Geometry of an Intense Auroral Column As Recorded in Rock Art

In 2003, Peratt demonstrated that rock art images worldwide bear a remarkable similarity to high-energy plasma discharge formations. In later papers, Peratt located the plasma discharge column in which all of these would have occurred at the Earth’s South Pole. This article accepts the relation betw...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marinus van der Sluijs, Robert J. Johnson
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SSE 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/ec0ba82367a048ef9d51a0c312618068
Description
Summary:In 2003, Peratt demonstrated that rock art images worldwide bear a remarkable similarity to high-energy plasma discharge formations. In later papers, Peratt located the plasma discharge column in which all of these would have occurred at the Earth’s South Pole. This article accepts the relation between the rock art images and the plasma formations, but concludes that the geometry of the reconstruction is incompatible with the global occurrence of the rock art images. As a corollary, the finer details of the reconstructed column must also be called into question. In particular, the reconstruction of the top cusp, the two upper plasmoids, and the filamentary sheath in a single column at the South Pole cannot be reliably deduced from the data as presented by Peratt. All evidence points to a worldwide distribution of the phenomena.