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Re: Speculation on water loss
Posted By: GradyDate: 9/25/03 10:14 p.m.

In Response To: Re: Speculation on water loss (Infininja)

: They're not necessarily, but that wasn't my point. The oxygen has to go
: SOMEWHERE. Whether it's destroying metal, going into the atmosphere, or
: doing whatever else oxygen does, it must be doing something.

If I had to pick a place for it to go, I'd pick rocks. At least, I think that's where it ends up on planets without life to extract it out; Halo doesn't have any volcanism to bring up all-new rock to be oxidized, but it certainly does have erosion to expose new rock surface to the atmosphere. I'll have to say, though, that I'm not very clear on how the geologic side of oxygen cycling works; any geologists or planetologists out there?

Actually, looking at my reference ("Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments," by Martyn J. Fogg, published by the Society of Automotive Engineers, 1995), Halo and its sister rings wouldn't have very good prospects in the long term. Besides leaking hydrogen in particular and atmosphere in general, they also don't have any volcanism to complete the rock cycle and bring trapped nutrients back into the biosphere:

"... these [sedimentary] rocks can become sinks for biogenic materials, trapping essential elements like carbon, sulfur and phosphorus in mineralized and isolating them from living processes. If this were to go on for a few million years, much of the land would become worn down close to sea level and the ocean basins would become clogged with salts and sediments, causing chronic nutrient shortages that would drive the biosphere. Fortunately, these sediments are not always buried in perpetuity, but are thrust back to the surface in mountain-building episodes and re-exposed to weathering and erosion." (pages 69-72)

Unfortunately, Halo doesn't have plate tectonics or mountain-building episodes. Of course, even if it were designed to last millions of years, the Forerunner (is that singular or plural?) probably expected to perform maintenance. Although, if the water level really has fallen so much, maintenance is already overdue, and the Forerunner are nowhere in sight... I wonder if the other rings are also falling into disrepair?

--Grady

PS. As for oxidation of metal, it doesn't have to destroy it. Many metals rapidly develop an oxide layer on contact with air, and it's often beneficial; the oxide layer (primarily oxides of nickel and other alloying elements) is one of the things that gives stainless steel its corrosion resistance. But I think previous poster was right after all about metals not being a likely place for the oxygen to go, since taking up meters of ocean worth of oxygen would probably go far beyond just an oxide layer and imply painfully obvious amounts of corrosion, which we haven't seen.

Message Index



Replies:

Speculation on water lossGrady 9/25/03 1:29 a.m.
     Re: Speculation on water lossInfininja 9/25/03 3:58 p.m.
           Re: Speculation on water lossGrady 9/25/03 4:59 p.m.
                 Re: Speculation on water lossInfininja 9/25/03 5:55 p.m.
                       Re: Speculation on water lossAlianAnt 9/25/03 6:05 p.m.
                             Re: Speculation on water lossInfininja 9/25/03 6:12 p.m.
                                   Re: Speculation on water lossGrady 9/25/03 10:14 p.m.
                 Re: Speculation on water lossViscily II 9/29/03 6:54 p.m.
     Re: Speculation on water lossMicahst 9/25/03 8:56 p.m.
           Re: Speculation on water lossMicahst 9/25/03 9:02 p.m.
     Re: Speculation on water lossPlastic Chicken 9/25/03 10:43 p.m.
           Re: Speculation on water lossPlastic Chicken 9/25/03 10:46 p.m.
                 Re: Speculation on water lossInfininja 9/25/03 10:54 p.m.
                       Re: Speculation on water lossPlastic Chicken 9/27/03 10:01 p.m.
           Re: Speculation on water lossGrady 9/26/03 12:16 a.m.
                 Re: Speculation on water lossGrady 9/26/03 2:09 a.m.
                       Re: Speculation on water lossInfininja 9/26/03 7:19 a.m.
                             Re: Speculation on water lossGrady 9/26/03 12:12 p.m.
                                   Re: Speculation on water lossInfininja 9/26/03 1:21 p.m.
                       Re: Speculation on water lossPlastic Chicken 9/28/03 1:25 a.m.
                             I meant m/s/s *NM* *NM*Plastic Chicken 9/28/03 2:06 a.m.
     Re: Speculation on water lossDwain 9/29/03 7:37 a.m.
           Re: Flood alter the atmosphere?Wado SG 9/29/03 1:21 p.m.



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