Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Username: Password:

Author Topic: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?  (Read 12091 times)

Radium

  • Member
  • Karma: 26
  • Posts: 362
  • Trading Score: +2
  • When I die, plz compost me :)
Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« on: July 07, 2015, 08:13:14 PM »

Life began between 3 to 4 fucking billion years ago, right?
Then with more than 3 billion years of organism activity on the dead mineral planet earth, why aren't we standing on an at least one kilometer thick layer of compost?

Because lower organisms 24/7 break minerals into simple organic matter, and higher organisms take that to perfect it into more complex organic tissue and compounds, which is then shredded again by some other lower organisms to what we call compost.

So unless there's a reverse pathway that converts compost into inorganic mineral rock, we must be living on spherical huge pile of compost by now,,, but obviously we're not, so where did all that compost go? why most of earth's surface is covered with shitty light colored clay/sand soil?
Logged
Believers in God, cannot forbid any of God's creations, including plants, for that's utter blasphemy.

BubbleCat

  • Supreme feline leader
  • Administrator
  • Karma: 144
  • Posts: 1947
  • Trading Score: +140
  • <3
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2015, 08:50:54 PM »

Sorry, there is no "breaking minerals into simple organic matter". Some processes break mineral formations into simpler minerals that can be used by vegetation. Vegetation then break down to compost. Right so far, in the rainforest the layer of soil is very thick but poor.

What you might have overlooked:
Erosion and streams move a lot of material also compost from here to there or straight into the sea, thats why a hills top will always be exposed if pointy wnough, even if theres slight vegetation on it.

Also: Have you ever seen a fossil in marble or other stones ? :) What does that tell you about what compost can be destined to be again ?

But if the world was inhabited by clones of you (god beware ! :P ) I am sure we would be floating on top of an ocean of anerobically made compost :D

In most cases an element stays this element, if not matter stays matter and energy stays energy and in all known cases at least matter and energy wont vary in total. Everything else is just a question of time.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 09:07:29 PM by BubbleCat »
Logged
Praise is mandatory.

kykeion

  • Trader
  • Karma: 17
  • Posts: 136
  • Trading Score: +13
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2015, 09:09:10 PM »

Basically what bubblecat said, erosion and tectonic activity.  Organic materials have been buried, washed into the sea, re-mineralized (coal, crude oil, limestone etc.) and re-utilized in new life forms since the beginning of life on this planet.
Logged

Chicsa

  • Botonitect
  • Global Moderator
  • Karma: 148
  • Posts: 1059
  • Trading Score: +172
  • Ikhinsh Toksali
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2015, 09:20:29 PM »

Another factor with the Amazon soil is the fact that soil from Africa (Wind Erosion) is actually carried across the ocean and rains down on the amazonian coast enriching their soil. https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/2822

What makes a lot of Florida interesting, is that it is actaully organic matter, that has become new land. Land is being created all the time, for instance the Hawiian islands with volcanic activity, but also native Americans by discarding sea life created land here in Florida over many years.

the former Turtle Mound in NS, FL created by years of discarding food, called "Kitchen mounds" sometimes. Almost all of these have been removed.
1) New land being created in Hawaii

« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 09:25:22 PM by Chicsa »
Logged

Radium

  • Member
  • Karma: 26
  • Posts: 362
  • Trading Score: +2
  • When I die, plz compost me :)
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2015, 09:25:01 PM »

Huh, you're right, earth constantly devours compost as it's being produced, sad :(

If we could cover all empty/dry/infertile lands with at least 2 meters of pure compost, that would cause an instant green BOOM, since a lot more rainwater can be stored into that layer, and lots of water and nutrients for plants makes them grow like hell.
At the other hand, they would absorb CO2 from air and trap air's excess carbon into soil/compost ==> voila, bye bye global warming!

I guess we have enough biomass to produce some of that compost, all we have to do is deposit it into places with the least chance of erosion/tectonic-devouring, and that means dropping the compost far far away from any rivers or steep areas.

holy shit just imagine that!
A planet made of compost and plants!
Logged
Believers in God, cannot forbid any of God's creations, including plants, for that's utter blasphemy.

Radium

  • Member
  • Karma: 26
  • Posts: 362
  • Trading Score: +2
  • When I die, plz compost me :)
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2015, 09:28:38 PM »

If I had the authority required, I would put all my energy on achieving that dream.
And I believe once the project goes past "point X", it will keep progressing itself on its own, and no more work is needed by us, other than ocassional dispersion of compost from moister areas into dryer areas, since dry lands need a much thicker layer to retain the same amount of moisture as wet lands.

That way there will be water 10 (hypothesis) meters below the surface even in the most dry lands on earth, and since the compost is pretty fluffy and soft, plants will be able to grow deep roots fast to reach the moisture, before dying out of dryness.

Yup, that's it folks!
I wanna be a compost dictator  :)
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 09:34:49 PM by Radium »
Logged
Believers in God, cannot forbid any of God's creations, including plants, for that's utter blasphemy.

BubbleCat

  • Supreme feline leader
  • Administrator
  • Karma: 144
  • Posts: 1947
  • Trading Score: +140
  • <3
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2015, 09:36:36 PM »

Maybe the increase of world population is to blame - theres a lot of atoms bound in a human body and all our components come with our nutrition :D
So maybe the layer gets a bit thicker as human population decreases again :D

Yeah I once heard Sahara sand is nutritioning the rainforests of S-America and there is even a small desert made out of Sahara sand at the coast.

You have any authority one can have to chase your dreams. I knew I need you when it comes to making inhabitable land habitable.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 09:39:10 PM by BubbleCat »
Logged
Praise is mandatory.

Radium

  • Member
  • Karma: 26
  • Posts: 362
  • Trading Score: +2
  • When I die, plz compost me :)
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2015, 10:23:39 PM »

Maybe the increase of world population is to blame - theres a lot of atoms bound in a human body and all our components come with our nutrition :D
So maybe the layer gets a bit thicker as human population decreases again :D

Yeah I once heard Sahara sand is nutritioning the rainforests of S-America and there is even a small desert made out of Sahara sand at the coast.

You have any authority one can have to chase your dreams. I knew I need you when it comes to making inhabitable land habitable.

As I said, once the project goes past "point X", it enters into an spiral of self progress, and everyday its progress becomes faster, here's why:

Imagine Sahara as an example, only few plants (if any) can survive in that piece of hell, since moisture is located toooooooo deep (200 meters depths are not uncommon), and all surface is consisted of 100% dry sand, which lacks two fundamental elements required for growth: moisture and nutrition!

The surface of Sahara gets wet upon each rainfall, and wind carries all kinds of seeds to Sahara each day, but extremely few of them get a chance to germinate, and even fewer survive past the seedling stage, since the moisture content of surface is rapidly decreasing due to evaporation and drainage.

Seeds need surface wetness to germinate, and they must grow deeper roots faster than the rate of moisture drainage to survive.
Once a seed germinates in Sahara, she enters a deadly race with moisture loss, and in order to survive, she must always reach a degree of depth lower than the dryness line, to pump water to higher parts of her body.
Plants who cannot produce deep enough roots, or those who can do it without enough speed, are destined to die in Sahara.

All of that reduces the fraction of seeds (out of total seeds delivered to Sahara by wind) able to turn into mature plants, to a really really low percentage.

Now imagine we cover entire of Sahara with a 30 meters thick layer of pure fluffy compost.
That's a huge brake on the rate of surface moisture loss.
And the percentage of seeds (both in number, and species) able to survive will rise massively.

What happens next, is that the slowly establishing number of plants will protect the surface from compost erosion by wind (sorry Amazon, no more free nutrients falling from sky), and also by providing shade, it decreases the soil moisture loss even further.
And practically, it will be only a matter of time until Sahara becomes a thick tropical jungle on its own.

Fuck! man just imagine that?! we need to produce MORE compost!
Food waste, dead human bodies, all crazy kinds of biomass, we need to turn all of them into remote-dispensable compost, and transfer it to Sahara and similar lands.

Another bonus is:
Besides the huge drop of atmosphere CO2, a jungle Sahara will absorb a gigantic amount of sun rays, and store the energy inside bio-fuel molecules (carbs, proteins, oils, etc), thus preventing the sun energy from manifesting as heat, which will help to balance global temperature even more!
And the synthesize of more bio-fuel molecules, means a greater amount of compost being produced naturally in the jungle, resulting into even less moisture loss rates, which itself results in increasing the number of plants even more!

Folks, it's all an evil loop chain, but it will eventually balance itself, once the global temperature drops enough to prevent plants from growing towards infinite numbers.



So to wrap it up:
All we have to do to save the environment and secure our survival, is to start the loop, then sit back and watch.
Logged
Believers in God, cannot forbid any of God's creations, including plants, for that's utter blasphemy.

BubbleCat

  • Supreme feline leader
  • Administrator
  • Karma: 144
  • Posts: 1947
  • Trading Score: +140
  • <3
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2015, 10:31:29 PM »

It will never reach an exponential escalating rate, it self limits through several processes and for several reasons:

If the layer gets too thick your microbes won't break up macro minerals into micro minerals anymore, or at least roots can't reach them whilst those on top are constantly washed downwards, effectively limiting vegetation at that point. The 30 meter layer isnt even reached in the rainforest and would absolutely prohibit sustaining vegetation. Also the process macro -> micro minerals starts with thermal changes, rain, wind and so on, you won't have those down there either and plants simply won't feed on solid rock.

The vegetation the planet allows (zones that are uninhabitable for climatical reasons excluded) for is limited to the land area, except you fill the seas with compost too but if you do that in a process thats fast and doesn't allow vegetation to adapt you will sure have successfully extinct all live from the planet, if its possible to adapt to the new probably unpredictable conditions anyways or they are just completely off the scale for life.

Thicker layers would also mean more pressure and heat effectively compacting and forming "compost products" again.

Maybe you want to see compost as an intermediate product in a circle from inorganic to organic back to inorganic again. Organic matter over time breaks back down to inorganic again. Still good soil for some plants.

And so on, so in general: We are pretty safe from drowning in compost :)

Sahara samd doesnt lack nutes as stated above btw ;)
« Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 11:19:06 PM by BubbleCat »
Logged
Praise is mandatory.

dEEcor

  • Senior Member
  • Karma: 24
  • Posts: 83
  • Trading Score: +10
  • Germany https://prism-break.org ॐ
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2015, 08:41:07 AM »

Logged

Radium

  • Member
  • Karma: 26
  • Posts: 362
  • Trading Score: +2
  • When I die, plz compost me :)
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2015, 06:09:19 PM »

You're dead wrong bubbles, someday finally colonel Benito Composstini will come and make it happen.
Logged
Believers in God, cannot forbid any of God's creations, including plants, for that's utter blasphemy.

BubbleCat

  • Supreme feline leader
  • Administrator
  • Karma: 144
  • Posts: 1947
  • Trading Score: +140
  • <3
Re: Why aren't we floating on top of a sea of compost?
« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2015, 09:34:12 PM »

And kill all live (see above) great plan ! :D
Logged
Praise is mandatory.