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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (6909)	4/4/2009 4:24:43 PM
From: Eric	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 86356

Actually man has increased the amount of materials going into our oceans due to farming, logging, and clearing. The Sahara has increased greatly in size the last few thousand years and a lot of material is swept up in windstorms into the Atlantic and Indian oceans along with the Red Sea and the Med. Man has caused a lot of forest destruction and increased runoff during those last few thousand years. It is a significant number!

To: RetiredNow who wrote (6909)	4/4/2009 7:02:10 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 86356

Your theory is that our dustbowls are the fertilizer for the ocean? I haven't seen white papers on that and that doesn't seem like the most plausible theory, because simpler ones exist. They are ONE source of fertilizer for oceanic phytoplankton, especially those areas far offshore of any continent. Upwellings along the continental shelf, or river born nutrients provide the primary nutrients near land masses, which includes nitrates from agricultural fertilizers, contibuting to the blooming of undesirable forms of algae. But the only source of nutrients that can reach the most remote parts of the ocean has to be windborn. Upwellings in the deep oceans might contribute some, but I believe these normally occur near landmasses (islands.. etc). There was an article on it I read one time, but can no longer find. I think it might have been written by Planktos in reference to the decrease in N. Pacific phytoplankton levels due to Chinese soil conservation efforts. But the logic still applies. Btw, here was an interest article on how the militant environmentalists took down Planktos through a very effective disinformation campaign: popsci.com Hawk