On Thursday, August 18, 2022 at 9:32:14 AM UTC-7, erik simpson wrote:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05018-z#Bib1
Interesting paper (unfortunately paywalled), but a subject that's getting increased attention. Despite the paywall, peer review comments are available form the citation, and my give some insight from people much more qualified to offer opinions than I.
Perhaps you got this from phys.org, or from my post in talk.origins, from uncommondescent.com.
""Continental drift seems so slow, like nothing drastic could come from it, but when the ocean is primed, even a seemingly tiny event could trigger the widespread death of marine life," said Andy Ridgwell, UC Riverside geologist and co-author of a new
study on forces affecting oceanic oxygen."
From the phys.org article,
'The paper does not address if or when Earth might expect a similar event in the future, and it is difficult to identify when a collapse might occur, or what triggers it. However, existing climate models confirm that increasing global warming will weaken
ocean circulation, and some models predict an eventual collapse of the branch of circulation that starts in the North Atlantic.
"We'd need a higher resolution climate model to predict a mass extinction event," Ridgwell said. "That said, we do already have concerns about water circulation in the North Atlantic today, and there is evidence that the flow of water to depth is
declining."
""You'd think the surface of the ocean, the bit you might surf or sail on, is where all the action is. But underneath, the ocean is tirelessly working away, providing vital oxygen to animals in the dark depths," Ridgwell said.
"The ocean allows life to flourish, but it can take that life away again. Nothing rules that out as continental plates continue to move."
Ridgwell is a scientist. so regardless of what phys.org claims about what the paper does not address, they have a co-author scientist sporting an alarmist position.
I suspect that is what the paper is all about.
What is somewhat curious is that this 'from the Cambrian to today' period seems to have allowed life to exist. More fine tuning examples?
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)