Iron input and the export and burial of biogenic silica (opal produced from diatoms)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120313140434.htm

Input of Iron Linked to Biological Productivity in Ancient Pacific
Ocean

"By closely examining the sedimentary record, Murray and his
colleagues have established a clear relationship between plant
plankton (diatoms) and the input of iron, exactly as Martin
predicted."

...

"By examining the paleo-oceanographic record of iron input and the
deposition of diatoms, Murray and his colleagues found that the
ancient system is highly consistent with what occurs in the oceans
today."

...

"The new publication provides an important sedimentary record from the
high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll region of the equatorial Pacific Ocean,
and shows strong links between iron input and the export and burial of
biogenic silica (opal produced from diatoms) over the past million
years."

The full paper is available at -

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v5/n4/full/ngeo1422.html

NATURE GEOSCIENCE | LETTER
Links between iron input and opal deposition in the Pleistocene equatorial Pacific Ocean

Richard W. Murray, Margaret Leinen & Christopher W. Knowlton
Nature Geoscience 5, 270–274 (2012) doi:10.1038/ngeo1422
Published online 11 March 2012

Increases in overall marine primary productivity and export production in high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions of the ocean have, particularly during dry and dusty glacial periods, been hypothesized to be linked to the enhanced delivery of iron1. In the modern ocean, iron availability limits production in high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions, and may be important in lower-nutrient settings as well2. Here, we assess the relationship between productivity and iron in sedimentary records from the high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll region of the equatorial Pacific Ocean over the past million years. We find strong links between iron input, the export and burial of biogenic silica (opal) and total export production. Our data demonstrate that iron accumulation was more closely tied to the accumulation of opal than any other biogenic component, with high iron input associated with substantially increased opal sedimentation. The strong links between iron and opal accumulation over the past one million years are in agreement with the modern biogeochemical behaviour of iron and silica, and the response of the diatom community to their mutual availablity3, 4. Our data support earlier suggestions1 of a biological response to iron delivery over geologic timescales.


This paper clearly mentions Diatoms as the phytoplankton that
sequester more carbon than other phytoplankton.

Carbon Sequestration by Diatoms

A report on carbon sequestration by Diatoms -

http://www.examiner.com/paeleontology-in-national/diatoms-provide-natural-
carbon-sequestration

"After thirteen years of work scientists have determined that diatoms perform a
natural carbon sequestration annually according to a report released at the
Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences web site on January 30,
2011 [ should be 2012 ]."

A paper about role of Diatoms in oceans -
http://hahana.soest.hawaii.edu/lab/dkarl/1999MEPS-182-55-67.pdf

Ocean Biological Carbon Pump

The Biological Carbon Pump

http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/climatechange1/06_2.shtml

How important is the biological pump overall? It turns out, it is very important. For instance, if the biological pump were turned off, atmospheric CO₂ would rise to about 550 ppm (compared to the current 360 ppm). If the pump were operating at maximum capacity (that is, if all the ocean’s nutrients were used up) atmospheric CO₂ would drop to a low of 140 ppm.

-------------

Interesting estimate by the University of California, San Diego.

http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/climatechange1/06_3.shtml

The Marine Carbon Cycle

Altering this ratio of carbon atoms can be done, for example, by changing the amount of silicate (SiO₄) in seawater. If there is plenty of silicate, marine organisms called “diatoms” will grow more happily. They fix carbon into organic matter, and they take much of it down to deep waters because many diatoms, at the end of their life cycle, tend to settle out of the water where they grew. If there is very little silicate available, organisms called “coccolithophores” grow more readily than diatoms.

...

Let us remember at least one element concerning the carbonate cycle: Unusually intense blooms of carbonate-fixing plankton, like coccolithophores, would have the effect of bringing carbon dioxide from surface waters to the air above it – that is, increasing the atmospheric CO₂ concentration. The same is true for coral and shell growth in shallow waters. We would like to know, then, what precisely causes the blooms of coccolithophores that can be seen on satellite surveys, and whether their intensity is increasing or decreasing as the planet warms. Unfortunately, this is not known at present.

...

During the overall cooling of the planet, in the last 40 million years, more and more silicate has been removed from ocean in the upwelling regions around the continents (due to stronger mixing from stronger winds). We know this because radiolarians (plankton organisms using silicate to make their skeletons) have been getting thinner and more delicate through time. In the last 3 million years this process of silicate extraction has enormously accelerated, as the Antarctic Ocean started to deposit vast amounts of diatom shells.

-------------------------------

Diatoms sequester carbon but Coccoliths do not.

Global Warming ; SRM ; Ocean Fertilization, etc

Pages 42-47 THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007

Risky Gamble

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases may be well intentioned and even
helpful. But as the sole strategy for climate change control it is nevertheless
inflexible, expensive, risky, and politically unrealistic, according to this government economist. Such a strategy could even make matters worse.
Fortunately, there is a better solution.

ALAN CARLI N

Alan Carlin is a Senior Economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The views expressed in this article are his own and should not be taken to represent official U.S. policy.


"Fortunately, recent research illustrates that nature has worked out an efficient system for removing carbon dioxide from the seas: fertilizing ocean plankton to stimulate them to absorb carbon dioxide (much as plants do) and transport it to the sea floor. Humans have not yet figured out a very efficient way to emulate nature in this regard — seeding the ocean with iron particles has been suggested — but ocean fertilization may be the best current hope, whether under either the ERD or the SRM approach. Given the magnitude of the threat, research on and implementation of geoengineering or other solutions to ocean acidification also needs to become a top priority."

Carbon must be sucked from air, says IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri

From The Times
December 1, 2009
Carbon must be sucked from air, says IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri

...

"Dr Pachauri raised the prospect of so-called geo-engineering, whereby carbon dioxide is actively stripped from the atmosphere. A range of techniques have been proposed including seeding artificial clouds over oceans to reflect sunlight back into space, sowing the oceans with iron ore to boost plankton growth and using carbon capture and storage technology to fix emissions from power stations."

...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6938298.ece


Nualgi is a superior form of providing iron and other micro nutrients to Diatom Algae.

Ocean Fertilization - Draft report on 12 expeditions

Final Report - www.cbd.int/doc/publications/cbd-ts-45-en.pdf

Convention on Biodiversity an UN agency has prepared a draft report about the 12 Ocean Iron Fertilization experiments since 1993.
- www.cbd.int/marine/doc/scientific-synthesis-marine-peerreview-en.doc

The key findings are :
Only 5 out to the 12 expeditions resulted in bloom of Diatoms.
None of the experiments resulted in harmful algal blooms.

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Our efforts to use Nualgi instead of Hematite ore and Iron Sulphate will continue.