Mesoamerican Long Count calendar Mesoamerican Long Count calendar The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is a non-repeating, vigesimal (base-20) and base-18 calendar used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. For this reason, it is often known as the Maya (or Mayan) Long Count calendar. Using a modified vigesimal tally, the Long Count calendar identifies a day by counting the number of days passed since a mythical creation date that corresponds to August 11, 3114 BCE in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. The Long Count calendar was widely used on monuments. The two most widely used calendars in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, were the 260-day Tzolk'in
Nitrogen fixation Nitrogen fixation Nitrogen fixation is a process by which nitrogen in the Earth's atmosphere is converted into ammonia (NH) or related nitrogenous compounds. Atmospheric nitrogen, which is molecular dinitrogen (N), is relatively nonreactive and is metabolically useless to all but a few microorganisms. The fixation process converts N into ammonia, which is metabolized by most organisms. Nitrogen fixation is essential to life because fixed inorganic nitrogen compounds are required for the biosynthesis of all nitrogen-containing compounds. Therefore, as part of the nitrogen cycle, it is essential for agriculture and the manufacture of fertilizer. It is also, indirectly, relevant to the