A Large Sea Rig

Some of the carbon dioxide is being combined with our oceans to make up carbonic acid. Thus decreasing the PH of the oceans, and with this acidification it is known to be dangerous for many reason. Many of the large animals are losing key nutrition, it is hindering photosynthesis and is even wiping out existing ecosystems. The one key group that is harmed the most is creatures that are classified as Calcifiers. They are one of the most common animals in the sea, which means that, if the acidity of the oceans continue to rise, a significant chunk will die out or have to adapt rapidly to the environmental change. The reason they are in the most danger is because with the ocean becoming more acidic it is eroding the shells off of the sea

Encyclopaedia Britannica also states that it is “proved to be a versatile technique of dating fossils and archaeological specimens from 500 to 50,000 years old” (1998). This method of age determination is dependent upon the decay of nitrogen and radiocarbon (Carbon-14) (Encyclopaediea Britannica, 1998; Opinions of Radiocarbon Dating, 2011). Carbon-14 is continually formed in nature by the interaction of neutrons with nitrogen-14 in the Earth’s atmosphere (Encyclopaediea Britannica, 1998; Opinions of Radiocarbon Dating, 2011) and all living things exchange the gas carbon-14 with the atmosphere surrounding them. The amount of carbon-14 exchanged into the living organism is perfectly balanced with its surroundings, but when an organism dies, they stop taking in the gas and that equilibrium is damaged. Because Carbon-14 slowly decays at a known rate called its “half-life” in a dead organism, scientists can figure out how long ago it had stopped exchanging carbon with its atmosphere. Thus, its age can be determined by measuring the amount of Carbon-14 in a sample (Hirst, 2017; Opinions of Radiocarbon Dating, 2017; Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit Research Laboratory for Archaeology, n.d.; Earthsky, 2017; Cram, 1993). With the utilisation of Radiocarbon Dating, scientists have been able to discover that Lindow

| |us the approximate age |other and studying the fossils |these layers of sediment might |

“Since the beginning of the industrial era, the ocean has absorbed some 525 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, presently around 22 million tons per day” (Ocean Portal, n.d). This number is expected to increase forevermore as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase and the effects of Climate Change worsen. At first, the idea of our oceans absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may sound great, however, scientists have been quick to learn otherwise. High concentrations of carbon dioxide in oceans can have detrimental effects on the ocean chemistry and marine ecosystems (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Marine ecosystems are greatly complex and depend on every marine organism to function properly, any change can put the whole ecosystem at risk. For example, the increase of carbon dioxide in our oceans is responsible for the dissolving of “brittle star” skeletal parts, which has in effect caused food scarcity for many fish, crabs, shrimp, and other starfish (Leu, 2013). Furthermore, these marine ecosystems are very important to humans- being the primary food source for millions around the world and having an economic market worth trillions of dollars (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Part of keeping these ecosystems safe is to understand how they work and how projected changes can harm marine organisms.

In order to find evidence of the transition from fish to land animals, the author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks. In 2004, they studied sedimentary rock on Ellesmere Island in Canada’s Arctic as they thought that the rocks there would be exposed and untouched by humans, which would be ideal for fossil excavations. They studied sedimentary rocks (limestone, sandstone, siltstone and shales) because these

Chapter Six depicts the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the air due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, which has resulted in the production of carbonic acid in oceans, the drop in pH of those oceans, and the death of marine life, including the Castello Aragonese.

Francisco P. Chavez used many trials to discover if the CO2 levels in the ocean are really getting higher. He went to Peru to run trials on the CO2 levels in the ocean there. He researched that when people drive their cars it releases CO2 into the air, and most of that does not stay in the atmosphere. Most of the CO2 actually goes into the ocean. Dr. Chavez said that about one million tons of CO2 will enter the ocean per hour daily. He learned that when the CO2 enters the ocean it combines with all of the sea water and the combination creates carbonic acid. Many of the living organisms in the ocean can and are deeply affected by the carbonic acid in a dramatic way. Francisco P.

Rather than assuming that physical laws always operated as they currently do, some people think that the earth operated differently in the past. More specifically, they think that there were frequent major catastrophes, and that those instances are what caused fossils and rocks to form in the way they did (McClure, 2009, p. 191). Since such catastrophes happened relatively fast, it has led some people to conclude that the earth is not as old as scientists think it is (McClure, 2009). Catastrophism also offers an explanation for fossil records. Different species may be in different geological strata as a result of major floods (McClure, 2009). Rather than being in a specific layer of rock as a result of living during a time period, some people think that fossils are in certain layers of rock as a result of major floods. Water levels rise and fall during floods, which is what some people have offered as an explanation for why there are different layers of rock and different fossils that correspond to

Since the industrial revolution, anthropogenic inputs of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere have increased dramatically. Concentrations in the atmosphere have risen 40% from 1750 to 2011, reaching record highs of 390.5 ppm (Stocker, et al., 2013). Due to this, the amount of dissolved CO2 in the oceans has also increased causing acidification of the oceans which can have several effects, mainly on calcifying organisms. Climate change has also influenced the stratification of the oceans due to density changing affecting nutrient distribution. So far, although a number of methods have been explored, there have been no solutions that don’t have their own issues.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that we exhale in our daily lives. Plants use carbon dioxide to create oxygen that all mammals use. However, carbon dioxide can also change the chemistry of the ocean, this is often referred to as ocean acidification. The excess carbon dissolves into oxygen in the water, producing a chemical called carbonic acid. This acid causes the ocean to become more acidic. In the eighteenth century, the pH was 8.07 which was slightly basic. Currently, the pH is around 8.01 this is about a twenty-five percent increase in acidity. (National geographic) While this slight change may not seem outrageous, it is causing multiple marine life struggles. The acid melts the shells of pteropods causing a low supply of food that would support larger fish.

The main factors in this climate change are observed to be the increase in temperatures and the resulting acidification of the oceans. The previously mentioned changes and others in the report are readily observable, such as the uptake of anthropogenic carbon since 1750 that has led to the ocean becoming more acidic, with an average decrease in pH of 0.1 units and in some instances blatantly obvious, even to the average layperson. It is difficult to conclude what the rate of change in the future will be and the effects of observed ocean acidification on the marine biosphere.

When we think of history, we think of important people, places, cultures, events, and much more. The backbone of history rests on its chronology. It gives us the "when" of basic analysis. It gives us a frame of reference, the order of things. Before having an "absolute" way of determining dates, history was based in guesses and assumptions. Many attempts were made to organize the dates of the past. Some of these attempts were made by geologist. Geologist used the idea of "stratigraphic succession" (Renfrew, 1973) which is based on the "principle that when successive layers or strata are observed in position, the underlying ones are the earliest." (Pg. 23 Renfrew, 1973) By setting the layers in

By testing sediment and recording whether it was deposited under conditions of normal polarity and then measuring successive layers, we can build a time chart. By matching different charts from different areas with similar fossils, a more global correlation can be made.

Rivers then transported soluble ReO4 into the ocean. Algae uptake the Re and upon death the algae sinks to the bottom where the Re is taken in by the black corals. The half life can then be used to determine ocean circulation much like the radiocarbons.

An increased amount of acidification has disrupted the chemical balance in the ocean waters in the recent hundreds of years due to the high amount of burning fossil fuels. The Industrial Revolution was a pivotal moment for the chemical equilibrium in the ocean. During this time, scientists realized the prominent effects that the pollution of fossil fuels had on the atmosphere and, respectively, the oceans. Exhaustible fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil, and coal are being used by the human population, and it is releasing large amounts of Carbon Dioxide into the air (National Ocean Service). This in turn creates an atmosphere that is immensely concentrated in CO2; therefore, the ocean absorbs more of the CO2 in the air. According to Marah Hardt and Carl Safina from Yale Climate Connections, high concentrates of carbon dioxide in the ocean creates a PH balance that is very low causing the ocean to become very acidic. When carbon