University Daily Kansan
Friday, February 23,1973
7
Earth in Cooling Period, Prof Says
By DANGEORGE
Kansan Staff Writer
There's another ice Age coming, a noted University of Kansas geologist said recently, but there's no need to bundle up and throw another log on the fire just yet.
"The earth is in a cooling period just now, that's true." Wakefield Dort, professor of geology, said recently. "But it's only a minor fluctuation, in comparison, but it will be at least 10,000 years before we enter another full glacial period."
Dort, who specializes in the study of glacial geology and the history of the Pleitecum Age, responded to a view in the February issue of Science Digest Magazine that another Ice Age could be as near as 200 years away.
That opinion was expressed by Cesare Emiliani, a University of Miami geologist, who reached his conclusion by studying cores of sediment from the bottoms of the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
IT HAS LONG BEEN accepted by geological experts that the Ice Age began approximately one million 100,000-year periods of warmth. The last of these glacial periods
supposedly ended between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago.
Emilianti's core samples, however, have thrown a wrench into the works. From his studies, which were begun in 1955, Emilianti concluded that there were seven, not four, glacial periods and that each was much shorter than 100,000 years in length.
As is usually the case with new ideas,
Emiliam's claim has been greeted with
something less than enthusiasm by others in his field.
"EMILIANA HAS BEEN a throne in the "sides of Pleistocene geologists for 15 years," Dort said. "I don't mean to imply he's wrong. He's a hard worker and I've never heard anyone discredit him personal information that doesn't fit that of others.
"But he's also looking at different evidence that are others, so maybe he's got it."
Dort said that Emilian differed in that he chose his samples from underwater, whereas others took samples from dry land. Dort might be more reliable, since there was less chance of them having been disturbed.
THE BIGGEST question concerning Emilian's conclusions, Dort said, is dif-
Judge Rules on Motions In Recent Gould Hearing
District court Judge James W. Paddock filed decisions on two motions by the attorneys of Randolph E. Gould, 23, Overland II and Division II, Douglas County District Court.
In the first decision, Judge Paddock denied a statement by Gould's attorneys that the acts Gould is charged with could not have injured persons according to testimony given during a preliminary hearing.
Gould is charged with attempted property destruction and with endangering the lives of two individuals during a bomb throwing incident May 14, 1970, at the home of Daniel Young, who was Douglas county attorney, at that time.
"The last glacial period left most of the evidence of what they were like," Dort said. "And it was known long ago that there were variations within the periods."
The other decision concerned whether to suppress evidence of two prior actions concerning Gould. In one case, Gould and seven other persons were named in a suit which ordered them not to create distrust. This case resulted from actions occurring in April 1969, in which an Army ROTC review was canceled and campus disturb-
Dort said these variations were simply cooling or warming trends that interrupted the gradual rise or decline of a glacial lake. These lasted from 50 to 200 years, he said.
ficuly in matching Emiliantl's chart of the glacial periods with the former chart. Emiliantl has said that he believes the periods he's charted occurred over the last million years. Dert said that he thought they might just be fluctuations that have "occurred in the glacial period" or 300,000 years," instead of major glacial periods themselves.
WHEREAS MANY geologists believe the earth is now in an interglacial period of warmth, Dort said he thought the earth was still in the declining stages of a glacial period. Although some experts have seen the gradual cooling of the earth's temperature since the turn of the century as a sign of an impending Ice Age, Dort says it is not necessary to anticipate that it's likely to get much warmer before the ice starts spreading from the poles.
bances were created, Judge Paddock ruled that this defense used in the current attack against Gogol.
Judge Paddock ruled to allow no evidence from the other conviction against Gould, which resulted from a rock throwing incident on May 6, 1971, at the KU Military Science building, because the present case against Gould occurred between the time of the rock throwing incident and Gould's arrest.
A jury trial is set for March 14.
"When early pioneers went out to the Rockies in the 1800s, it was much more expensive than it is now," he said. "And in a real interglacial period, it would still be much warmer that it is now. In past periods, there was no evidence of the frost-action that we see today."
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AMONG GEOLOGICAL theories that are open to conjecture, Dort said, the figure attributed to the beginning of the Ice Age was certainly one.
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"From what I've heard," he said, "the one million year figure was just picked out
of the air in a beer hall in Australia when someone pushed a professor to make a complaint.
"But it's in all the books now and everyone's grown to accept it. That why it's so hard for many geologists to take action," Ms. Aiola said, but out something they've grown up with."
Another misconception that many people have, said Dort, concerns what exactly will take place when the next major glacial period occurs. Contrary to the belief of many, he said, the entire world will not be covered with a sheet of ice.
"THE WHOLE WILD doesn't undergo a change," he said. "We can expect the ice to reach as far as Cincinnati, Ohio, because that's about as far as it got before. In this area, it did reach Lawrence and, in fact, ended close to the Wakarua River."
Dort said that even with ice in Kansas temperature would not be farther south would not be more affected.
"Oklahoma would be cooler, of course, but southern Texas would still be warm and it still be warmer in Mexico than it is here now. And, as far as any one can tell," he said, "it's still going to be hot, humid and terrible near the equator."
Correction
The Student Senate compilation of candidates who filed for office incorrectly listed John Briley, Burlingame, Calif., freshman, as a candidate for sophomore class treasurer. Briley is a candidate for sophomore class vice president.
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