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Not an expert here, but after a billion years, what would be the detectable residues of such civilization could realistically be detected? I mean everything ma

by vfc1 7y ago

Not an expert here, but after a billion years, what would be the detectable residues of such civilization could realistically be detected? I mean everything made of organic material would be gone, and all constructions would have been turned to dust. Not saying that there was anything ever in Mars or Venus in terms of intelligent life, but non-intelligent life what traces would it leave?

TheGallopedHigh 7y ago
Likely radioactive substances that were once in large amounts with long half-lives
- vfc1 7y ago
  For example, we are now moving away from nuclear due to the dangers associated, so we only have it for less than 100 hundred years. The half-life of uranium is 4.5 billion years. Let's say civilization of earth is wiped out and someone visits the planet a billion years from now. Could they tell that there was something here just by the levels of uranium, assuming that say we only used it for 200 years before moving fully to clean energy?
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    A billion years is a long time. But if they came in a million, they probably could - if not from radioisotopes, then just from observing that the surface layer composition of metals doesn't fit any reasonable geological model. We dug up a lot of stuff, and while this initially concentrates them, as our works decay, they get dispersed into the environment, and I doubt a million years is enough for them to reintegrate back into the crust.
- raducu 7y ago
  But wouldn't those substances be buried deep in the soil 1 billion years later? Or in the case of Earth with all the plate tectonics, entire plates could be already inside Earth's mantle.
simonh 7y ago
>all constructions would have been turned to dust I don't think that's true. There are detailed structured fossils and strata on Earth that are billions of years old, and our planet is geologically active with much more weather erosion.
- vfc1 7y ago
  > There are detailed structured fossils and strata on Earth that are billions of years old Yes but that is not detectable from space, right? Also in Mars for example, without excavating specifically for fossils which I think hasn't been done yet, is there a way like certain geological structures that would remain intact after a billion years that would indicate life?
97b683f8 7y ago
steroids

by vfc1 7y ago

TheGallopedHigh 7y ago

Likely radioactive substances that were once in large amounts with long half-lives

vfc1 7y ago
For example, we are now moving away from nuclear due to the dangers associated, so we only have it for less than 100 hundred years. The half-life of uranium is 4.5 billion years. Let's say civilization of earth is wiped out and someone visits the planet a billion years from now. Could they tell that there was something here just by the levels of uranium, assuming that say we only used it for 200 years before moving fully to clean energy?
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  A billion years is a long time. But if they came in a million, they probably could - if not from radioisotopes, then just from observing that the surface layer composition of metals doesn't fit any reasonable geological model. We dug up a lot of stuff, and while this initially concentrates them, as our works decay, they get dispersed into the environment, and I doubt a million years is enough for them to reintegrate back into the crust.
raducu 7y ago
But wouldn't those substances be buried deep in the soil 1 billion years later? Or in the case of Earth with all the plate tectonics, entire plates could be already inside Earth's mantle.

simonh 7y ago

>all constructions would have been turned to dust I don't think that's true. There are detailed structured fossils and strata on Earth that are billions of years old, and our planet is geologically active with much more weather erosion.

vfc1 7y ago
> There are detailed structured fossils and strata on Earth that are billions of years old Yes but that is not detectable from space, right? Also in Mars for example, without excavating specifically for fossils which I think hasn't been done yet, is there a way like certain geological structures that would remain intact after a billion years that would indicate life?

97b683f8 7y ago

steroids