Acid Test
Global warming isn't the only danger associated with front-loading the carbon cycle. Less well-publicized but also troubling is the acidification of the ocean, which scientists fear could ultimately lead to a mass extinction of marine life.
As carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, some of it becomes carbonic acid. While ocean sediments can buffer the usual background levels of carbonic acid, our current rate of fossil fuel consumption has overwhelmed that buffering mechanism.
At a lower pH, the ocean can become corrosive to corals and plankton, both of which rely on the mineral calcium carbonate for building protective shells. Researchers say that ocean chemistry has not faced such radical change since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
For more on the problem, see the March 2006 issue of Scientific American.
As carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, some of it becomes carbonic acid. While ocean sediments can buffer the usual background levels of carbonic acid, our current rate of fossil fuel consumption has overwhelmed that buffering mechanism.
At a lower pH, the ocean can become corrosive to corals and plankton, both of which rely on the mineral calcium carbonate for building protective shells. Researchers say that ocean chemistry has not faced such radical change since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
For more on the problem, see the March 2006 issue of Scientific American.
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