Carbonate and Coal

>You guys are ignoring the possibility of volcanic resupply of nutrients and calcium. My repost of Art Chadwick's "Marine Blooms" mentioned the radical influence of iron on the growth of marine organisms. I mentioned the possibility of carbonatites, or volcanic carbonates as a possible source of calcium. I see no reason why all of the necessary materials could not be re-supplied rapidly for continual accelerated growth of coccoliths. The excess calcium would precipitate to form massive, fossil-barren limestones, which we also see. <

In addition to the need to demonstrate that one year of volcanism could produce enough carbonate for the formation of all the coccoliths, calcareous foraminifera, mollusks, corals, echinoderms, calcareous sponges, calcareous macroalgae, calcified arthropods, articulate brachiopods, lithified bryozoans, inorganic precipitates, etc. in the fossil record (or whatever portion is assigned to the Flood) without reaching concentrations that are detrimental to life, you need to account for the other things produced by volcanoes, including heat as well as other chemicals.
Evaporites provide constraints on past seawater chemistry; the relative concentration of calcium and carbonate compared to other ions cannot have changed too drastically.
How do you get fossil-barren limestones while also producing vast volumes of microfossils?
Even if these issues are addressed, none of this answers the issues I raised about the faunal changes, biogeography, etc. through the geologic column.

>Based upon your current understanding, would you agree that the Pennsylvanian coals of the eastern US are allochthonous (transported, not in situ)? <

>Water seeks its own level. If the North American continent was flooded, then there is an outside chance that the other continents were also flooded. <

Some justification is necessary for the jump from claiming that there is a significant allochthonous component in Pennsylvanian coals to the claim that all of North America was flooded. Allochthonous coal can form in swamps and other ordinary habitats; it does not even demonstrate a local flood.

    Dr. David Campbell
    Old Seashells
    University of Alabama
    Biodiversity & Systematics
    Dept. Biological Sciences
    Box 870345
    Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
    bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com

That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa

                 
Received on Mon Dec 1 15:29:26 2003