Homo sapiens.

Whenever the plate wants to release the stress, the surrounding geomagnetic field will undergo a significant mutation.

The Homo sapien company has very dense magnetic field radars in Southeast Asia, and has also established a very comprehensive shallow surface magnetic field database. As long as there is a slight disturbance in the magnetic field, the magnetic field radar can detect anomalies.

It is based on this strict magnetic field monitoring that the Ministry of Geology successfully predicted 273 earthquakes and 3 volcanic eruptions in Southeast Asia, among which the accuracy rate of earthquake prediction was 86.4%, and the accuracy rate of volcanic eruption prediction was 100%.

This accuracy rate is already very high, and it is not detected within a few minutes before the outbreak, but can be detected several days in advance.

The geomagnetic mutation caused by plate stress does not suddenly change suddenly, but has some precursors, and then reaches the peak at a certain moment.

In fact, this detection method is that the researchers of Homo sapiens have borrowed the magnetic field sensing ability of animals, especially birds.

Many people will find that before the earthquake, there are often large-scale phenomena such as pigeons getting lost, livestock panicking, and mice moving.

This is actually because animals perceive sudden changes in the surrounding geomagnetic field, especially birds that rely on geomagnetic navigation, and will fly around because of this.

In the past, humans had no way of detecting such subtle mutations in the geomagnetic field, and it was difficult to make accurate judgments based on the behavior of animals.

However, Homo sapiens who developed the magnetic field radar can detect the abnormal changes of the earth's magnetic field through such subtle changes in the magnetic field, coupled with supercomputer analysis.

After accumulating a large amount of seismic data, the Ministry of Geology finally established a complete set of earthquake prediction system.

Southeast Asia has basically been able to avoid sudden earthquakes, especially sudden large earthquakes.

Because the precursor of a sudden large earthquake's magnetic field mutation is too obvious, on the contrary, those earthquakes below magnitude 5 are easily affected by other factors, resulting in misjudgment.

This earth model project is to extend the successful experience of Southeast Asia to the global scale.

However, the magnetic field radar is one of the core secrets of Homo Sapiens. It was because of the accuracy and concealment of the magnetic field radar that Homo Sapien was able to overwhelm America.

Therefore, there is definitely no way to deploy magnetic field radars all over the world. We can only rely on magnetic field radars in low-Earth orbit and high-altitude airships to build a rough earth model.

Of course, the branches and subsidiaries of Homo sapiens in various places must be very accurate. In addition, areas close to Homo sapiens, such as central Africa, can also establish a relatively complete earthquake and volcano monitoring system.

On the contrary, the great powers who are strictly guarding against Homo sapiens can only monitor a rough idea.

The Geological Business Department didn't have the idea of ​​putting on a hot face and a cold ass. After all, the other party did not allow Homo sapiens' airship to enter the country. Could it be the so-called "big love" that actively announced the magnetic field radar technology, or sold the equipment to the other party?

Obviously Homo sapiens is not that stupid, and the management will not be overwhelmed with sympathy.

Of course, the earth model project is not only for detecting earthquakes and volcanoes, but also for other purposes.

The magnetic point analysis technology that Brown is responsible for research is to improve the accuracy of magnetic field analysis, and realize the all-round analysis of the crust, mantle and core through cross-monitoring of magnetic field radars in all directions.

What is the use of this technique?

This is why Weng Xuehai, a geologist and mineralogist, appeared here. Through this technology, various underground resources can be accurately locked, reducing the difficulty of field drilling and prospecting.

In addition, through the precise detection of the composition and structure of the formation, plate movement, fault structure, formation stress, magma chamber pressure, groundwater network, etc. can also be analyzed.

So that humans can study geological activities more intuitively.

Brown, Weng Xuehai and others came to the Suez branch to study a special geological structure around the Suez branch—the Nubian aquifer.

The Nubian Aquifer is located in the northeastern part of the Sahara Desert, covering an area of ​​about 200 million square kilometers. It is located in the shale layer below 500 meters underground and is rich in huge freshwater resources.

It is also the second largest known freshwater reservoir in the world after the Antarctic ice sheet, storing 16 to 35 cubic kilometers of freshwater, which is about 1.3 to 2.9 times the current total human surface water.

However, the exploitation of this groundwater has some unknown risks.

Originally, the geological business department did not notice this problem.

It was not until some time ago that in order to build an aerospace city in the Suez branch, a comprehensive underground survey was carried out on the local Khalij oasis area, and more than 40 magnetic field radars were arranged around it, and some problems were discovered.

The Kharja oasis had previously been pumping groundwater from the Nubian aquifer.

Numidia, next door, has formulated a large artificial river plan since the 80s to draw a large amount of fresh water from the Nubian aquifer and transport it to the Mediterranean coast.

The water level in the Nubian aquifer is declining year by year after large amounts of groundwater have been pumped away.

Although there is no need to worry about land subsidence in desert areas, the large-scale reduction of groundwater will cause another problem, that is, changes in stratum stress, which will affect the stability of surrounding fault structures.

For example, in the Aztec region, Homo sapiens company's geology department analyzed magnetic field data and found that after a large amount of groundwater was extracted, the already unstable strata would become more unstable and easily induce earthquakes.

A lot of groundwater has been accumulated over tens of thousands of years, or even millions of long years.

Since modern times, human activities have been too intense for geological time.

The groundwater in an area may drop by hundreds of meters in just a few decades. This kind of change is as if a person's main artery has been cut open, and the earth's crust cannot be relieved all at once.

The mining of the Nubian aquifer in North Africa has immediately attracted the attention of the Geology Division.

Although the extraction of groundwater has not been stopped, some of it has been replaced by desalination technology, and the amount of local groundwater extraction has gradually been reduced.

Chapter 4: Bad News and Good News

Weng Xuehai and others rested overnight in the staff hotel.

Early the next morning, a group of people came to the Geological Institute in Gobi City.

This geological institute is in charge of the geological exploration work at the location of the Upper Suez branch, and the research equipment is relatively complete.

Brown, Weng Xuehai and others did not drag their feet, and quickly started scientific research.

Brown, who was busy updating the magnetic field data analysis system, pressed the confirmation button, and the system completed the update: "The analysis system has been updated, and we can start analyzing the data."

"En!" Weng Xuehai nodded, and he began to import the magnetic field data of the Upper Suez area for nearly 200 days.

As the data was imported, above the holographic projection equipment on one side, a miniature holographic geological structure model of the Suez area emerged.

Suddenly Weng Xuehai's eyes narrowed and he looked towards the south side of the junction between Suez and Numidia.

"This is... the orogenic mountain left by the hotspot remains..." He looked at the location on the map and found that it was on the Great Gillev Plateau.

"Have you found anything?"

"There is a hot spot relic, which should be the hot spot volcano in the north of Chad, left over from ancient times."

Brown also came over and carefully observed the holographic model. He looked at it for a while, then picked up the tablet computer, and flipped through the five cratons and fault zones in Africa.

"You also found the problem." Weng Xuehai asked.

Brown's expression became serious: "The activity of the super mantle plume in Africa has increased." He turned his head and said: "Yingmu, please call up the historical monitoring data of the African region from the magnetic field satellite, and then import it into the analysis system."

Haruta Hideki replied, "OK."

After a while, the historical magnetic field data of the African region is imported.

Although it is not as precise as ground magnetic field radar, it can still resolve some situations in general.

After reading the analysis results, Brown's face became more serious:

"The hotspot north of Chad has seen a 7% increase in volcanic activity in seven months, and the underlying magma chamber has intruded about 2.4 kilometers north."

"What do you think?" Weng Xuehai doesn't really study volcanoes and mantle plumes.

Hideki Haruta, who is on the side, studies volcanoes and mantle plumes. He explained with some concern:

"This intrusion is most likely due to changes in the crust in the northern region, resulting in a reduction in mass pressure, allowing that magma chamber in Chad to push the high-pressure magma through."

"North of Chad?" Weng Xuehai looked at the map and found that the northern part of Chad is the southern part of Numidia, and it is also the pumping area of ​​the Numidia Great Artificial River Project.

Haruta Hideki continued: "To use a metaphor, the current situation is like a tire filled with high-pressure gas. Part of the rubber on the surface of the tire has become thinner, which will cause bulges or even a direct blowout."

Everyone reacted immediately, and their faces turned pale.

Especially when thinking of the sudden eruption of the super mantle plume below, the picture is simply devastating.

In the geological history of the earth, there have been large-scale mantle plume eruptions, such as the Siberian Traps event.

Compared with the relatively stable South Pacific super plume, the African super plume is not stable.

However, once the Nubian aquifer is developed in a short period of time, the formation pressure in this area will inevitably drop suddenly, and the high-pressure magma of the mantle plume hidden underground is very likely to invade the surrounding area along the magma chamber of the hot spot volcano. Trigger large-scale geological activities.

You must know that exploiting groundwater is somewhat different from exploiting oil.

In oil fields where oil is exploited, except for a few high-pressure self-flowing wells, other oil wells need to inject fresh water to raise the underground liquid level of oil.

Moreover, the amount of oil extracted will certainly not reach the level of tens of billions of cubic meters a year.

However, Numidia, Suez and other places extract tens of billions of cubic meters of fresh water from the Nubian aquifer every year.

In other areas, over-exploitation of groundwater will at most cause land subsidence, and in severe cases, earthquakes will be induced.

But the African region is different. Below Africa is one of the two super mantle plumes in the world, and it is still an unstable super mantle plume.

If a large eruption of mantle plume magma is triggered, the consequences will be disastrous.

Brown entered a data, based on the extraction of 480 billion cubic meters of groundwater this year, plus an annual growth rate of about 5%, and began to simulate the scale of mass loss of the Nubian aquifer and the rate of decline in its internal pressure.

The supercomputer simulated for more than ten minutes, and finally came to a conclusion, that is, about 37 to 52 years later, a large-scale magma eruption will erupt in northern Africa.

The scale of its eruption can reach about one-third of the Yellowstone volcano.

If the groundwater extraction scale of the Nubian aquifer is calculated at an annual growth rate of 10% or 20%, the volcanic eruption time may be faster.

Weng Xuehai smiled bitterly: "Humans are indeed better at destroying themselves."

"In any case, we must find a way to solve this problem." Brown said seriously.

After discussing for a while, everyone decided to jointly report the matter, so that the company's headquarters can find a way to enter Numidia as soon as possible. It is best to establish a full-power branch in Numidia, thereby reducing the scale of local groundwater mining.

After writing the emergency report, they were not too worried. After all, even if there is a super plume eruption, there is still no way to wipe out the Homo sapiens company, not to mention that it will take decades of accumulation.

They went on to study the magnetic field data of the earth in Suez and the surrounding area.

In particular, the hotspot volcanic remains discovered by Weng Xuehai in the Great Gillev Plateau just now have become the focus of research.

Such volcanic remains often have many rare metals and precious metal minerals.

Through careful analysis of the stratum magnetic field in this area, Weng Xuehai did discover many mineral veins hidden deep underground.

Although this is only a conjecture and further field investigation is needed, Weng Xuehai is still very sure about these veins.

The underground veins of the Grand Gillev Plateau are all intrusive magmatic rock veins, mainly composed of aluminum, iron, copper, gold and rare earths, and some sulfur and arsenic minerals are also mixed.

However, considering that the area around Suez is close to the African super plume, he is more inclined to a conservative reserve plan in terms of mining.

In addition, the Ministry of Geology is also organizing personnel to continue to analyze the magnetic field data from all over the world, hoping to find some veins of precious metals and rare metals that are suitable for mining and have relatively high reserves.

After all, with the application of electrothermal materials and low-temperature superconductors, Homo sapiens' demand for gold, silver and rare metals will also become larger and larger.

Finding new ore veins has become an important task at present.

With the research data of Weng Xuehai and others in Suez, the efficiency of geological exploration has been greatly improved.

The Geological Business Department is in full swing to find ore.

The joint report by Weng Xuehai, Brown and others was conveyed layer by layer, and finally came to Li Qingye.

After reading the report, he also felt that he could not let it go.

After weighing the pros and cons, Li Qingye asked the Field Service Division and the External Security Division to prepare relevant plans. In the next two to three years, a number of fully authorized branches will be established in the areas around the Nubian water.

With his orders issued, various Homo sapiens forces in North Africa became active.

Before I knew it, more than a month had passed.

Came to September 11th.

Li Qingye left the temporary residence on the Shan Plateau and went to Johor State in Xingdao.

Just when he arrived in Kampung City, Johor, Bagheera reported a piece of good news to him.

Chapter 421 Good News

11 month 24 day.

The Antarctic research airship transformed from the Sperm Whale 003 transport airship flew from Madagascar to Antarctica.

Weng Xuehai, who was transferred from the Suez branch, and Cain Francis, the head of the scientific expedition team, were on the scientific research airship.

Look at the data on the holographic map.

Weng Xuehai raised his head: "Kain, head 27 kilometers southeast and you will arrive at your destination."

"OK, doctor!" Kain picked up the walkie-talkie: "Proceed 27 kilometers southeast and pay attention to strong winds."

In fact, it is summer in the southern hemisphere, which is a good time for the annual Antarctic expedition.

On the other hand, Weng Xuehai and several researchers from the Department of Geology focused their attention on the earth model. Through the high-power magnetic field radar and supercomputer carried by the airship, they already had a preliminary understanding of the nearby stratum structure and stratum composition.

The location of the airship at this time is in Wilkes Land, Antarctica.

The specific coordinates are probably in the area of ​​80 degrees south latitude and 120 degrees east longitude.