The University of What It Is

Earth Sciences Department

[weird-science-department]

Sorry I wasn’t posting in a while, sometimes you just get your computer blocked because of a reason

((OOC: I actually got so busy with irl science I had no time for writing, hopefully I will be back here soon))

[weird-science-department]

Radon Canyon - further explanation and hypothesis on Night Vale’s geology (Part 3)

Okay, so maybe you remember that back then I was trying to explain the lights and sounds coming from Radon Canyon. No? Then here are the links that you can be interested in:

First

Second.

As I was studying for my exam I found out some things that I may use now for that little hypothesis. So let’s strat.

You know, there is something like natural radioactive decay of rocks - it is natural for some rocks to contain radioactive isotopes od K, Th, and U. This is something pretty usual. These may be the source of radon gas but it is not really the point - we already said that. Though it also tells us something about geology of Night Vale: like the fact that the rocks that may be the source of radon may be: granitoids, shales, phosphorite rocks or metamorphic rocks.

But that’s something more specific about Canyon’s mineralogy and basic geology I guess.

Let’s move to seismic things because, oh boy, these is the discovery here, I guess.

Picture: Concentration of radon before an earthquake, source.

What you can get from the picture is the fact that the emission of radon gas increases right before an earthquake... I also would say that the amount of radon released into the environment is connected to such things as faults, slides, and changes in a rock mass (these may be influenced by tensions, stresses, shears, strains). 

Of course the emission of radon gas also depends on porosity of a rock mass.

Though some time ago I was writing about how there are seismic storms in Night Vale, and how the rock mass is probably cracked here.

What does it say about radon emission? That it may be greater than in other places if environment is full of cracks. Also, thinking about seismic activity of Night Vale we can assume that before quakes of greater magnitude the radon emission may be increased - perhaps it is happening often.

I also found some correlation with electromagnetic field’s behavior and earthquakes but it doesn’t fit the model (at least I think so)... It looks like in some cases the electromagnetic field can even drop to 0, and such phenomenon - at least once - was followed by magnetic storm. Nonetheless, the electromagnetic field must be pretty strong to make radon glow. Before it drops to zero after the earthquake it increased though. So... What kind of strong earthquakes must Night Vale has for it to happen? I don’t know.

I’ll keep you updated on my ideas as I write them down.

[weird-science-department]

Discord server

OOC post:

https://discord.gg/dJkQSfp - Okay, so I decided to create discord server for my followers. You can join if you want tp hang out, or just meet new weird people here <3 

[weird-science-department]

Concept: there is NO phantom ocean (I’ll explain later)

[weird-science-department]

thank you for sciencing the shit out of night vale! i love the analyses of the different weird things happening in night vale, and the science is just awesome. thank you!!!

((Welcome! I really like science and geophysics is something I’m totally devoted to, and when I am able to do so, I apply it to fiction for fun, it takes me a while to collect enough information and I may be wrong about lots of things, though it is still nice to do so, and I am glad you enjoy the effort and heart I put in my headcanons 💜))

[weird-science-department]

Update on Phantom Ocean Hypothesis

“Mountains, real or not, ring this desert like a rim of an empty dinner plate. Scattered sparsely along the flat middle are small towns with names like Red Mesa, Pine Cliff, and, right in the center, Night Vale.” - It Devours by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

You probably remember my first post on Phantom Ocean Theory? If you have not read it yet, click here, to make it easier to grasp the point of that post. I posted it a while ago so you need to forgive me if I can’t remember my hypothesis correctly.

Back then I did not know about the fact that there are more mountains than the one we know about in that “flat” desert. But yet, I found out there were more of them. What is my conclusion?

Hypothesis: the desert is actually at the bottom of the ocean and there is a hot spot at that bottom. Let’s look closer at this thing:

What are hot spots? You can encounter them on continental and oceanic plates. But we will look at those that are situated at the bottom of the ocean, since we already stated a thesis, that Night Vale is some kind of lost Atlantis. We talked about MOHO depth under the town and we also talked about the possible volcanic activity that could cause the weird noises in Radon Canyon, heard by citizens. We also talked about the earthquakes that could be somehow connected to volcanic activity.

So here we meet again - at the bottom of the phantom ocean - putting all the puzzle together.

Back to the topic: hot spots.

Picture: A chain of mountains created during tectonic plate movement, with a volcano. Source: britannica.com

Volcanic activity is typical for places where the crust is cracked and where lava can get out to the surface. Volcanism is also characteristic for places where there are hot spots through which the magma can find its way out. The hot spot does not move itself. It uplifts the crust and when the tectonic plate moves it creates a chain of mountains.

Another conclusion is: the Earth crust under the City of Night Vale is young because the oceanic crust is young in general.

And another option: when it comes to places where we have some kind of rifts at the bottom of the ocean. Next interesting thing is linear magnetic anomalies in such a rift zone. How do they even become a thing, and what they are?

Here is the explanation. The magnetic field of Earth isn’t constant. And when the lava gets out of the rift it is magnetized the way the magnetic field behaves above the crust. So here can be small anomalies and different magnetic field, saved in rocks and stones of Night Vale.

Other thing that confuses me at the moment is what kind of rocks coming into being in such environment? Because they will be different for the rift zone, and different for the volcanic island (mountains) created by hot spot. I will update you on the rock composition as soon as I find time to do further research on that. Though I will need to try to find connection between the rocks created the correct way and the rock composition of Radon Canyon. Stay tuned for an update!

Picture: the whole process of creating of oceanic crust and hot spot made chain of mountains. Also subduction process - oceanic plate goes under the continental plate. Here we have another orogenesis. Source: britannica.com

[weird-science-department]

OOC: finally did that! I solved the problem we had with our geophone. Temporary, though it works!

[weird-science-department]

Lights and mysterious sounds of Radon Canyon (part 2) - Weird electromagnetic field?

Some time ago I was posting my ideas about how there was no Pink Floyd concert in Radon Canyon. (If you did not read it go here to catch up and to fully understand what I am trying to explain in this post.) Now get ready for an update:

Last time I was writing about geological structures of Radon Canyon, its mineralogical composition, and explanation of sounds the citizens of Night Vale were able to hear from there. I also was talking about the lights. But I think I missed something.

What we know about radon in general? Radon is one of the noble gases - it is also radioactive. What else we know about it is the fact that it usually accompanies deposits of uranium or thorium ores (because it is the product of the uranium’s and radium’s decay). So yes, I can be right about geological composition of rocks in Radon Canyon. Hurray!

But the rocks may not be what is glowing in there. Radon has a physical property called “radioluminescence” - it means that it glows under right conditions. In lower temperatures it can glow with green color or when the temperature lowers it can glow with bright orange color. Though we need to remember that we are in the middle of the desert, where it is hot. Radioluminescence is also a property of materials glowing under influence of ionizing radiation. We already know that there is such a thing here.

What else about that: we know that clear radium glows in blue color and its radioactivity can be a reason of radioluminescence for some materials. But, but but... It is not the only possible way to make the radon glow...

(Radioluminescence shown at the pic, source: Wikipedia, of course!)

I would not be there, writing an update on Radon Canyon if not my friend (Henear K.R. Xernog) who I was talking to today and who reminded me about very important thing: noble gases glow in strong electromagnetic field.

So here we are again: Radon is the noble gas.

Next hypothesis that might be true for the area of Night Vale is the fact that there may be something interesting about the electromagnetic field in this region. I do not know anything else yet. Maybe I should look for the answer if there is such a possibility in later episodes then first ones. But at this point we can leave that problem unsolved so we can have something to think about.

I do not think I explained much but more on it when the hypothesis develops!

[weird-science-department]

Lights and mysterious sounds of Radon Canyon

I am going to be honest with you, the title will not fully explain the phenomenon but I will do my best. 

First thing is we need to acknowledge the fact that the desert is not that flat. If we have a canyon in Night Vale it means there once must have been a river. A river of what? Probably water but in fact we will never know, since it is Night Vale. Knowing that there is a structure like Radon Canyon, and (at least) one mountain we already can say that the desert is not that flat as described by Cecil. How the canyon was created? I don’t know yet. To be honest I have not thought about it much because today we are going to talk about the composition of rocks in Night Vale’s ground, not about the geological history of the canyon. I know - geology is prohibited in the City of Night Vale - but no fear of SSP or City Council can’t stop me from posting that. Sorry not sorry.

Back to the topic: Remember the doors that were once removed from the Radon Canyon? The one with the warning saying “DANGER: PLUTONIUM. DO NOT OPEN DOOR. RISK OF DEATH.”? The one that City Council voted to be deleted because of making the awful sci-fi impression? Yes, Exactly! I was thinking about it for a longer while.

It is not a secret that the name of canyon itself has something to do with radioactivity but I am a little concerned about the fact that plutonium itself does not really appears in nature. Okay, it does but it happens rarely.

It made me think about two possible options of how the plutonium warning sign was placed at the door.

1. We all know pretty well that geological education in Night Vale is poor. They could mistake plutonium with plutonic rocks - which in fact has nothing really to do with plutonium. Plutonic rocks are slowly crystallizing from magma under the surface of the Earth. The name of these rocks has its origin in plutonism (basically volcanism). Makes sense right? Pluton (or plutonic rocks) are for example granite, quartz diorite, or monzonite. So you see? Nothing really special.

2. We had uranium mine here. It could lead to creating secondary but still radioactive minerals and rocks such as uraninite or autunite. But first let me explain some stuff to you. In deposits of uranium there may be trace amounts of plutonium. But it is not much. Like really. According to the name of the canyon we can think about the whole process. During its decay, uranium produces radium, and during radium’s decay radon is being produced. So here we have the reason of the Radon Canyon’s name. It still doesn’t mean that there are no plutonic rocks here, hey! But what a hypothesis is: there is great amount of uranium secondary minerals in Radon Canyon, and those are the source of radon.

(3. Here I will talk only about plutonium. If there was nuclear explosion in Night Vale or neighbor town, which we assume happened - according to the story told by Huntokar - huge amount of plutonium might get into the atmosphere and then settle into Night Vale’s soils. Bounding processes are fast in such situation, we would have soil with bigger amount of plutonium but still it would be all around, not only in Radon Canyon area.)

okay, we talked about the door, now get ready for explanation of the lights:

It is not a secret that some radioactive minerals glow. Geology is not really the kind of science I know that well but I am giving myself a try to learn. I have no idea which minerals glows by themselves in visible light though. I can only say that autunite is glowing in UV - I had an opportunity to see it at my friend’s. So all I can say about the lights in Radon Canyon is the fact that there may be glowing minerals. In which light? I have no idea?

Picture: Autunite glowing in UV light (source: someone (midnightminerals) was selling it on eBay)

Mysterious sounds:

Have you read my post about Moho depth below Night Vale? If yes, you are familiar with such a term as “seismic storm”. For those who had no opportunity to read it you can find it here. But also I will shortly explain what seismic storms are in this post. They happen when the environment of the earthquake is really cracked. These are series of shooks not just fore- and after-shooks. Not just one. A series.

So knowing about seismic activity in Night Vale (and yes, it was given to us in first episode of the podcast) we know that Night Vale is haunted by earthquakes (which are not visible). But have you ever heard the ground rumbling during the earthquake? (I did not, so I asked youtube for the sound).

Go here to listen to the potential sounds we can hear from Radon Canyon. 

Here are my assumptions:

So my hypothesis on that is - mysterious sounds are caused by constant seismic or even plutonic activity in Night Vale. The door were removed and they may had lead to old uranium mine or something. The decay of uranium caused big production of radon gases and also let out all what was collected in the old mine shaft. I do not really know if the Radon Canyon’s door were a part of the fence or just door in a canyon’s “wall”.

The lights are caused by radioactive minerals (where’s the UV source to make them glow though, no idea?)

Ps.: We do not need to listen to the City Council. I do not think that Pink Floyd’s show is the good explanation of things happening in Radon Canyon.

[weird-science-department]

The harder the field of science, the less “serious” scientists do it

[weird-science-department]

Phantom Ocean in Night Vale?

(at the beginning - I did not read “It Devours” and I might have missed some information)

Okay, but how do you even get such an idea - that there might be a phantom ocean in the town? Like, speaking from the point of view of science? And yes, I know, that applying real science here is hard and probably pointless but let’s give it a try.

What we know about Night Vale’s seismic activity is that there are probably some kind of shallow seismic storms. It shows that the environment must have been already cracked before. I do not know much about the scale of the earthquakes happening under Night Valian ground but the scientists’ reports suggest that it is something you should be able to experience or notice being in the town, but the point is you do not. They also said that the ground should be going up and down, so yes, magnitude of these earthquakes is presumable pretty high.

But why do I even bother to explain seismic activity of fictional town when the point is the ocean? Well. Here we go - we are going to apply seismology to find out if there is a possibility Night Vale is situated at the bottom of the phantom one. 

I know, I know, it is not the map of the town or anything close to that but I want you to take a look at that picture and try to understand what I try to explain by putting it in the post:

(it’s from wikipedia if you wanted to know the source of the picture)

It shows something called Mohorovičić discontinuity (we will call it Moho because it is scientific shortcut from the full name). Moho is the boundary between the Earth’s crust and its mantle. I will not bore you with further details but from the map you can read that the Moho discontinuity is on different depths, and - what is pretty important here - the Moho discontinuity is shallow at the bottom of oceanic crust while on the continental crust it is located from something like 25 and even up to 80 kilometers (but that happens rarely and only under really big mountains)! While at the bottom of the oceans it is located between 5-8 kilometers underneath the surface of the crust.

There is a difference in speed of seismic wave spreading in the Earth’s crust and mantle. It changes its “nature” when it hits the Moho discontinuity. So I think it is a method to test the thing out. If Night Vale had Moho discontinuity up to 8 kilometers underground, then we have a good reason to think it is located at the bottom of invisible ocean.

Again, I know that applying real science to Night Vale may be pretty pointless but I think it could help. So my hypothesis about Night Vale’s geological location is on the bottom of the ocean - which makes the town basically some kind of lost “Atlantis”. And yes, if the Moho is located up to 8 kilometers underground it is still pretty weird for continental crust (according to the map I posted above).

I would come up with even more ideas like: possible volcanic activity in Night Vale which could be the reason of earthquakes. Or maybe some kind of “oceanic hot spot” (yes, I look at the mountain we have in the town - still, there is only one, and the tectonic plates wander so there should be at least a chain of mountains here... but hey, it is Night Vale - what do I expect here?).

I think it is time for me to finish that post. I probably did not explain anything here. I just made a hypothesis about how deep the Moho is located under City of Night Vale. If you have any questions my ask box is opened. And I will post some more hypothesis on the environmental part of what is going on here. Because this is really interesting for me.

[weird-science-department]

Inauguration

(OOC post)

It was in my head for a longer while now, since I have a lot of fun sitting there and trying to find some scientific explanations for what is going on in the City of Night Vale. Because hey! Why do you even bother with regular science when you do learn it everyday.

It is great exercise for your mind and abstract thinking to try to explain “the unexplainable” and all non-sense happening in fiction. It also can be a lot of fun while you try to do that, and is, for sure, great way to break the routine.

So here I am. Starting my blog dedicated for all Night Vale hypothesis.

You can ask me questions here too. I’ll try to make the most accurate scientific explanation for all your problems (as long as they have something to do with Earth Sciences, and if not, well, I’m gonna ask my friends for help).

I wanted to make this blog some sort of website of University of What it is but we will see how it all turns out. Depends on my posts and your asks.

Nevertheless, I’m opened from that moment.

(Yeah, I’ll do something with the layout of blog later too)