briancady413
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Volcanic CO2 riddle
So they say industrialism's releasing about thirteen times the natural volcanic carbon dioxide emission, right? But the earth's age is about 4.5
billion years, thoughout which we might expect volcanoes to have been emitting CO2. That 4.5 billion number is huge, multiplied times even a 1/20th of
annual industrial CO2 emission equals a huge amount. Where'd it all go?
[Edited on 19-12-2017 by briancady413]
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JJay
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I'm not exactly an expert on this subject (few people are, and even the best weathermen are often wrong), but typically it ends up as limestone.
There's also a lot of coal, peat, methane, petroleum, etc.
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Sulaiman
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Mostly to photosynthesis, producingl organic matter and many rocks - limestone etc.
Edit: beaten by milliseconds 
[Edited on 19-12-2017 by Sulaiman]
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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DraconicAcid
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Have you never heard of equilibrium? That CO2 that's been produced over four billion years has also been consumed over four billion years. The
problem is that we've increased the rate of production of CO2, but we haven't been able to increase its rate of consumption.
Please remember: "Filtrate" is not a verb.
Write up your lab reports the way your instructor wants them, not the way your ex-instructor wants them.
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woelen
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Most CO2 finally ends up in the form of carbonates. Millions of years later it can be released in volcanic eruptions. Plant life also takes up
considerable amounts of CO2, but that's only what is present in the atmosphere. If all CO2, bound as carbonate, would be released, then we would have
an atmosphere like currently exists on Venus.
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j_sum1
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Stores of carbon on earth in order...
geologic -- mostly carbonate rocks
sea water
atmosphere
biomass
Each separated my several orders of magnitude. Actually, looking up the numbers for these is insightful. It raises a number of significant
questions.
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zed
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Worse, perhaps... is the methane problem. The Ruskies, amongst others, are concerned about the melting of the Arctic and Semi-Arctic permafrosts.
Really a lot of methane is locked up therein. Should it be released into the atmosphere, it will be a lot more damaging than CO2. It is a much more
potent Greenhouse gas.
Which has led to some strange plans to lower permafrost temperatures, by reintroducing vast herds of Arctic grazing animals.... Like re-engineered
Wooly Mammoths.
http://www.history.com/news/scientists-say-they-could-bring-...
[Edited on 20-12-2017 by zed]
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briancady413
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Wow, very sharp crowd here; Carbonates it is, by a large margin. For extra credit, what, besides dissolved CO2, are the major sources of reactants in
carbonate formation?
[Edited on 20-12-2017 by briancady413]
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Metacelsus
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Yes, the idea is that the mammoths would promote growth of grasses over trees, thus increasing the albedo.
I actually had the opportunity to meet George Church last summer at a private dinner event, and one of the things he talked about was the woolly
mammoth project. What he would create (at least initially) would be more like cold-adapted elephants than true mammoths, but this would probably be
functionally equivalent.
(He also talked about making programmable biosensors in the form of tattoos, a topic which I found quite interesting.)
[Edited on 12-20-2017 by Metacelsus]
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LearnedAmateur
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Quote: Originally posted by briancady413  | Wow, very sharp crowd here; Carbonates it is, by a large margin. For extra credit, what, besides dissolved CO2, are the major sources of reactants in
carbonate formation?
[Edited on 20-12-2017 by briancady413] |
From what I learned in geography, a lot of carbonate rock like limestone is the result of biological processes such as coral formation and the remains
of mollusc shells. The calcium carbonate can dissolve in seawater, where it subsequently precipitates and forms a solid mass. Here in the UK, we have
what we refer to as the 'Jurassic Coast' on the southern seafronts near Cornwall and Devon, of which the limestone is known to have formed
biologically due to the significant presence of marine fossils, having been exposed by erosion.
In chemistry, sometimes the solution is the problem.
It’s been a while, but I’m not dead! Updated 7/1/2020. Shout out to Aga, we got along well.
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briancady413
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Volcanic CO2 riddle
@LearnedAmateur: Getting warmer, but not quite identifying the source of the reactants yet.
Anyone else? Hint: the reactant source is far from the carbonates formed.
[Edited on 21-12-2017 by briancady413]
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XeonTheMGPony
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I'd like to note we're all so killing off one of the carbon sinks, known as deforestation! So we need to get our collective crap together as that's a
ton easier then finding a new planet and becoming universe cancer.
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vmelkon
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Well, oxygen is an extremely abundant element on and inside the Earth. The second most abundant is silicon.
So, I imagine that as the Earth formed, or even before that, as the gaseous nebula condensed, Si burned with O to make a lot of SiO2. Al burned with O
forming Al2O3. Some of the SiO2 and Al2O3 combined to make various aluminium silicates. Na burned with O. H burned with O. Mg, Ca C burned with O
making MgO, CaO, CO2.
We also got Mg silicates, Na silicates and various other silicates.
So, I'm guessing early Earth's volcanic CO2 that was belched out combined with some of the free MgO (Mg(OH)2) and CaO (Ca(OH)2) that was on the
surface of the Earth.
****The above is just a product of my imagination. I don't know much geology.
Signature ==== Is this my youtube page? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA5PYtul5aU
We must attach the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance and give a few good jolts.
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briancady413
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Volcanic CO2 riddle
Vmelkon's response covers what I'm looking for, although more geology details would be welcomed. Types of rock, prevalence, location, etc. Anyone?
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Chemvironment
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There is a HUGE difference between weatherman and environmental scientist. Weatherman often don't even have degrees
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XeonTheMGPony
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Hey that's not true! They can download them now days!
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briancady413
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Volcanic CO2 riddle
OK, I'm spilling the beans: mafic and especially ultramafic rock weathering by carbonic acid releases magnesium, calcium and other cations which wash
to the sea, if they're not already there. These are the reactants that form the carbonates which bind so much carbon on earth. For more on this, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonate%E2%80%93silicate_cyc...
Thanks for reading, and riddling, this far.
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JJay
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On the radio, not everyone who reports the weather has a degree, but typically, radio personalities do have one. Every TV meteorologist I have
knowledge of has a degree in a field related to weather forecasting.
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briancady413
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'Mafic' rock is lower in silicates and higher in magnesium and iron oxides.
[Edited on 24-12-2017 by briancady413]
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