Old Rocks
Diamond Member
A constant meme with the willfully ignorant on this board is how man is just to small to have any effects on the planet. Yet we owe our atmosphere as it exists today to something far smaller than man. And there are massive rock formations that the direct result of that small life form.
In the beginning, a couple of billion years ago, the atmosphere was mainly CO2 and N2. But as the bluegreen algea proliferated, it turned the CO2 into plant material and free oxygen. However, before the oxygen could get out of the oceans, it had to convert the dissolved iron in the ocean into iron oxide, laying down the massive iron ore beds around the world. Then, when the ocean water was devoid of iron, the oxygen bubbled out of the ocean into the atmosphere. The now oxygenated ocean could provide energy that multi-cellular life needs to survive. And, in time, as the atmosphere became richer in O2, that live moved onto land.
We can see this clearly in the biological record, yet we still have people that repeat the ridiculous meme that man is just too small to affect our atmosphere or planet. Willful ignorance at it's worst.
In the beginning, a couple of billion years ago, the atmosphere was mainly CO2 and N2. But as the bluegreen algea proliferated, it turned the CO2 into plant material and free oxygen. However, before the oxygen could get out of the oceans, it had to convert the dissolved iron in the ocean into iron oxide, laying down the massive iron ore beds around the world. Then, when the ocean water was devoid of iron, the oxygen bubbled out of the ocean into the atmosphere. The now oxygenated ocean could provide energy that multi-cellular life needs to survive. And, in time, as the atmosphere became richer in O2, that live moved onto land.
We can see this clearly in the biological record, yet we still have people that repeat the ridiculous meme that man is just too small to affect our atmosphere or planet. Willful ignorance at it's worst.