21
votes
Do volcanos really create fertile soil?
As always: It Depends.
Assuming enough water and sunshine, crop growth rate boils down to the concept of limiting nutrients. These may be: nitrogen (via ammonia or nitrates), phosphorous (via ...
- 1,102
9
votes
Accepted
Should a primary consumer always be a herbivore?
Not always. One good example is the food web around a hydrothermal vent. In the vent system, bacteria use chemical energy from hydrogen sulfide to produce sugars without any sunlight (no ...
- 15.4k
8
votes
Can garbage be sent into the (near-)center of the world?
No. In fact, I don't know why David Hammen didn't say that instead of commenting.
The deepest hole that mankind ever dug was barely a scratch on the Earth's surface when you look at its size. They ...
- 199
6
votes
How can half a degree of average temperature result in such devastating impact on coral reefs?
Coral die because of coral bleaching, a process in which the symbiotic algae living in the coral (which give the coral its colour), leave the coral host.
Bleaching can occur for a variety of reasons, ...
- 23.1k
6
votes
Is the impact of carbon emision dependent on the location on the earth?
The climate impacts of CO2 are not constrained to the location they are emitted, but rather the whole globe will feel the effects. CO2 is a long-lived molecule that takes 100+ years to convert or ...
- 13.8k
5
votes
Accepted
How does the Coriolis effect affect rivers and estuaries
The effects of Coriolis in rivers and estuaries are more subtle than in the open ocean. Coriolis tends to be a second or third order process in fast-moving and relatively small systems like rivers.
...
- 15.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Do icebergs have any impact on ecology?
Yes, they have many impacts:
They provide a substrate for algae to grow and they can have whole ecosystems under them. You might think that such substrate is transient because it is melting, but ...
- 17.7k
3
votes
Can garbage be sent into the (near-)center of the world?
One of the flaws with using subduction zones as dumps for toxic chemicals so they can be broken down by heat and pressure at depth is the rate of sinking of the subducting plate.
Subduction is a very ...
- 24.8k
3
votes
Why is carbon dioxide a more important greenhouse gas than nitrous oxide?
Two things to think about:
Nitrous oxide is extremely scarce in the atmosphere, less than 1 ppm. Compare with carbon dioxide that (unfortunately) is now greater than 400 ppm.
Also consider the ...
- 23.1k
3
votes
Is the impact of carbon emision dependent on the location on the earth?
As a rule no, while sulfur and nitrogen compounds from industrial and vehicle exhaust have an immediate impact and a relatively fast deposition cycle and thus are extremely location sensitive carbon ...
- 5,100
3
votes
Does anyone know a book/article/research that talks about forest fire prevention?
This book is based on Australian experience, some of it may be relevant of North American wildfires. I read it ten years ago.
Paul Collins, Burn - The Epic Story of Bushfire in Australia, Allen & ...
- 24.8k
3
votes
Do volcanos really create fertile soil?
I disagree with the statement that flood-plain basalts don't make fertile soils. The most fertile soils in southeast Australia are on the Victorian volcanic plains. The soils of the Deccan Plateau of ...
- 4,419
3
votes
Do volcanos really create fertile soil?
Plants follow the law of the minimum. There's a ratio at which nutrients occur in plant matter. If it can't get those amounts, it will be limited by the one nutrient that falls below the ratio. Let's ...
- 133
2
votes
Lack of annual slash-and-burn in North America?
Slash and burn has been used in North America and still is at times. I see regular field burning near me where fields are particularly rocky and tilling if impractical for the crops grown. It also ...
- 626
2
votes
Timeline of Himalayas/Tibetan plateau formation
Drying out of North Africa is likely the result of something far more local. I've never heard of the either the Tibetan Plateau or the growing Himalaya as causing changes to Africa's monsoons and ...
- 2,813
2
votes
Aren't fresh water deposits renewed by the water cycle?
Rain water is still one of the most cleanest water sources available. There may be some ancient underground aquifers that have clean uncontaminated water.
One issue with rain water is that ...
- 24.8k
2
votes
Aren't fresh water deposits renewed by the water cycle?
Where am I wrong in my assumption about natural water distillation (i.e. is rain water not as clean as it should be in theory)?
Generally, rain water is pretty clean. That is not an issue. Plus, we ...
- 199
2
votes
Why is carbon dioxide a more important greenhouse gas than nitrous oxide?
Specifically regarding the table in your question, the last column compares the emissions not by mass but by CO2-Eqivalent mass. That means that the number already takes into account that the global ...
- 268
2
votes
Accepted
If matter is constantly being cycled through an ecosystem, does that mean a given ecosystem has a fixed mass?
You can always weigh the biomass of the (global) ecosystem in metric tons, or any other unit, even when this mass would not be constant.
I don't see a reason why the total biospheric mass should be ...
- 3,172
2
votes
Why is carbon dioxide a more important greenhouse gas than nitrous oxide?
There isn't enough nitrous oxide in the atmosphere to make a major contribution to global warming, which in some ways is a pity, because we'd all bee in a much jollier mood if there was (N2O is ...
- 4,711
2
votes
Accepted
Are humans a plague?
In some (Or most ways) Yes. Pollution, Poaching, littering and etc Has hurt Biodiversity, lots of Animals who went extinct because of Humans wouldnt be familiar to an Average person, this link ...
- 564
2
votes
Can garbage be sent into the (near-)center of the world?
There's easier ways to mitigate toxic waste, Since most is often metal, converting it into stable oxides and proper landfilling mitigates most of the danger.
Incineration at temperatures above 2800 ...
- 735
2
votes
Why is bush encroachement a bad thing?
As with many situations there are positives and negatives. With bush encroachment the positives include expanding the range of native species, acting as a carbon sink, it can lead to natural ...
- 24.8k
1
vote
Can garbage be sent into the (near-)center of the world?
Your idea may seem weird, but it is what has been done for decades in the US and elsewhere.
You do not need to reach the centre of the earth. 3 to 4 km may suffice (Terms and Conditions apply ...)
...
- 459
1
vote
What exactly are singular biomes as units?
I guess it depends on which biome classification you use (there are several), but yes, usually tropical forests of Amazonia, Africa & Asia are classified within the same biome. For instance if you ...
- 8,141
1
vote
Is the ocean a carbon sink when considering only the biospheric component?
Yes, the marine biosphere is a carbon sink, and a very important one. It is known that the oceans produce more oxygen and biologically consume more carbon dioxide than all the tropical rainforests. ...
- 4,711
1
vote
Quickly breeding oysters to combat oceanic pollution?
According to @AllInOne from the comments: This is currently what a project in New York City is trying to do.
Their listed goal on wikipedia is to get one billion live oysters in New York Harbor by ...
- 141
1
vote
Aren't fresh water deposits renewed by the water cycle?
Agricultural water is largely Fossil Water, which took tens of thousands of years to accumulate and industrial activities have used it in a century.
Saudi Arabia is abandoning programs to grow wheat ...
- 735
1
vote
Aren't fresh water deposits renewed by the water cycle?
The problem about rain water catchment is, that it prevents ground water from being formed, thus depleting these ressources and making them unavailable during droughts. Plus, ground water tends to be ...
- 756
1
vote
Accepted
Result of deterioration of vegetation
I think the reason you were marked wrong is because your text book is using the term "climate" loosely. The deterioration of vegetation will result in desert encroachment ... which in turn can cause ...
- 13.8k
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