• Space/Science
  • GeekSpeak
  • Mysteries of
    the Multiverse
  • Science Fiction
  • The Comestible Zone
  • Off-Topic
  • Community
  • Flame
  • CurrentEvents

Recent posts

AI and the superconducting relativistic monkey collider RL July 26, 2025 10:14 pm (Off-Topic)

Trump's namecalling is no match for the Scots BuckGalaxy July 26, 2025 2:15 pm (Flame)

Retirement home Spirit cover -- yeah, we had better music. ER July 26, 2025 7:31 am (Off-Topic)

Maxwell's Silver Hammer ER July 26, 2025 6:58 am (CurrentEvents)

♫ I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could but it's too late ♫ BuckGalaxy July 22, 2025 1:32 pm (Off-Topic)

How Groupthink Protected Biden and Re-elected Trump, or put another way... BuckGalaxy July 19, 2025 2:32 pm (Flame)

Why Trump Can’t Shake Jeffrey Epstein BuckGalaxy July 18, 2025 8:07 pm (CurrentEvents)

Colbert cancelled. ER July 17, 2025 8:20 pm (CurrentEvents)

just passin' thru... ER July 16, 2025 2:08 pm (Space/Science)

Home » Space/Science

The little Fern that Could . . . July 15, 2014 11:23 am DanS

Can the Fern That Cooled the Planet Do It Again?
Researchers hope to use the fernlike Azolla to reverse the global warming effects of burning fossil fuels

7-15-2014 | Jennifer Huizen and ClimateWire

Fifty-five million years ago, when scientists believe the Earth was in a near-runaway state, dangerously overheated by greenhouse gases, the Arctic Ocean was also a very different place. It was a large lake, connected to the greater oceans by one primary opening: the Turgay Sea.

When this channel closed or was blocked nearly 50 million years ago, the enclosed body of water became the perfect habitat for a small-leaved fern called Azolla. Imagine the Arctic like the Dead Sea of today: It was a hot lake that had become stratified, suffering from a lack of exchange with outside waters. That meant its waters were loaded with excess nutrients.

Azolla took advantage of the abundant nitrogen and carbon dioxide, two of its favorite foods, and flourished. Large populations formed thick mats that covered the body of the lake. When rainfall increased from the changing climate, flooding provided a thin layer of fresh water for Azolla to creep outward, over parts of the surrounding continents.

Azolla bloomed and died like this in cycles for roughly 1 million years, each time laying down an additional layer of the thick blanket of sediment that was finally found in 2004 by the Arctic Coring Expedition.

The fact that the fern only needs a little over an inch of water under it to grow makes the whole scenario seem just within reason—that is, until you learn how much carbon this carbon dioxide-hungry plant sucked up over the course of those million years.

More.

  • Took it a million years, though. by bowser 2014-07-18 09:19:30
    • Science might be able to greatly increase the efficiency of the plant . . . by DanS 2014-07-18 11:12:08

    Search

    The Control Panel

    • Log in
    • Register