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From: eesnyder@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Eric E. Snyder)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.aquaria,sci.environment
Subject: Re: coral reefs, C02, food, and farming.
Message-ID: <30523@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: 2 Dec 90 23:34:03 GMT
References: <720@sierra.stanford.edu>
Sender: news@boulder.Colorado.EDU
Reply-To: eesnyder@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Eric E. Snyder)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
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Nntp-Posting-Host: beagle.colorado.edu

>rosentha@sierra.Stanford.EDU (Peter A. Rosenthal) writes:
>>>	It is well known that healthy coral reefs are quite
>>>effective at fixing carbon dioxide into calcium carbonate skelatons.

I am not sure that this is any better an idea than simply seeding the
ocean with iron to permit proliferation of photosynthetic algae.  I have
seen it written (maybe even in sci.bio!) that only a few super-tankers
full of iron salts (Fe(II) abd Fe(III) being the major growth limiting
ions in sea water (which is to say that the main reason the oceans aren't
full of algae is that there is insufficient iron)) would suffice to 
allow enough algae to grow to off-set the current increased CO2 flux.

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Eric E. Snyder                            
Department of MCD Biology           What do I care; I'm wasting fingers
University of Colorado, Boulder     like I had them to spare.
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0347                                           --BE
LeuIleAlaLysHisTrpAlaAlaAsnGlnGlyTrpAspLeuAsnLysAspGlyGlnIleGlnPheValLeuLeu
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