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There’s a theory that most coal comes from a period after plants evolved lignin (the substance that makes wood woody) but before bacteria and fungi evolved the
by elil17 4y ago
There’s a theory that most coal comes from a period after plants evolved lignin (the substance that makes wood woody) but before bacteria and fungi evolved the enzymes to break lignin down. Perhaps something similar will happen with plastic.
- ceejayoz 4y agoThat's been debunked. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1517943113 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1517943113
- whateveracct 4y agonet zero information
- ceejayoz 4y agoNo; "Devonian-to-Permian woods infiltrated with fungi and possessing damage consistent with white rot decay or other forms of fungal degradation of lignified tissue" means the original theory simply doesn't work.
- infogulch 4y agoInteresting. Their alternative hypothesis from the abstract: > Rather than a consequence of a temporal decoupling of evolutionary innovations between fungi and plants, Paleozoic coal abundance was likely the result of a unique combination of everwet tropical conditions and extensive depositional systems during the assembly of Pangea.
- elil17 4y agoInteresting. I guess that aligns well with how quickly we’ve seen bacteria evolve to digest plastics.
- everdrive 4y agoI had no idea! Is this definitive, or just another supposition?
- ceejayoz 4y ago"The occurrence of these substantial coal deposits 200 million years after the undisputed evolution of wood-rotting fungi sharply conflicts with the evolutionary lag model" seems pretty clear, as does the evidence of fungal decay in deposited coal.