Nanocycles method

Nanocycles Method is the English translation of a book published in Russian by Professor of Geology S Afanasiev of Moscow University in 1991, ISBN 5-7045-0109-0.

[Note: this interpretation by Ray Tomes who cannot read Russian but understands the principles involved].

The Nanocycles method is claimed to be an extremely accurate means of dating geological deposits and appears to be unknown in the west as of 2004. A geological cycle reported as "about 600 million years" by western geologists (in Megacycles edited by G Williams) is determined as 586,238,500 years by the Afanasiev's method.

The method depends on identifying the periods of multiple cycles in the annual deposits. The cycles periods found are then looked up in a table which makes up 89 of the 215 pages in the book and lists the cycle periods to be found at 200,000 year intervals for the last 600 million years.

The periods are based on progression of the lunar orbital node which at present has a cycle of 18.6 years, although the cycle caused by this in the rainfall and therefore the geological deposit cycle are both 9.3 years. This 9.3 year cycle further interacts with the normal annual cycle to produce a 31 year cycle (9.3 / 0.3) because that is how often the cycle comes into the same phase with the seasons, clearly an important factor. Professor Afanasiev also lists up to an additional 7 longer cycles due to further interactions with the seasons.

Because the lunar nodal cycle period has changed from 9.147 years to 9.298 years in the last 1.0 million years, the secondary cycle has varied from 62.12 years to 31.21 years. If this cycle can be measured in a deposit to an accuracy of 1 year then it allows the dating of the deposit to an accuracy of +/- 30,000 years.