boreal mysteries

January 17, 2016 11:30 AM

In the boreal forests of northern Ontario, aerial photography revealed groups of 'rings' of stunted tree growth. The Ontario Geological Society[PDF] conducted research and found the rings are from 'reduced chimneys' forming enormous electrochemical cells.
posted by the man of twists and turns (18 comments total)

Or, of course, you could reverse this: design for future landscape-architectural effects by formatting the deep soil of a given site, thus catalyzing subterranean electrochemical activity that, years if not generations later, would begin to have aesthetic effects.

Yesssss! At least a way forward for my long-held dreams of writing rude words across vast swaths of Canadian forest to annoy the people of the future!
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:08 PM on January 17, 2016 [14 favorites]

The other week it was ants.

...so we can still hold out hope for alien next week.
posted by Artw at 12:47 PM on January 17, 2016

Or, of course, you could reverse this: design for future landscape-architectural effects by formatting the deep soil of a given site, thus catalyzing subterranean electrochemical activity that, years if not generations later, would begin to have aesthetic effects.

Or maybe someone already did that and we are just seeing their designs.

Just kidding though that would be an awesome X-files episdoe, but this is really cool.
posted by melissam at 1:04 PM on January 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

...so we can still hold out hope for alien next week.

Enough with the X-Files reboot promotion already!!!
posted by fairmettle at 1:05 PM on January 17, 2016

So we're living in a... battery?
posted by sneebler at 1:20 PM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Spontaneous potential anomalies -- basically, natural voltages -- can arise under certain conditions, such as when an electrically conductive ore body bridges oxidizing and reducing areas. SP's occasionally used as a mineral exploration technique, so there may be some mining types interested in this phenomenon.
posted by irrelephant at 1:39 PM on January 17, 2016

SP is still used for wireline oil and gas well logging. Not possible with the more modern MWD/LWD technologies, though.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:49 PM on January 17, 2016

Wow, that is super cool.
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:12 PM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ohm Canada
posted by hal9k at 2:57 PM on January 17, 2016 [15 favorites]

These things are too circular for me to find the electrochemical explanations convincing.

If you've got an anode and a cathode, the current and any reaction products will be concentrated along the shortest paths between them, not spread out in near-perfect circles. Even if there were to be an evenly spaced interpenetrating array of anodes and cathodes, I'd expect hexagons rather than circles.

Since the water table is supposedly highest at the centers and drops sharply at the circumferences, maybe we could be looking at Liesegang rings.
posted by jamjam at 4:31 PM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

I was guessing a point charge would push toxic metal ions away until the charge was weak enough to stop. The highest concentrations of ions and sickest trees would appear at the edges of the circle. I doubt the low charge itself is enough to stunt tree growth, but it may be strong enough to push toxic metal ions through clay.
posted by benzenedream at 4:45 PM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

The geology and biomes are SO complex in that area. Long ago I was in a plane about 2000 feet above NW Ontario, just N of the border. I still recall seeing, looking north, a seemingly-endless matrix of lakes separated by strips of land.

I know from experience on the ground that, in some places, much of the 'land' is largely bedrock, thinly or thickly covered with organic material, with many conifers. In other places, the 'land' seems to be accumulations of organic material held together by deciduous roots. Many lakeshores are lined with accumulations of dark boulders weighing up to many tons ... how'd they get that way?

It's so complex (and frozen solid winters, and populated mainly by insects) that I can understand why the mysteries remain. Just as the land around the Tunguska blast, it takes a hardy type of scientist indeed to spend any time there. But for those who appreciate true wilderness, the rewards are also great. In summer there are canoes plying the waters now and then.
posted by Twang at 5:03 PM on January 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

are lined with accumulations of dark boulders weighing up to many tons ... how'd they get that way?

Glaciers receding.
posted by OwlBoy at 5:26 PM on January 17, 2016 [3 favorites]

Sometime, if you're bored enough, look up microphone pickup patterns. Also based upon electrostatic charge.

They're all figure-eights.

On Google Maps, in remotest Quebec, well. I told you there's something there worth looking at. It may just actually be a ring of some kind. Go find it. Read the really weak explanations for it. Your computer is being powered by it right now, if you live in Quebec. Rhode Island is undergoing a hate-frenzy trying to decide if we need more natural gas power-plants in-state, or import more electricity wholesale from where that ring is.

So, yeah. Science may not be available as your personal *bad word* tonight.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:39 PM on January 17, 2016

Made me think of the swastika forest
posted by Iax at 8:57 PM on January 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is cool.
posted by srboisvert at 9:02 PM on January 17, 2016

Deliciously mysterious.
posted by Oyéah at 9:29 AM on January 18, 2016

A big comet hit Sudbury, Ontario 1.8 billion years ago. Maybe some of the solids from the fireball comet made a string of smaller impact craters, that filled up, in the wet environment of that area, leaving these phenomena to act as described. The perfect circles can't be random.
posted by Oyéah at 9:39 AM on January 18, 2016