20,000 Microbes Under the Sea

[Camelyn]

20,000 Microbes Under the Sea

Scientists have discovered that nearly a third of all the life on this planet consists of microbes living under the seafloor in a dark world without oxygen. Many of these tiny creatures make so much methane gas that if even a small proportion of it is released, we might be overwhelmed by huge tsunamis, runaway global warming, and extinctions

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And we were worried about meteor strikes...

Seriously though, I have read about this phenomenon before, mostly in a fresh water lake environment. When the methane (or CO2 IIRC) bubble bursts, it can wipe our entire ecosystems in the immediate vicinity of the lake. I can only imagine what an oceanic methane burp would be like...

 

[Professur]

Volcanic caldera lakes have similar problems.

FYI, on the same topic, one of the presumed causes of ship losses in the bermuda triangle is undersea earthquakes distrubing frozen methane on the bottom. Agitated, it bubbles up and reduces the density of the water under the ship, causing it to sink. Low flying aircraft flying in that vicinity would probably explode into tiny bits, never to be seen again. Or their pilots experience euphoria from lack of O2.

 

[paul_valaru]

on the same idea choke damp (cardon dioxide) is sometimes on the bottom or freshwater lakes, but when it hits a certain consentration it bubbles to the surfacce killing everything pretty much immeidiatly.


now I am afraid to swim

 

[tommyj27]

that's messed up. i wish the entire article were available.

 

[Camelyn]

that's messed up. i wish the entire article were available.

I have access to the entire article, but it's 7 pages long (too long to post). It talks about some of the examples that Prof brought up, with aircraft and shipping accidents. I had read before of the theory that reduced water density causes some of the strange phenomena in the Bermuda triangle, methane was cited as a possible mechanism, as well as a sudden influx of water with a much lower salt content. I can't recall what the author suggested the source for that would be though..

 

[Professur]

But it just goes to prove what I've always said. The smartest man alive still worries about how little he really knows. We're talking about sending probes to look for life under the ice of Europa, and we still haven't a clue about the life living right under our own oceans.

 

[chcr]

But it just goes to prove what I've always said. The smartest man alive still worries about how little he really knows. We're talking about sending probes to look for life under the ice of Europa, and we still haven't a clue about the life living right under our own oceans.

Unfortunately, first you have to be smart enough to realize how little we really know.

 

[Oz]

Brilliant............we're about to be destroyed by the collected flatulence of billions of microbes...........seems quite fitting really

 

[Camelyn]

But it just goes to prove what I've always said. The smartest man alive still worries about how little he really knows. We're talking about sending probes to look for life under the ice of Europa, and we still haven't a clue about the life living right under our own oceans.

Space exploration is much more glamorous, and thus well funded than deep ocean exploration. We look up, see the stars, and dream about visiting them. We look at the ocean and we want to sail it, not dive into it. Space is also a much more valuable political and military commodity than the deep ocean, partly because of public opinion, partly because if a country could control space, they could control the entire globe. The same can't really be said for the deep ocean.

I find myself often lamenting my choice not to peruse my childhood dream of studying marine biology. It's an alien world down there, and I would love to visit it.

But I would also be the first in line for volunteers to colonize the moon or Mars

 

[Dave]

FYI, on the same topic, one of the presumed causes of ship losses in the bermuda triangle is undersea earthquakes distrubing frozen methane on the bottom. Agitated, it bubbles up and reduces the density of the water under the ship, causing it to sink. Low flying aircraft flying in that vicinity would probably explode into tiny bits, never to be seen again. Or their pilots experience euphoria from lack of O2.

i thought that whole bermuda triangle thing has been debunked in that there are no more missing vessels there than anywhere else in the oceans and seas.

 

[Camelyn]

Brilliant............we're about to be destroyed by the collected flatulence of billions of microbes...........seems quite fitting really

Oz? Have I ever told you how much I appreciate your uncanny knack for putting things into perspective in as few words as possible?

Remind me to mention that to you sometime...

 

[Oz]

Oz? Have I ever told you how much I appreciate your uncanny knack for putting things into perspective in as few words as possible?

Remind me to mention that to you sometime...

Marine Biology was never me strong point

 

[Professur]

Actually, there is an unusually large number of boats lost off that area. Except when you figure in tourism. Much higher quantity of boats, lower average skill, and much higher drink/fun factor. But the flatulent microbe theory was put forth anyways. At least it drew some attention to an otherwise unknown fact. That billions of liters of hydrocarbons lie frozen on the ocean bottom. There are even endeavours to mine it for energy.

 

[Dave]

There are even endeavours to mine it for energy.

the article in Discover magazine stated that it was estimated that there is a pocket of methane off the Carolina coast that could provide 30 years worth of natural gas.

 

[Sharky]

The Bermuda Triangle myth is a load of fish poop.

 

[tommyj27]

 

[chcr]

The Bermuda Triangle myth is a load of fish poop.

Really? How big a load?

 

[Sharky]

Really? How big a load?

Big enough to generate giant methane bubbles capable of sinking a ship!

 

[chcr]

Big enough to generate giant methane bubbles capable of sinking a ship!

Ah, well that's explained then.