s, the rocks of the Garda period would dated using 12 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,300 uranium lead, radiometric dating and found to be between 1.1 and 13 00:00:52,300 --> 00:00:57,100 1.3 billion years old. The dating also revealed that 14 00:00:57,100 --> 00:01:00,400 most of the Rocks surrounding the thick Dykes and elliptical 15 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,900 intrusions of the Garda period is a giant. 16 00:01:03,900 --> 00:01:09,100 Granite batholith, that is 1.8 to 1.9 billion years old. 17 00:01:09,900 --> 00:01:13,400 The baffle if was in placed during a mountain building a And 18 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,600 accompanying the Assembly of the Palio proterozoic supercontinent 19 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,800 called Noona about 700 million years before the Garda rocks 20 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:26,000 were formed for a refresher on Noona and supercontinents. 21 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,800 In general. You can listen to David Evans in 22 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:34,400 an early episode of geology B. It was not until the 1950s that 23 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,800 geological studies of the area revealed just how exceptional 24 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,000 the god are rocks. Are one of the leading 25 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000 researchers who brought this to light is Brian Upton. 26 00:01:44,300 --> 00:01:47,500 Who was studied the Region's geology intensively, and spent 27 00:01:47,500 --> 00:01:52,500 over 20 seasons in the field between 1957 and 2005. 28 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:55,600 In what follows Brian? Upton? 29 00:01:55,600 --> 00:02:00,300 Discusses both types of God are intrusions the giant Dykes, and 30 00:02:00,300 --> 00:02:02,600 the elliptical intrusions that Scott them. 31 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:07,200 He refers to the latter variously as alkaline complexes 32 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,500 and Central complexes. Brian Upton is Emeritus 33 00:02:11,500 --> 00:02:14,100 professor of geology at the University of Edinburgh. 34 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,600 Brian Upton. Welcome to geology, B. 35 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,300 Thank you very much. I'm very happy to be with you. 36 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:22,600 What led you to the guard? Our region. 37 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:27,000 When you first arrived on the scene, in 1955 principal 38 00:02:27,100 --> 00:02:31,100 motivation for this was partly for looking for more uranium, 39 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,400 but also Also looking for more crowl, light, for the aluminium 40 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,300 industry, in the course of this. We would also mapping 41 00:02:37,300 --> 00:02:38,600 everything. Okay, went along. 42 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,200 What structural features did you find? 43 00:02:42,700 --> 00:02:47,000 I was put on to some fascinating ground that had recently been 44 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,100 discovered by helicopter, reconnaissance work, which 45 00:02:50,100 --> 00:02:54,900 included some very large, dikes. And some new Alpha line 46 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,500 complexes. I was delighted by that and it 47 00:02:59,500 --> 00:03:01,600 was only in the fullness of time that I will. 48 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,200 It was possible whole system, the whole evolutionary process 49 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,500 that led to the extraordinary rocks. 50 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,000 So you found these enormously thick Dykes. 51 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,800 What do you think might have caused the dikes to be so very 52 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,200 thick. Well during the Precambrian, the 53 00:03:18,300 --> 00:03:22,100 heat flow to the upper mantle and into the crust was 54 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:23,900 considerably greater than it was. 55 00:03:23,900 --> 00:03:26,900 Subsequently were talking over a thousand million years ago. 56 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,700 And I think the energy was sufficient that when they 57 00:03:30,700 --> 00:03:33,400 actually go and shoot Food around the world, goes some 58 00:03:33,500 --> 00:03:37,800 other big ones being used. We see these in Canada, we've 59 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:42,600 seen Ethan Sweden extreme Southwest Australia and the 60 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,800 biggest of the laughs is the exam, Bob, we great dike which 61 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:50,300 is about 13 kilometers across and hundreds of kilometers long 62 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,800 but I didn't know how he said I was looking at it, we were might 63 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,400 relate to the elbows. And in fact it is chemically 64 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,700 rather different. It's unusual in this high 65 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:05,800 content of So called incompatible elements is an 66 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,600 alpha Li to break. Dyke was all of the others are, 67 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:14,700 by no means how Kelly, what can we infer by the tectonic context 68 00:04:14,700 --> 00:04:16,800 that led to the formation of these huge? 69 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,500 Dikes in the guard, our Province, really nothing major 70 00:04:20,500 --> 00:04:24,300 happened in that area for several hundred million years, 71 00:04:24,300 --> 00:04:28,900 but there was a large Granite basileus that have been formed 72 00:04:28,900 --> 00:04:31,600 after the last ocean closure there. 73 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,800 I'm the new activity ligado, activity. 74 00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:38,800 Tended to be concentrated along the axis of this granite 75 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:43,900 basileus, and it looks with the center of the Basilisk. 76 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,400 Mechanically weak and had. Given way to allow Magnus to 77 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:53,800 come up to fractures a whole bunch of Dykes, which in places 78 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:58,500 Amalgamated to form one, which was as big as 800 meters, you 79 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:01,400 found Dykes. But you also found some large. 80 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,600 Mountain scale intrusions. Can we talk about those a bit? 81 00:05:06,100 --> 00:05:09,900 We started getting these elliptical things which I will, 82 00:05:09,900 --> 00:05:13,800 most certainly are feeding volcanoes comparable to those of 83 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,000 the East African Rift. But with a top two or three 84 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,400 kilometers missing because this whole region of the Guard, our 85 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:25,700 Province on the Rocks around it had been uplifted very, very 86 00:05:25,700 --> 00:05:30,200 gently during the course of the thousand million years or so it 87 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,600 has never been folded. We'll be in badly altered in any 88 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,000 way. It'll be lifted up and in so 89 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,100 doing it. And being exposed to erosion 90 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,700 which had taken the skin off either. 91 00:05:40,700 --> 00:05:43,100 Taken the top seal four kilometers off. 92 00:05:43,100 --> 00:05:47,800 So we were looking modestly deep in the crust but not very deep, 93 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:49,900 but we're losing, the stuff is parts. 94 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:55,500 So these elliptical intrusive complexes are cyanides what our 95 00:05:55,500 --> 00:05:57,800 sign i'ts. And what minerals do they 96 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,500 principally contain? Well, I have to say that the 97 00:06:01,500 --> 00:06:05,100 most widespread and the important mineral on the whole 98 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:09,600 surface of our planet, are those of the group called feldspars, 99 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,700 which are aluminium silicate, but the aluminium silicate, 100 00:06:14,700 --> 00:06:18,400 sheets are held together by other elements in particular by 101 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:23,900 calcium or by potassium or by sodium and those with potassium 102 00:06:23,900 --> 00:06:26,800 and sodium are called Alkali feldspars. 103 00:06:27,300 --> 00:06:31,200 And if you've got a rock, which is dominantly L4, I fell sparse 104 00:06:31,700 --> 00:06:34,800 is called a siren, right? So, how did the rocks of these 105 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,100 Central complex has compared with those of the giant Dykes 106 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,000 once I was mostly interested in will sell one makeup right 107 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:48,500 across both of the sets of John, dikes and was a very much more 108 00:06:48,500 --> 00:06:52,000 granitic type of rock, be emptied. 109 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,200 Dikes are all made of gabbros very much richer, and magnesium 110 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,500 and calcium, and iron and the essential. 111 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,200 Lex is so much richer and potassium and sodium, and 112 00:07:03,300 --> 00:07:07,100 aluminium and silicone. So I think they were probably 113 00:07:07,300 --> 00:07:11,000 products of crossed all melting it with probably remelting of 114 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,900 the old batholith, they g x, which were the source of these 115 00:07:14,900 --> 00:07:16,800 things. But we've never really been able 116 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:18,800 to get a definitive answer on that. 117 00:07:19,300 --> 00:07:22,700 You went back to study these rocks over 20 times over the 118 00:07:22,700 --> 00:07:25,700 course of many decades. What made these rocks. 119 00:07:25,700 --> 00:07:30,600 So special, They while remarkable for minerals 120 00:07:30,700 --> 00:07:34,600 containing a whole variety of rare, metals are mentioned, 121 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:38,600 uranium zirconium under the elements that go with that like 122 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,200 niobium and hitch him. But also Elements which we know 123 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:46,400 now are extremely important in 21st century technology whether 124 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,400 we're talking about mobile phones or wind generators but 125 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:52,500 quite a lot of PSI nights around the world. 126 00:07:52,500 --> 00:07:55,600 Do contain some exotic minerals containing rare elements. 127 00:07:55,600 --> 00:08:00,500 Don't they Nothing nearly like some of those when we got our 128 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:04,300 problems and the one we were talking about specifically was 129 00:08:04,300 --> 00:08:08,700 the Illinois outside complex, which again, cross Cuts these 130 00:08:08,900 --> 00:08:12,700 John Dykes, I'm talking about, it's on the same Rift system, 131 00:08:12,700 --> 00:08:18,100 the same linear system, but my feet are from the dikes and the 132 00:08:18,108 --> 00:08:21,000 Illinois. Psyche itself is culminating all 133 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:26,900 of that activity. It's finished about 1104 million 134 00:08:26,900 --> 00:08:29,100 years ago. And since then there's been 135 00:08:29,100 --> 00:08:33,000 virtually never activity. Okay, so the intrusion that most 136 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,000 attracted your attention was called the Illinois, music, 137 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,400 intrusion. How did it get all that's 138 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,500 exotic? Minerals and rare elements. 139 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,800 Is it basically a result of extreme magma fractionation in a 140 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:51,900 magma chamber? Yes, I'm fractionation was 141 00:08:52,300 --> 00:08:54,600 taking place. With unusual. 142 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,100 He's and Readiness because these dark rocks. 143 00:08:58,100 --> 00:09:01,000 Have quite High floor, you contents to them. 144 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,500 And fluorine is an element. That makes a huge amount of 145 00:09:04,500 --> 00:09:07,200 difference to The Melting of igneous rocks. 146 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,100 First of all, if it's sad, the melting points are lower than if 147 00:09:11,100 --> 00:09:14,900 it's not. Secondly Glory moreover its I am 148 00:09:14,900 --> 00:09:18,600 fluoride is extremely efficacious in, breaking down, 149 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:22,900 complicated silicate structures and in so doing it. 150 00:09:23,100 --> 00:09:27,000 Makes the mag mostly liquid, the molten material very, very much 151 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,400 more fluid. It can flow very much more 152 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:34,000 greatly, not down to water or paraffin fluidity, but very much 153 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,300 more than most natural long-term Magma's because it was easy for 154 00:09:39,300 --> 00:09:42,900 the English to move in. It, it means that again not 155 00:09:42,900 --> 00:09:47,500 atoms, but ions can move quite long distances, unimpeded to 156 00:09:47,500 --> 00:09:52,500 join up and form large crystals and Crystal fractionation 157 00:09:52,500 --> 00:09:55,400 depends. Being able to remove crystals 158 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,600 are two ways of doing that. I've of the pistols are so dense 159 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,600 that when they form that, they sink to the bottom of the magma. 160 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,700 Chamber of that, they're in and leave of liquid above it 161 00:10:07,700 --> 00:10:11,300 impoverished and that type. But the liquid above, it would 162 00:10:11,300 --> 00:10:15,500 then be also enriched in those other materials that didn't make 163 00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:19,500 it into the crystals that sank. Yes, for alternatively. 164 00:10:19,500 --> 00:10:21,800 On this applies particularly to Illinois. 165 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:26,800 Exact sum Elementals are of low density, can actually float. 166 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,500 So, they go to the top of the pot, I used to like them. 167 00:10:30,500 --> 00:10:33,900 This still talking to students having a bucket or water and 168 00:10:33,900 --> 00:10:37,200 putting sound of fragments of cork into it. 169 00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:40,600 And of course, all the sound settles on the bottom, 10 170 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,200 o'clock. Floats to the top obviously, 171 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,600 depleted the water in between, of both the lights and the 172 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,900 heaviest. So, a process, very simply like 173 00:10:50,900 --> 00:10:52,900 that is involved in Crystal Cove. 174 00:10:53,100 --> 00:10:56,700 Formation. And with the fluoride ions, as I 175 00:10:56,700 --> 00:11:00,500 say, the molten rocks for Magma's are very, very much more 176 00:11:00,500 --> 00:11:05,400 fluid through the crystals can't float, or see much more readily 177 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,900 than they can in most like most. So, does that mean that? 178 00:11:08,900 --> 00:11:12,600 Because of this extreme Mobility, that's conferred by 179 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:17,200 the presence of the fluorine and the chlorine paps that you 180 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,600 essentially get much more extreme fractionation going on 181 00:11:21,300 --> 00:11:24,400 crystal fractionation. Okay, Was all over the world, 182 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,300 all the time. But is simply is able to proceed 183 00:11:28,300 --> 00:11:32,200 more effectively, more, readily faster and better in these 184 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,500 foreign Rich rocks and those that are deficient in Florian. 185 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,200 So, part of the fractionation process, you've just described 186 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:43,400 involves some elements. Forming crystals, readily, While 187 00:11:43,500 --> 00:11:47,500 others do not and remain behind and become progressively. 188 00:11:47,500 --> 00:11:51,500 More enriched, what determines whether an element remains 189 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:55,500 behind or is So called incompatible element 190 00:11:56,300 --> 00:12:01,100 incompatible elements of those that just do not fit easily into 191 00:12:01,100 --> 00:12:04,300 Crystal structures. So they tend to get left out. 192 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:08,100 But again, left of the wall flowers, around the dance hall. 193 00:12:08,300 --> 00:12:13,200 If they pay small elements or atoms, lithium and beryllium are 194 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,900 very small and it's difficult for them to get taken into in 195 00:12:16,908 --> 00:12:21,200 destructively tend to get leftover and concentrated them 196 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:22,900 late. Residuals of crystal. 197 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:27,800 Fractionation or if you're a very big fat around, you can't 198 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:29,300 get into any of these structures. 199 00:12:29,300 --> 00:12:35,400 Your bust, so things like potassium barium, particularly 200 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:40,100 huge ones like uranium and thorium exclusion concentrated 201 00:12:40,100 --> 00:12:44,900 in late stuff, and then some of them just have a pretty weird 202 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,200 bonding habits to put it that way and they get left out. 203 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,500 Gold will be one of those. Nobody wants it. 204 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,100 Sits on his head which is why you can go find native golden, 205 00:12:57,300 --> 00:13:00,600 the rivers. You can't find most elements of 206 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:02,900 native elements that most of them combined. 207 00:13:02,900 --> 00:13:08,400 But some like gold Platinum Mercury just get left out this 208 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,400 Friday all called incompatible with I still want to do. 209 00:13:11,408 --> 00:13:13,700 This is a big like human relationships. 210 00:13:13,700 --> 00:13:15,700 You're too fat. You're too small or your just 211 00:13:15,700 --> 00:13:20,000 awkward, you get left on. And so, the last rocks to form, 212 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,700 then the ones that are most enriched in Developments. 213 00:13:23,900 --> 00:13:27,400 Do we have any idea as to what percent of the original magma? 214 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:31,700 Body that might have represented a very, very, very small 215 00:13:31,700 --> 00:13:34,600 percentage. You start off with a huge volume 216 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:38,600 of slightly enriched material. You take away all of the other 217 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,900 minerals, which are not, those of the enrichment, and the more 218 00:13:42,900 --> 00:13:45,000 you take out the more you concentrate. 219 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,400 And so, we must be talking about a really large volume of 220 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,900 material. Would that originally have come 221 00:13:50,900 --> 00:13:53,700 from the mantle, or from the deep crust, No, The Mantel 222 00:13:53,700 --> 00:13:57,400 cross-boundary this comes from the mantle and we're talking 223 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:03,600 about processing of huge magma volumes which must be very many 224 00:14:03,700 --> 00:14:06,500 cubic kilometers of magma down below. 225 00:14:07,700 --> 00:14:10,900 Which are busy undergoing, Crystal fractionation, and then 226 00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:14,500 the batches of the melts produced by just rise to the 227 00:14:14,500 --> 00:14:18,100 surface and form. The things that we can see and 228 00:14:18,100 --> 00:14:20,200 get out and collect from their lies. 229 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:25,800 So do you think that this mantle source of an enriched magma that 230 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:30,000 then wound up being fractionated to less than 1% to form the 231 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,200 final rocks that we see in these intrusive complexes doing. 232 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:38,000 That was already, then enriched in fluoride is And chlorine 233 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:43,000 ions, it was relatively impoverished in the mantle rocks 234 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:47,800 depth and then it gets more and more concentrated as Crystal. 235 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:50,600 Fractionation process has proceeded. 236 00:14:51,300 --> 00:14:54,200 Are there any theories as to why some matter rocks? 237 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:58,100 Might at that time in the neoproterozoic 1.12? 238 00:14:58,100 --> 00:15:01,500 1.2 billion years ago, have already been enriched in these 239 00:15:01,500 --> 00:15:04,900 halogens. Why we got our problems in 240 00:15:04,900 --> 00:15:10,300 particular was enriched. Is unknown, it's not just 241 00:15:10,300 --> 00:15:13,100 fluorine. It's also Claudine and to a 242 00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:18,300 lesser extent, its fellow elements bromine and iodine, but 243 00:15:18,300 --> 00:15:20,600 the ones are particular interest of fluorine. 244 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:25,100 And then the next heaviest is for you in the other Malta as 245 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:29,200 crystallization of the sun. I just took place chlorine or 246 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:33,100 chloride ions became more and more concentrated and then 247 00:15:33,100 --> 00:15:37,300 linked up with sodium and sodium silicate perform a minute. 248 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,400 Which was a low density three could float and it was not 249 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:45,100 acting the cell fragments of cork in the sand and cork 250 00:15:45,100 --> 00:15:47,800 experiment. And instead of going down is so 251 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,300 teed up to the roof of whatever chamber there was there. 252 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,000 And in the when I was a kid, got one unit which is about 17 253 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,800 kilometers across, it's about 10 kilometers broad. 254 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:06,700 So that's 170 square kilometers. And then the thing is about five 255 00:16:06,700 --> 00:16:10,000 or six. Five kilometers thick, so finish 256 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,700 up with an extraordinary concentration of fluorine or 257 00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:19,100 sodium chloride Etc which is totally unique across the globe. 258 00:16:19,100 --> 00:16:22,100 You mentioned that the God our Province contains several of 259 00:16:22,100 --> 00:16:26,200 these elliptical intrusive complexes in addition to all the 260 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,700 Exotic minerals that we're going to talk a bit more about is ill, 261 00:16:29,700 --> 00:16:31,700 Emmaus, a call. So the place with the greatest 262 00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:34,400 concentration of fluorine, another extraordinary 263 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,300 concentration, not very far away for the place. 264 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:41,200 Hold it back towards, where the influence of my own Eleazar, 265 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,300 remarkable white mineral there and they used it. 266 00:16:44,300 --> 00:16:48,300 I think for washing soda and various other things before it 267 00:16:48,300 --> 00:16:51,500 was the sculpted. It was extremely useful in 268 00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:55,500 extracting aluminium from aluminium or the rockhold 269 00:16:55,500 --> 00:16:58,700 bauxite. And it's primarily, because 270 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,800 addition of fluoride to walks, I lowers the melting temperature 271 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:07,300 greatly, so it's a hugely cheaper extraction. 272 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:10,200 Assess the amount of energy requires, much less. 273 00:17:11,099 --> 00:17:14,700 And in that particular case, it also turns the Melt into an 274 00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:18,800 electrolytic solution you can post an electrical circuit and 275 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:23,400 you can separate the aluminium at one of the electrodes and 276 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:27,700 that is still the worldwide method of separating of oxide 277 00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:32,800 giving throat was known from suddenly the 19th century in the 278 00:17:32,808 --> 00:17:37,300 waves were using it and European explorers found this stuff. 279 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,800 From the also felt aluminium process important. 280 00:17:41,500 --> 00:17:46,500 It was mined for the best part of a hundred years, but during 281 00:17:46,500 --> 00:17:50,600 World War 2, when aluminium was critically needed particularly 282 00:17:50,700 --> 00:17:54,700 for aircraft production, something like 12 million tons 283 00:17:54,900 --> 00:17:58,100 of Corona. Light was wind, from ich, totems 284 00:17:58,100 --> 00:18:00,900 sent to the United States for the war effort. 285 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,400 So, we've got this place called in ductility, which is 286 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,200 extraordinarily rich in fluorine. 287 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,000 The whole goddamn problems have got high Florian but it was 288 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,400 quite ridiculously highly concentrated. 289 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,800 Not just one fluoride mineral I've spoken of a highlight but 290 00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:21,500 16 others. So got our problems have been 291 00:18:21,500 --> 00:18:23,200 famous. If it was fighting each other 292 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:26,300 alone, but then we've got this other one I'm talking about him 293 00:18:26,300 --> 00:18:29,200 outside and he comes back to the question, why? 294 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,300 You get these super high concentrations of the simple, 295 00:18:33,300 --> 00:18:37,300 haylage of elements, fluorine chlorine bromine and iodine. 296 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:41,800 You, okay, well, concentrated why we still don't have an 297 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,300 answer. So in those two regions in the 298 00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:49,600 mouse Arc and evicted are there. Lots of other exotic minerals 299 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:52,600 and other minerals that are only known there or which it is that 300 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:56,400 type location where they were first discovered it a church 301 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,500 quite a lot of the floor eyes. There will be tossed about 302 00:18:59,500 --> 00:19:03,800 globally unique. Both igneous rocks and son. 303 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,600 I sung, granite's. You would be lucky to find the 304 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:10,700 perhaps a dozen different minerals and Iraq. 305 00:19:10,700 --> 00:19:15,800 In the uml Zack, you've got 220 known different minerals. 306 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,400 So it's order of magnitude bigger. 307 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:23,900 It is a ridiculous. High concentration of extremely 308 00:19:23,900 --> 00:19:28,000 exciting goodies. So, which is, why is a mouse 309 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,400 icon has become such a focus of international? 310 00:19:31,900 --> 00:19:35,000 Interest. You could imagine every country 311 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,600 in the world with our technological basis is desperate 312 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:43,200 to get at it. I'm would suspect very strongly, 313 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:48,200 but Mr. Tongues Bid to Buy Greenland from Denmark was first 314 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,500 and foremost concentrated on Illinois. 315 00:19:50,500 --> 00:19:52,100 Mouse icon. One or two others. 316 00:19:52,100 --> 00:19:55,300 In the got our problems. That's extraordinary though. 317 00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:59,100 So the variety of minerals stay in a piece of cyanide that 318 00:19:59,100 --> 00:20:01,700 you'll find in this complex and their mouths. 319 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:04,800 Complex is literally over about 10 times. 320 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,600 The number that you would find in the next closest alkaline 321 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,300 intrusion or similar kind of plutonic Rock. 322 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:15,200 Yes, many of them were. Absolutely totally unique to 323 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,700 allows the mineral that they were most interested in before 324 00:20:18,700 --> 00:20:21,300 uranium is, are an extraordinary mineral? 325 00:20:21,300 --> 00:20:25,600 Because it's basically a silicate is God silicon and 326 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:30,200 oxygen but it also doubles up by being a phosphate and also it's 327 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,900 a silicone phosphate. Well, I've never ever heard of 328 00:20:33,900 --> 00:20:38,000 any comparable mineral anywhere else from the steam stupid. 329 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:40,600 And it is, the students should be in the contains the 330 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,900 relatively High. Uranium, I want to come back to 331 00:20:43,900 --> 00:20:47,300 the tectonics of the region and the history that we think must 332 00:20:47,300 --> 00:20:49,600 have happened. So because you've got dikes and 333 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,800 you've got these intrusions, are we talking about an inferred 334 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,600 region of Continental rifting. It was an area of Continental 335 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,700 rifting about eleven hundred million years ago. 336 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:02,000 It's right now. Arrow. 337 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,300 It's only about 15 kilometers across. 338 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:09,100 So, we're talking about rifting that was going on about 1.1, 1.2 339 00:21:09,100 --> 00:21:10,900 billion years ago. We're talking about a quarter of 340 00:21:10,900 --> 00:21:14,000 the age of the Earth. Can we use this extraordinary 341 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:18,100 glimpse into an ancient Rift Zone 2 and 50 anything about how 342 00:21:18,100 --> 00:21:20,200 the planet might have been different than or whether plate 343 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,500 tectonics was different. The plants are for about four 344 00:21:24,500 --> 00:21:26,100 and a half thousand million years ago. 345 00:21:26,100 --> 00:21:28,000 And there must have been extremely hot. 346 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,500 It's been using heat other since its floozy, he At the present 347 00:21:32,500 --> 00:21:36,200 time but very, very, very slowly for the last few hundred million 348 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,900 years, but a thousand million years, it was still really quite 349 00:21:40,900 --> 00:21:44,100 warm. And as I used to tell students 350 00:21:44,100 --> 00:21:47,200 from the Precambrian, they just did things bigger and better 351 00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:50,400 because they have more energy to drive things around. 352 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,700 So we're back when the Earth was not hot. 353 00:21:53,700 --> 00:21:59,000 But a lot more Mount the thermal loss through the crust was a lot 354 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:03,600 more than it is the person time. And did that contribute to the 355 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:08,000 extraordinary thickness of these giant dikes and perhaps to the 356 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,800 extreme Mobility. Then of this magma body that led 357 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,300 to this extreme fractionation and illa ma sack. 358 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,300 Definitely. If you start looking at modern 359 00:22:16,300 --> 00:22:20,700 geology real say from about 700 800 million years ago doesn't 360 00:22:20,700 --> 00:22:22,300 sound very modern. But it is. 361 00:22:22,700 --> 00:22:27,700 You're getting dikes formed all over the place, but I died like 362 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:30,700 20 meters across will be quite unusual. 363 00:22:30,900 --> 00:22:35,400 Get dykes Approaching a kilometer on one is really very, 364 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,300 very rare. Indeed, it was just more energy 365 00:22:38,300 --> 00:22:42,700 available to pull things apart and do cause damage from the has 366 00:22:42,700 --> 00:22:45,000 been subsequently. One of the things you mentioned 367 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,100 when we spoke Ali was that these igneous rocks of the Guard, our 368 00:22:48,100 --> 00:22:52,500 period appear to be in quite pristine condition. 369 00:22:53,100 --> 00:22:57,300 So, before reliable radiometric, dating results became available, 370 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,500 did you conclude therefore that the Rocks were relatively young 371 00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:04,000 geologically speaking? And we are in such beautiful 372 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,400 pristine condition. First of all these must be 373 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,900 perhaps about has always the organic rocks from the west of 374 00:23:10,900 --> 00:23:12,600 Scotland. And they have Aegean region 375 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,700 which are about 20 million years or so old. 376 00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:20,600 But certainly not Precambrian to say it's a bit of continental 377 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,000 crust that the gods forgot about, they don't lift it alone. 378 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,000 After the god or period. Some things did happen because 379 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,400 cream and split apart from Canada from Labrador. 380 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,300 Continental region. Containing the Gaga rocks was 381 00:23:35,300 --> 00:23:38,200 elevated. Just very very, very gently and 382 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:42,100 slowly it was lifted up by magical hands from a few 383 00:23:42,100 --> 00:23:45,700 kilometers down towards the surface and of course everything 384 00:23:45,700 --> 00:23:49,600 on the surface, continually being rubbed away continually 385 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:53,500 name, sandpaper by wind and Raymond ratio period has been 386 00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:56,900 rubbed away. Very effectively by ice but even 387 00:23:56,900 --> 00:24:02,300 so we're talking about an area all over about 20000. 80's where 388 00:24:02,300 --> 00:24:06,100 these god-awful knocks outcrop and it's all been recently. 389 00:24:06,100 --> 00:24:09,600 Scoured hangover laughs, a million meals were served in the 390 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,300 ice ages, but it's been extremely gently treated. 391 00:24:13,300 --> 00:24:17,400 It hasn't been folded, watery, fluid, so Pastor actually of 392 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:22,400 alteration and your minerals. So it is a very, very remarkable 393 00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:27,500 example of apostle continent and I find that quite wonderful. 394 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,600 I want to end by asking you what it was like to do feel. 395 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,400 Work in Greenland starting in the 1950s. 396 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:38,000 Well, before any of today's tourist infrastructure and 397 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:39,800 mobile phone service was in place. 398 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:42,600 Well, first of all green was a very big place. 399 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:45,700 It's about 2,000 kilometers from top to bottom. 400 00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:49,900 So if you cut it out on your own Globe, tastier, say the North 401 00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:53,600 End over Scotland or the tail end and probably somewhere over 402 00:24:53,900 --> 00:24:57,900 Iraq or Persia to lot of it. It has some enormous Coastline 403 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,600 thousands and thousands of kilometers of co-lead coast. 404 00:25:01,700 --> 00:25:03,600 This is not going to get overcrowded. 405 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,000 What was it? Like, Well, there must be 406 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,800 something wrong with me but I love empty places, unspoiled 407 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,200 battling places and those are still working there. 408 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,000 Your form very, very close friendships will break loose 409 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,500 bonding all sorts of mates which last for decades. 410 00:25:20,100 --> 00:25:23,400 I've worked all over the world but times I've spent in the 411 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,500 Arctic everywhere from Siberia to Canadian object. 412 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,100 I love the people. I meet are extremely interesting 413 00:25:30,100 --> 00:25:32,900 people very resilient They would be living now. 414 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,200 People that don't know about hardships and can live very 415 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,600 simply. We had my radio in the 416 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:40,900 beginning. My mail I would be dumped by 417 00:25:40,900 --> 00:25:45,500 those on the coast with a load of supplies and attend and we 418 00:25:45,500 --> 00:25:48,100 would be told they'll be back in the 70 weeks time. 419 00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:51,900 You look after him and he looks after you. 420 00:25:52,300 --> 00:25:56,400 So the buddy system is critical. You need your mate on your mate, 421 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,500 knees, you so things don't fall you don't fall off. 422 00:26:01,700 --> 00:26:03,900 After yourselves the best years of my life. 423 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,100 Brian Upton. Thank you very much. 424 00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:09,400 Enjoy talking to you Oliver many. 425 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:21,800 Thanks. For more about geology b, as 426 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,900 well as pictures and illustrations, that support this 427 00:26:24,900 --> 00:26:28,000 podcast, go to geology B.com.