From: "roger" <diogenes.jones-AT-attbi.com>
Subject: Re: Gulf Stream
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 17:30:10 -0800



>
> Okay, so it is foolish to pump too much carbon
> dioxide into the atmosphere, but in what sense
> is carbon ever likely to "run out"?
>
>
> Dave Coull
>
>

hi Dave,

the book is called, 'the life and death of planet earth' by peter ward
and don brownlee.  i currently lent it out to someone so i'll have to
wing it until i get it back.  sorry, but i'll try to do their
arguement justice:

as lifeforms turn carbon into carbonate rock (limestone), this carbon
is lost to the system.  unless we burn it again (in the form of oil,
coal, etc. -- and only a small minority of dead life becomes fossil
fuel, most just stays rock), it gets subducted by tectonic action,
never to be seen again.  look at it like this.  carbon is pretty
randomly distributed in the crust, but life forms concentrate it into
their bodies and eventually it becomes carbonate rock, which takes it
to it's fiery fate when it's crunched back into the upper mantel.  so
carbon is selectively removed from the crust and deposited into the
mantel in the form of dead, fossilized life forms (mostly plankton i
presume).

interesting and seductive arguement.  they also make interesting
points about the liklihood of a new super-contentint (like ancient
pangea).  the last one coincided with the greatest mass extinction in
planetary history.  fascinating.

actually, keep an eye out on british tv this fall.  when i went to
hear these two lecture, it was being filmed by the BBC (no shit) for a
documentary.  i asked a typically witty and provocative question
afterward at the front table where the authors were signing books and
they made me sign a release!  if i don't wind up on the cutting room
floor, i'll be immortalized on the telly!

roger