The Boogens (1981) - A Creature Feature Review

The Boogens is a B-monster movie from 1981 involving even geology (sort of…). After a terrible accident, the town of Silver City is forced to shut down all mining activities, but when the collapsed mine is re-opened years later by a construction team something terrible is released. The Boogens, weird, multi-tentacled, bloodsucking, bullet- and dynamite-proof turtles (yes, turtles!).

Unfortunately, it's a quite dull movie, following the "stalking monster" ("it's somewhere but you don't see it until the end of the movie") tradition made popular at the time by Alien, premiered just two years earlier. But Alien is, without doubt, the better movie beginning with the acting and ending with the special effects.

Whole New Worlds Made Of Sapphires and Rubies

Astronomers have found a new class of planets, abundant in the chemical compounds that make sapphires and rubies.

"Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires. All the crystalline forms that you cherish above all things" - from the episode “Cat's Paw”.

Earth is a planet composed mostly of iron. The inner core is believed to be an iron-nickel alloy and the mantle, making up one-third of Earth's volume, is composed of Bridgmanite, a magnesium-iron-silicate. Earth's crust contains iron, oxygen, magnesium and silicon, with traces of sulfur, nickel, calcium, and aluminum added to the mix. However, planets outside our solar system may display a very alien composition, depending on their origin.

The chemical composition of a planet depends on the interaction of two factors, the chemical composition of the dust and gas disk around the newborn star from which the planet forms and where in this protoplanetary disc the planet forms. Farther out in the disc, in the cooler zones, elements such as silicon, iron and magnesium will form grains and clumps. Gravity will pull together the pieces until enough mass is collected to form a planet. It is likely that the rocky planets in our solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, formed this way. Close to the star the temperature is rising and lighter elements, like silicon, magnesium, aluminum and calcium, start condensing into the planetary building compounds. A planet composed mostly from such elements would have 10 to 20 percent lower densities than Earth.

Researchers from the Universities of Zurich in Switzerland and Cambridge in the United Kingdom discovered three large planets that may confirm this theoretical model. HD 219134 b, located just 21 light-years away, in the constellation of Cassiopeia, with an orbit of just 3 days; 55 Cancri e, 41 light-years away, with an orbit of just 18 hours; and WASP-47 e, located 870 light-years away, also with an 18-hour orbit. HD219134 b is a super-Earth with a mass almost five times that of Earth, yet its density is surprisingly low. The planet most likely does not have a massive core of iron but is rich in calcium and aluminum. The chemical composition would allow the existence of large quantities of aluminum oxides on the planet. On Earth, crystalline aluminum oxide forms the mineral corundum. If the aluminum oxide contains traces of iron, titanium, cobalt or chromium, it will form the noble varieties of the mineral corundum, gemstones like the blue sapphire, the red ruby and the pink-orange padparadscha.

The first image ever taken by humans of the whole Earth, probably photographed by William Anders. 

Geological TOS Review: Episode #5 - "The Enemy Within"

During a specimen-gathering mission on planet Alpha 177, a transporter malfunction creates an evil duplicate of Captain Kirk. Apparently, the transporter malfunction is caused by interference of the transporter technique with a magnetic, yellow ore found on the planet’s surface. The mineral is not identified in the episode but seems to possess some alien properties.

In many episodes, the crew of the Enterprise visits mining colonies or is on a mission to search for valuable minerals and crystals. There exists even a geological tricorder for prospecting resources, designed for analyzing rock samples and comparing them to the records memorized in the mineralogical database of the federation. By convention, the names of terrestrial minerals (a crystalline combination of one or various elements) end with the suffix "-ite", the denominations of elements with the suffix "- ium", "-um", "-on", "-gen" or "-ine". Unfortunately it seems that this nomenclature is not always applied with the necessary scientific accuracy in the 23th century. But to be fair, many of the minerals are unknown to the present day. And that's accurate, as there are indeed elements found only in stars and outer space, like Technetium, that don't form naturally on Earth.

Could such non-terrestrial elements form also extraterrestrial minerals? 

There are around 7,000 minerals known on Earth, but we still know little about other worlds in comparison. Over 300 minerals have been identified in meteorites. The number of minerals identified on planetary bodies is smaller and mainly detected by remote sensing or exploration with robots.  Around 130 minerals were discovered so far on Mars and 80 on the Earth's Moon. As some of those minerals were formed under conditions that don't exist on Earth, such as low gravity, or the complete absence of liquid water, many are indeed unknown in the Earth's environments.

A curious scientific blooper. In the episode part of the landing party is stranded on the planet, as the transporter doesn't work, and it is mentioned that the temperatures on the surface drop to -120°C during nighttime. Such temperatures would be only possible on a planet without an atmosphere, where temperatures can drop to -200°C. On Earth the coldest temperature ever measured was -90°C during the Antarctic winter.

Star Trek Fact Or Fiction: The Horta

In the 1967 episode "The Devil in the Dark" the Enterprise visits the mining colony on the planet Janus VI, or better, it is located inside in the planet, as the mine is a large underground facility. Soon the crew encounters an unknown creature. The episode later reveals that the alien life-form, named "Horta", comes from within the planet, where suitable conditions for life might exist, and feeds on rocks.

 "It is not life as we know or understand it!"

In October 2018 the discovery of cyanobacteria living 600 meters underground was announced by a research team from Spain, Germany and the United States. The rivers in the  Rio Tinto region in Spain is poisoned by iron and sulfur minerals, also a legacy of mining operations of the past. Because of its apparent inhospitality of life as we know it, this region is studied by astrobiologist, hoping here to understand how life adapts to harsh environments like found on other planets. In a 613-meter deep borehole, the researchers found cyanobacteria living in cracks and crevices of the rocks. Cyanobacteria are able to do photosynthesis, so it was believed that they need sunlight to survive. The cyanobacteria discovered in the borehole apparently feed on chemical reactions involving hydrogen gas, found in air pockets inside the rocks.

Viable cyanobacterial cells (red fluorescent signals) attached to rock fragments. Credit: Puente-Sánchez et al. 2018.

Living bacteria (not depending on sunlight)  were found in boreholes in 5,278 meters depth. Living underground has some advantages. Lifeforms on a planet without atmosphere are protected by the ground from harmful radiations. Even on Earth, as some research suggests, life for a long time existed in the underground. Much of the life that exists beneath the surface is of ancient origins. This realm is inhabited by bacteria, existing already 2 billion years ago. Most likely during most of life's history, for almost 1.5 billion years, organisms living beneath the Earth’s surface outweighed all other life on the planet combined. Exobiologist are especially interested in this observation, as it could vastly expand the habitable zones found in the universe. Even on superficially desolate planets some life could exist, it would just hard to spot it, as it would be hiding deep within the planet.

"They're eggs, aren't they?"

Star Trek Fact Or Fiction: Vulcan

Astronomers announced the discovery of an exoplanet with 8.47 times Earth's mass and twice Earth's radius in the 40 Eridani star system, distant 17 light-years from our Sun. In the Star Trek universe, the Eridani constellation is mentioned as the star system where the planet Vulcan is located, homeworld of Commander Spock.

The USS Enterprise in orbit of Vulcan, from Star Trek: The Original Series - Remastered.

In Star Tek – The Original Series the location of Vulcan was never identified. Vulcan is mentioned as planet various times in the first season, but only in the pilot of the second season, “Amok Time” aired September 15, 1967, it is visited by Commander Spock, Captain Kirk and chief medical officer McCoy. Vulcan is described as an Earth-sized world, mostly covered by deserts and mountains, with a red sky glowing above a barren landscape. 

As it orbits its sun on a very narrow orbit, surface temperatures are higher as on Earth. Also, the atmosphere is very thin, barely breathable, and non-Vulcans have a hard time adapting to the harsh environment. According to Star Trek lore, the desert-planet Vulcan orbits its sun together with the planet T´Khut, a geologically very active lava-planet.

In the movie Star Trek 2, released in 1982, the star 40 Eridani A is mentioned as Vulcan's sun. In 1991 Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, published a short article together with astrophysicists Baliunas, Donahue and Nassiopoulos, arguing that the constellation of Eridani would be the most fitting place for Vulcan. The real 40 Eridani system is a triple star system, with Eridani A as primary star accompanied by a red and a white dwarf star, named respectively Eridani B and Eridiani C. Only Eridani A is shining stable enough to host a hypothetical habitable planet. Eridani B emits too much dangerous radiation and Eridani C is prone to flares, sudden eruptions of energy and matter emitting lethal doses of X-rays. As Eridani A is smaller than our Sun, also the habitable zone, where a planet could exist with liquid water, is narrower. Unlike the fictional planet Vulcan, the real exoplanet seems to be a Super-Earth or a small gas giant. According to the published preliminary results the planet orbits its star in just 39 to 40 Earth days, along the inner limit of the habitable zone.

Geological TOS Review: Episode #4 - "The Naked Time"

In the episode "The Naked Time," the Enterprise is orbiting Psi 2000 to observe the disintegration of the planet. The doomed world is completely covered in ice and snow. 

"An ancient world, now a frozen wasteland, about to rip apart in its death throes. Our mission, pick up a scientific party below, observe the disintegration of the planet."

Later in the episode Mister Spock mentions that the star in the Psi 2000 system went dark, explaining the low temperatures on the planet. 

“Obviously, this planet is condensing more rapidly than expected. A valuable study. We may be seeing Earth's distant future. Before its sun went dark, this planet was remarkably similar to yours.”

It is unlikely that Earth will end as completely frozen world. When the Sun will become a Red Giant in estimated five billion years, temperatures will significantly rise and Earth will eventually be engulfed and destroyed by the expanding Sun. However, geological evidence suggests that almost 650 million years ago our planet temporarily became a "Snowball Earth." How this happened is unknown, but the release of gases by volcanoes probably saved the planet and its first terrestrial life forms, as the planet warmed due the greenhouse effect of the carbon dioxide gas. It is curious to note that chief medical officer McCoy discovers unknown organic molecules in the ice of Psi 2000.

In the episode it is never exactly explained how the planet is supposed to disintegrate. In the episode changes in the mass and also gravitational and magnetic field of the planet play an important role, as the Enterprise can't leave orbit due the interferences.  Disturbances of the gravitational field by a bypassing, large planet could cause the break up of a celestial body. In our solar system, the ring systems of the large gas giants may are the remains of a disintegrated moon, torn apart as it went to close to the planet. Also planets in other star systems can be doomed. Orbits of planets in binary systems are unstable thanks to the Kozai-effect. The gravitational force of one of the two stars in the system will pull the planet out of its orbit. As the planet's orbit collapses, it will go to close to the host star and torn apart by its gravitational force.

Geological TOS Review: Episode #3 - "Where No Man Has Gone Before"

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the second pilot produced for TOS, but actually the third episode broadcast in the United States. 

Captain Kirk has the command of the Enterprise when a distress signal from a spaceship, lost years before along the borders of the galaxy, is received. Following the signal, they soon encounter an energy field. As they try to fly into the field, impulses of energy cause some members of the crew to develop extrasensory perception abilities. Both helmsman Gary Mitchell and ship's psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner quickly develope god-like powers, threatening to destroy the Enterprise. As there is now way to control Mitchell, Kirk decides to leave Mitchell stranded on the nearby planet Delta Vega, a planet similar to Earth except it has a slightly smaller size, with an automated lithium cracking station operating there. The set of the barren and rocky landscape used to show the planet's surface was recycled from the episode (and rejected original pilot) "The Cage."

The matte painting of the cracking station on Delta Vega.

Mining an extraterrestrial world is still fiction, but science shows that it may be profitable. Asteroids are rich in platinum, iridium, palladium and gold. One hundred tons of rock from an asteroid might today be worth more than 9,000 dollars, compared to just 60 dollars worth the same amount of terrestrial rocks. Estimated 5,000 to ten millions of asteroids can be found near Earth and companies are already dreaming of future prospecting and mining spaceflights. Mining asteroids would not necessarily benefit Earth, as bringing the ore to Earth would be extremely costly, but might benefit nearby colonies, outposts or industrial complexes.

Mitchell escapes from his prison in the cracking station. Dr. Dehner, now also developing unknown powers, is able to distract and injure Mitchell, but is killed in the attempt to stop him. In the end Kirk must face the injured and weakened, but still dangerous Mitchell. After a hand-to-hand battle in the mountains and a ripped shirt, Kirk uses a phaser rifle to create a rock slide, killing Mitchell.

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Star Trek Fact Or Fiction: M-113

In the episode "The Man Trap" Captain Kirk, chief medical officer McCoy and crewman Darnell visit the surface of the fictional planet M-113. Soon they are hunted by a mysterious shape-shifting creature that requires salt to survive and is willing to obtain it by any means necessary. Crewman Darnell is the first victim of the "Salt-Vampire" and also the first "red-shirt" (wearing a blue shirt) to be killed in TOS. It is curious to wonder why the "Salt-Vampire" needs salt on such a planet.

The USS Enterprise flying by planet M-113, which bears striking resemblance to Mars, from Star Trek: The Original Series - Remastered.

Star Trek was among the first TV series to be filmed in color. M-113 is a desert planet, covered in yellow sand dunes and dark rocky outcrops, with an eerie reddish sky.  M-113 reseambles surprisingly the planet Mars, even if at the time Star Trek was filmed nothing was known of its surface, visited by space probes only in 1976. Mars is today a dry planet with a thin carbon-dioxide atmosphere, but geological evidence suggests a dense atmosphere with a wet past.

Martian sky on September, 11, 2018. NASA/JPL

In 1849 the Italian chemist J. Usiglio performed a set of evaporation experiments with seawater along the French Riviera and established the order in which evaporite minerals precipitate from an aqueous environment. On earth these minerals are mostly gypsum and halite, associated with borates, potassium- and magnesium-salts. Such minerals if found in a stratigraphic column are compelling evidence for the former presence of water.

The Groeden sandstone was deposited in a landscape consisting of a succession of perennial and periodic rivers, alluvial fans, lakes and coastal plains in a semiarid climate (hot and dry with seasonal excessive rainfalls). Pedogenetic horizons with folded gypsum layers record strong evaporation and water level fluctuations. The upper cross-bedded sandstone records periods when meandering fluvial channels alternated with sand dunes of a desert environment.

Already from the orbit the Mars Global Surveyor identified terrains on Mars composed of a stratified material, covering a more rugged and cratered relief. To clarify the origin of these layers a field-investigation was necessary. In 2004 the Opportunity rover landed in the Eagle-Crater, located on the Meridiani-Planum - a flat, uniform plain with few impact craters. Opportunity spotted some outcrops in the small crater, however the exposed stratigraphic column was very short. The rover was therefore directed to the larger Endurance-Crater.

The outer rim of this crater provided an unique outcrop - soon named Burns-Cliff, after Roger Burns, who predicted the mineralogy of the Martian rocks (composed mainly of ultrabasic minerals, like olivine, and iron-sulfate minerals) based on the preliminary results obtained by the Viking missions.

Along the slope of the cliff geologists recognized a succession of rock types, or facies, named informally "Burns-Formation", the only extraterrestrial geologic formation at the time. The Burns-Formation consists almost entirely of sandstone with grains of basalt, oxides, silicates and evaporite minerals (calcium- and magnesium-sulfates, chlorides and phosphates). The Burns-Formation can be subdivided in three members:

- A lower unit of cross-bedded sandstone, probably sand dunes formed on a dry lakebed.

- A middle unit with laminated sandstone, interpreted as ancient sand sheet deposits of sporadic flood events. This units displays also various effects of groundwater infiltration, like dissolution of minerals and precipitation of new ones. Convoluted layers formed probably when minerals expanded due chemical reactions with the groundwater.

- The upper unit consists of laminated sandstone, layers of cross-laminated sandstone are interpretated as subaqueous ripples.

The Burns-Formation at the Burns-Cliff, Endurance crater.

The Burns-Formation records the transition from a dry dune-field to a wet playa environment. Sporadic floods formed ripples and during dry periods minerals precipitated from the evaporating water. In later times Meridiani-Planum was covered for longer periods with water and maybe a shallow lake formed. This transition from dry to wet conditions occurred probably many times in the Martian past, as the dunes of the lower unit are already formed by reworked evaporites from older sediments. Liquid water implies a much dense atmosphere, even if not necessarily with oxygen.

If M-113 has a similar past as Mars, evaporite deposits should be common, including
sodium-chloride. Therefore, the Salt-Vampire should not need to kill to get salt. The still breathable atmosphere may remains of a former, more wet past. Mars lost most of its atmosphere over time, as gravity on such a small planet is too weak to hold on it.

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Geological TOS Review: Episode #1 - "The Man Trap"

"The Man Trap" was the first episode ever aired of Star Trek - The Original Series (TOS), on September 8, 1966, even if it was the sixth episode produced. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) wanted an episode featuring a monster in space as a pilot to get the public's interest. In the episode Captain Kirk and his crew visit the alien planet M-113 to check on an archaeological expedition. The planet's surface appears lifeless, a desert environment with only sparse vegetation. However, ruins seen in the background testify that a long lost civilization once existed here.

In this episode Halite, sodium-chloride or common table salt, plays an important role. The archaeological outpost on the planet M-113 is infiltrated by a mysterious shape-shifting creature that requires salt to survive and is willing to obtain it by any means necessary. Crewman Darnell is the first victim of the "Salt-Vampire" and also the first "red-shirt" (wearing a blue shirt) to be killed in TOS. 

Another plot device are the ruins, remains of a never-explained civilization and it remains unclear if the creature is somehow related to the ancient megalithic builders. This poses an intriguing question. Without the ruins, would a hypothetical exo-scientist, as seen in the episode, be able to infer the existence of a former alien civilization?

What if so much time passed that even the hardest rock used for a monument turned into dust? Buildings and cities are surprisingly short-lived. Even modern iron and concrete resist weathering for just some decades to centuries. Monuments build from sedimentary rocks, like the pyramids, may last some thousand years in dry environments. Reliefs in massive rocks, like Mount Rushmore carved into Harney-Peak granite, may remain recognizable for some hundred-thousand years. 

Could other traces in the environment be used to infer the existence of a civilization gone for millions of years? Could the desert environment of M-113 be the result of the collapse of an alien civilization? Such questions may not only be of interest for the search of extraterrestrial civilizations in fiction and reality, but also for the future of humankind.

"Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Earth is the only planet we know for sure can host a technologically advanced civilization. Even if our technological wonders won't survive millions of years into the future, other traces will remain. Since the year 1500, more than three-hundred species of large vertebrates went extinct and many argue that we are witnessing the beginning of the sixth mass extinction. In just a few centuries, we have modified more than 70% of Earth's land surface. Humans today move ten times more sediments than all natural processes combined, like landslides or rivers.

Since the industrial revolution in the 19th century, humans have modified the concentration and flux of carbon and nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere. New artificial materials, like plastic, are polluting the environment. Future geologists may find rare traces like “technofossils” - anomalous minerals or unnatural materials like plastiglomerate in the geological record. It is unknown how long such artificial materials will survive in the geological record. If buried in sediments, like plastic fragments on the bottom of the sea, maybe some million years. Eventually, heat, pressure and time will break the molecules apart and erase any direct evidence for humanity's former presence on Earth.

Chemical signatures preserved in sedimentary rocks, caused by the changes in abundance of certain elements, like carbon (resulting from burning fossil fuels), nitrogen (used as fertilizer to feed seven billion people), radioactive or rare earth elements (used in modern technology), may still be detectable after billion of years. However, there are natural processes that may mimic such anomalous concentrations. The famous Oklo-reactor, a two billion years old uranium ore deposit that experienced a slow nuclear fission, was likely not built by an ancient civilization but formed by microbial activity.

Even climate change alone will not be sure evidence of a technologically advanced civilization. In the past, there were geological epochs with higher concentrations of carbon dioxide. For example, 55 million years ago, during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, over some thousands of years a massive flux of greenhouse gases from the ocean into the atmosphere occurred and Earth's global temperature rose by 8°C in response. However, the speed humans are changing the climate is unprecedented in the history of the Earth.

Combining various observations, like the rate of changes preserved in the geological record, the presence of anomalous materials, a spike of certain chemical elements and the extinction of species, future alien geologists visiting Earth may realize that a civilization, technologically advanced enough to influence the entire planet, once existed here. Will they find a thin layer of boundary clay, suggesting a sudden catastrophe ending this civilization? Was it a gradual demise following environmental problems? Or did the civilization survive still for thousands of years by adapting or changing its behavior in time? In the stratigraphic record time can be compressed and even future geologist may not be able to clearly distinguish between a sudden event, lasting just some centuries, or a prolonged era of a hundred thousand years.

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The Geology Of Star Trek: From Extraterrestrial Minerals To Alien Life-Forms

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!

 
As with any good science-fiction, our fascination with Star Trek comes from the combination of real science with fantastic possibilities. When you think of science in the show, disciplines like engineering, astronomy, physics and biology probably spring to mind first. However, the show actually features also a lot of geology.

Halite, better known as common table salt, plays an important role in "The Man Trap," the first episode of Star Trek ever broadcast on September 8, 1966. In this episode a remote outpost on the planet M-113 is infiltrated by a mysterious shape-shifting creature that requires salt to survive, by any means necessary.

More than 125 minerals are mentioned in the Star Trek universe. However, only 23 are real terrestrial minerals and only one mineral, olivine, has been found in extraterrestrial rocks. Curiously quartz, one of the most common minerals on Earth, is almost never mentioned. Perhaps because quartz is often used as a prop for "dilithium crystals." In the Star Trek universe. Dilithium is not only a rare and valued gemstone, known also as "radan", but it is used is in the show's matter-antimatter reactors, standard equipment on board of every spaceship. As its (supposedly) cubic crystal structure can somehow control the flow of antimatter (mentioned in the TOS episode “Elaan of Troyius"), it is needed to provide energy for the faster-than-light-travel warp drive.

Sulfur, saltpeter and carbon, in two crystalline modifications, as coal and as diamond, saved Captain Kirk's life in the episode "Arena". Kirk, transported to a desolate planetoid,  is forced into a battle against the reptile-like Gorn, which is protected by an almost indestructible armored skin. Using the sulfur, saltpeter and coal to make gunpowder and pointy diamond-crystals (here the writers made quite a mineralogical blooper, as such a crystal-shape is not to be found in real diamonds) as high-impact projectiles, he finally puts down his adversary.

This blog will explore the use of minerals and rocks in Star Trek - The Original Series, Star Trek - The Next Generation and Voyager, featuring geological reviews of (almost) every episode. There will be also posts dedicated to the real (exo-)geology behind the visited fictional planets and special reviews for the movies. Maybe in future times also other movies or franchise will be included. Stay tuned and if you enjoy this project, comment or may you even leave a tip.

Thanks,

David Bressan.