Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Geosonnet 19

The Permian extinction was severe,
though only callous geos call it "great."
Sulfur and carbon choked the atmosphere
Siberian eruption exhalate.
A lava-coal explosion, it’s surmised
Spread fly ash all around the sickly Earth,
But if this ash is made by wildfire,
The evidence for coal fly ash is dearth.
A sulfate drought could set the world aflame,
The brimstone vapors choking off the rain.
The lava’s murder weapon’s not the same,
But "Lip" can improvise to kill again.
   If carbon, sulfur cycles stop their flow
   The ecosystem has nowhere to go.

Geology 42 879



Chris Phoenix said...

Coal fly ash from power plants is really dirty stuff, including uranium. Couldn't mineralogical analysis of the fly ash show whether it was from vegetables, or from vegetables that had been steeping underground for thousands of years?

Chuck Magee said...

They argue in the discussion that vegetation would have been exposed to volcanic gasses, and so would have picked up Hg, etc. before burning.