bookrandom Chapter 772 Huh? Did I just turn geology upside down?
Chapter 772 Huh? Did I just turn geology upside down?
"No, you should go to sleep!"
"Hey... I'm not sleepy! Now that the machine is assembled, it's time to test it!" Jiang Xia waved his arms, trying to break free, his eyes still fixed on the newly assembled "Patrol Dragon" signal processor, as excited as a child who had received a new toy.
However, rebuttal is useless, and question-and-answer sessions are even more useless.
After several days of hard work, Jiang Xia, whose face was covered in dark circles, was finally "lifted" by the newly assigned badge warriors, who were both unceremoniously and remarkably steady, and led him to the dormitory area, half-asking and half-helping him.
In particular, a man who identified himself as surnamed Cheng was particularly skilled. He held Jiang Xia's arm firmly with one hand, while his other hand seemingly casually and quickly and precisely massaged several acupoints on the back of Jiang Xia's neck and shoulder blades.
Jiang Xia, who had just been making a ruckus and clamoring to stay up all night, suddenly felt an irresistible wave of drowsiness wash over him. His eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and as soon as his head touched the pillow in his dorm room, his breathing became even and long, and he immediately fell into a deep sleep.
"Sir! When are you going to teach me that move? With your skill, I wouldn't have had to resort to 'hand chop' to kill him." The now-reinvigorated Old Wang looked at Comrade Cheng's display of skill and was filled with envy.
He inadvertently revealed the awful things he had done.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Old Wang knew he was in trouble. Sure enough, the Dragon Tiger Guards' gazes instantly fell on him. The three pairs of eyes were calm and expressionless, yet they made Old Wang feel as if he were being stared at by three tigers eyeing their prey, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
"It seems your understanding of 'protection' is seriously flawed. You need to reinforce that understanding."
In the following period, Old Wang "fully experienced" how the old master's favoritism towards Jiang Xia was specifically manifested. After all, these three were all powerful figures around the old master, and the skill of "love me, love my dog" was maxed out.
I don't know how they raised him, but Jiang Xia was still very curious about Old Wang, whose eyes had become incredibly clear after waking up.
However, Old Wang's changes were ultimately no match for the fun of new toys.
After hastily drinking two bowls of salted vegetable soup and gnawing on a few dark steamed buns, Jiang Xia, refreshed after a good rest, pulled the old geologist and Engineer Chen onto the heavily modified armored vehicle.
After being reprimanded, Old Wang served as the driver, his face solemn, driving with unusually smooth speed, as if afraid of bumping the truckload of "national treasures". Following behind the armored vehicle were the Dragon Tiger Guards and Squad Leader Ru.
The first field test of the "Xun Di Long" system, under the personal guidance of an experienced geologist, took place in a suburban area with a known stable geological structure and confirmed by detailed exploration to be free from mineral interference. The crucial initial calibration and background field measurement were carried out there.
"This is the area." The elderly geologist carefully checked the topographic map and geological structure map, his tone certain. "There are no known mineral deposits underground here, the rock strata are uniform, and the magnetic field background should be pure and stable. It's perfect for geomagnetic benchmark calibration!"
"Received. Do a final check on all unit connections and prepare for power-on warm-up!" Jiang Xia instructed Lao Wang to reduce the vehicle speed and began starting the equipment according to the standard procedure.
"Understood!" Engineer Chen replied, skillfully checking the circuit interfaces. "Main power output voltage is stable! Probe coil impedance matching is normal! All vacuum tube filament brightness is stable! We can begin the polarization process!"
"Alright! Mr. Li, you're in charge of recording the location numbers and approximate terrain. Engineer Chen, keep a close eye on the real-time values and status lights. I'll begin the first round of background field baseline measurements!"
The geological leaders and Engineer Chen happily agreed to Jiang Xia's instructions.
As Jiang Xia pressed the polarization button, a more noticeable buzzing sound rang out, and the red LED light in the polarization mode on the panel lit up.
A few seconds later, the light went out, and the green light flashed indicating readiness.
"Begin the collection!" Jiang Xia ordered.
The numbers on the red LED digital tube in the center of the panel began to jump rapidly, eventually stabilizing around a value with slight fluctuations: "", "", "" (unit: nT).
“Okay, the background magnetic field strength is approximately nT.” Jiang Xia noted down this number. “Professor Li, confirm that the paper tape recording pen baseline is stable.”
"Stable! Baseline confirmed!" Elder Li responded. "Continue at this steady pace, let's see if the baseline values can be maintained!"
Old Wang drove the vehicle at an extremely slow speed along the pre-set survey line. In the back seat, Engineer Chen leaned out of the window carrying an auxiliary probe, trying to keep it as stable as possible.
Old Li stared intently at the paper tape recorder, watching the ink pen draw an almost straight horizontal line on the steadily moving paper tape, with only the occasional extremely slight tremor. At the same time, he marked the edges of the paper tape: "Measurement point 1... Measurement point 2..."
Suddenly, the numbers on the LED panel began to change noticeably, but not abruptly; instead, they decreased steadily and slowly! "..."
"..."
"..."
"Something's wrong!" Old Li shouted immediately.
Old Wang slammed on the brakes, and the armored vehicle came to a stop.
Jiang Xia and Old Li were both staring intently at the LED display.
The value is still slowly decreasing, eventually stabilizing around nT, with a slightly larger fluctuation range than before.
"What's going on? Is there a problem with the machine?" Li Dizhi frowned and looked at Jiang Xia. "This pattern of change doesn't seem like a local anomaly; it seems like the entire geomagnetic field is changing?"
Jiang Xia frowned, a hint of confusion and barely perceptible embarrassment flashing across his face. This kid didn't actually know what this change meant, but anyone who stood in his way of finding the missing gold was an enemy!
"That shouldn't be the case... I just calibrated it. Engineer Chen, check all the connections! Is anything loose?"
Engineer Chen immediately buried himself in the inspection, and Jiang Xia also took the opportunity to use the scanner.
no problem?
Jiangxia began repeatedly turning the instrument on and off to repolarize the data acquisition. However, each reading remained stable at around nT, nearly 60 nT lower than the previous background value.
"Damn it..." Jiang Xia muttered, subconsciously starting to adjust a parameter of the device, namely the reference oscillation frequency (f) built into the probe.
This is the core of the proton magnetometer. The magnetic field strength (B) is strictly proportional to the proton precession frequency (f): B = K * f (K is a constant, approximately 23.4874 nT/Hz).
Jiang Xia fine-tuned the frequency knob, trying to get the LED display value back to the theoretically calculated value.
"Adjust the frequency to... around 2184.5 Hz..." Jiang Xia adjusted while taking out the Red Dragon's Eye. "According to the formula B = 23.4874 x f, the current magnetic field strength should be... approximately nT. The value matches... but it's not right!"
Jiang Xia suddenly looked up: "The relationship between frequency and magnetic field strength hasn't changed, the formula is correct. But the total magnetic field strength itself has decreased! This isn't an instrument malfunction; the Earth's magnetic field has actually changed! Right here where we parked, compared to the area we were in before, there's a large area where the magnetic field has weakened!"
The elderly geologist pulled out his ever-present geology notebook, his brow furrowed, and looked at Jiang Xia again to confirm: "Comrade Jiang, are you 100% sure the machine itself is fine? That the measurements are reliable?"
"Sure!"
“That shouldn’t be happening…” Old Li was even more puzzled. He told Old Wang to turn off the engine and stop the car completely. “I personally led the team to survey this area, and there are absolutely no magnetic mineral bodies underground. What could be causing such a large-scale weakening of the Earth’s magnetic field?”
As he spoke, despite his advanced age, Mr. Li jumped out of the car and took out his "three treasures" from his canvas satchel: a geological compass, a magnifying glass, and a bottle of hydrochloric acid. He then conducted a quick on-site inspection of the surrounding rock outcrops and some soil samples.
After a period of work, he confirmed again: "The rock's magnetism is weak and uniform, and no local geological cause could have been found that could have caused such a significant change in the magnetic field."
"Old Wang, drive! Head back to where we first detected nT!" Jiang Xia ordered.
Old Wang turned the car around and slowly drove back to the starting area. Surprisingly, when they returned to the initially marked position, the geomagnetic field strength value displayed on the LED panel was no longer a stable nT, but had also dropped to around nT, and was still decreasing extremely slowly!
"This...this change is regional? And it's still ongoing?" Engineer Chen asked in surprise.
The group exchanged bewildered glances, completely baffled. This phenomenon exceeded their existing knowledge and expectations.
"Let's leave that aside for now!" Jiang Xia shook his head, deciding to put the mystery aside for the time being. "Using the latest measured changes in the regional background field value as the new benchmark, we'll recalibrate the system! Gold won't disappear because the geomagnetic field weakens; let's complete the primary task first!"
Old Li agreed: "Yes, finding the item is the priority. However, this phenomenon is very strange."
As he spoke, Professor Li took out his notebook. "About 500 meters west of the test area, an abnormal decrease in the regional magnetic field background value was found, with an amplitude of about 60 nT. This is inconsistent with the theoretical formula, ruling out instrument malfunction. The cause is under investigation."
Then, the old man shrank into the armored vehicle and began to ponder this unusual phenomenon.