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Coal Formation and Near-global Glaciation


Oxytropidoceras

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Feulner, G., 2017. Formation of most of our coal brought Earth 

close to global glaciation. Proceedings of the National Academy 

of Sciences, 114(43), pp. 11333-11337.

 

Abstract: 

http://www.pnas.org/content/114/43/11333.short

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29073052

 

Paper:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0b23/8273be5a2b4f06d7fb1e5932b45f731944be.pdf

 

Yours,


Paul H.

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I read the paper to the best of my ability.  I could not find an explanation for where the CO2 came from that replaced the carbon tied up in the coal.  I think that has to be addressed to explain the cycles they are proposing.  And it may have been and I am not aware of it.

 

Brent Ashcraft

ashcraft, brent allen

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Brent, @ashcraft I am not sure what you mean by where did the CO2 come from to replace that tied up in coal. Does more CO2 have to replace anything? The coal formation was taking CO2 out of the atmosphere leaving a very low amount left. Continually, CO2 is added to the atmosphere by weathering of rocks, animal respiration, volcanoes and many other processes.

 

If you rephrase your question I will try to answer it.

 

My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned.   

See my Arizona Paleontology Guide    link  The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere.       

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As I am understanding what they are saying, if taken to the extreme, carbon dioxide levels would continue to rise constantly, to the point of the kind life as we know it would not exist, if not for sequestration in coal deposits.  As I understand it, they are saying that CO2 levels plummeted, leading to glaciation.

 

For the CO2 levels to rebound it had to be regenerated from natural processes.  But wouldn't the CO2 levels continue to rise through time?  I don't think that is what we see...CO2 levels remain fairly constant through time (i think).

 

Is there a max CO2 concentration the atmosphere can hold?  Is there an equilibrium reached under "normal" conditions where sequestration and release cancel, therefore limiting max CO2 concentration?  Are CO2 levels always rising, and these periodic mass sequestration keeping levels from becoming high?

 

Long day, don't know how sensical I am being.

Brent Ashcraft

ashcraft, brent allen

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Thanks, those are interesting but I will have to do some ciphering to get the full jist.

 

Brent Ashcraft

ashcraft, brent allen

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On 4/24/2018 at 7:22 PM, ashcraft said:

As I am understanding what they are saying, if taken to the extreme, carbon dioxide levels would continue to rise constantly, to the point of the kind life as we know it would not exist, if not for sequestration in coal deposits.  As I understand it, they are saying that CO2 levels plummeted, leading to glaciation.

 

For the CO2 levels to rebound it had to be regenerated from natural processes.  But wouldn't the CO2 levels continue to rise through time?  I don't think that is what we see...CO2 levels remain fairly constant through time (i think).

 

Is there a max CO2 concentration the atmosphere can hold?  Is there an equilibrium reached under "normal" conditions where sequestration and release cancel, therefore limiting max CO2 concentration?  Are CO2 levels always rising, and these periodic mass sequestration keeping levels from becoming high?

 

Long day, don't know how sensical I am being.

Brent Ashcraft

Take a look at the carbon cycle of which CO2 plays a big part: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/558797/

 

Levels of CO2 which contain most of the carbon in our atmosphere go up and down over thousands and millions of years. Thankfully for us the levels of CO2 do not go up year after year for millions of years. 

 

There are many cycles that transport the carbon between the soil, atmosphere, plants, animals and rocks. The cycles interact in sometimes complicated ways. When CO2 rises, plants use it to create wood and biomass which creates coal while depositing oxygen into the atmosphere thereby decreasing CO2 levels. (That's why we need out forests). Large amounts are also stored by calcareous fossils and microscopic life creating limestone. Decreasing CO2,  greenhouse gas, tends to cool the earth and sometimes leads to an ice age.

 

Other processes can return CO2 to the atmosphere. For example, buried limestone and coal can erode and weather releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Volcanos can return CO2 from CO2 rich rocks that were melted.

 

The secret for our survival is keeping the CO2 concentration in a proper range or not allowing it to change to fast so that we can adapt or evolve to handle it.

My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned.   

See my Arizona Paleontology Guide    link  The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere.       

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"We" will burn through the oil and natural gas reserves in 50 years, more or less.  How will that not happen?

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1 hour ago, GordonC said:

"We" will burn through the oil and natural gas reserves in 50 years, more or less.  How will that not happen?

Don't know much about such studies, but they said in the 70's that we would run out by the end of the century.

 

Brent Ashcraft

ashcraft, brent allen

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