5 ms·

Forgive me if I missed the answer, but where is it going?

FredPret 4y ago
Rivers carry it to the sea
voisin 4y ago
During the Dust Bowl, a lot of the soil blew away into the Atlantic Ocean off New England. Not sure how they knew that but I’ve come across this a number of times. Absent organic matter, the soil becomes dust and literally blows away.
- jseutter 4y ago
  The wikipedia page mentions it - the prevailing winds are west-to-east across much of the US and Canada due to the jet stream. In the winter the jet stream also moves further south. It mentions some of what must have been epic multi-day dust storms that started in South Dakota and reached Chicago one day and the east coast the next. New England had red snowfall from the residual dust in the air. I was surprised recently when I was watching an Iowa corn farmer on youtube who is the new generation taking over the farm and trying to change things for the better by doing "new" things such as no till farming. I remember reading about no-till as a kid back in the 80s and there are still people who are just now getting the memo and trying it. I loved farming but didn't take over the family farm because my dad was reticent to trying new things, and chose computer programming instead.
  - randomdata 4y ago
    > I remember reading about no-till as a kid back in the 80s and there are still people who are just now getting the memo and trying it. I remember as a kid in the 80s watching people try it. They either went bankrupt or soon pulled the old iron back out of the shed. But the march of technological progress continues. The tools on the market now aren't the same tools they had in the 80s. It stands to reason that it is going to be tried again. Not no-till related, but I recently bought an implement for my farm and my grandfather was concerned because a similar tool he had decades ago didn't work well on the farm. But the new tool is only similar on the surface. When you start looking at the details it is very different, benefiting from decades of advancement. It's worth trying again.
    - JamisonM 4y ago
      What is the implement you bought?
  - theGnuMe 4y ago
    Where I live in the US, no till farming is common and it is growing in use.
lukas099 4y ago
Soil erodes into waterways which spill into oceans. Btw, the nutrients that the soil carries can cause spikes in algal populations, which then lower the oxygen content of water bodies, killing large numbers of other organisms like fish.
- Keyframe 4y ago
  The story just keeps giving, isn't it? Initial thought I had was, well maybe they'll drag out and filter (for salt) ocean floor sediment to use it.
- hypertele-Xii 4y ago
  > spikes in algal populations, which then lower the oxygen content of water bodies How can algae lower oxygen when oxygen is the very byproduct of their photosynthesis? They literally turn water into oxygen. Wouldn't that increase the oxygen content?
  - mindracer 4y ago
    When the algae bloom dies oxygen is used during decay https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/effects-dead-zones-and-harmful-algal-blooms https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/effects-dead-zones-and...
    - lukas099 4y ago
      This is similar to how mulch works to suppress weed growth. Mulch is decaying matter and nutrients like nitrogen are temporarily 'locked up' during the decay process.
sva_ 4y ago
I sometimes wonder if places like Egypt used to be covered in much more fertile land and perhaps they overdid the agriculture for a couple 100 years which turned it into an arid wasteland (I'm a total geology noob.)
- rqtwteye 4y ago
  Ancient Egypt relied on the Nile flooding the land. Now with the dams the flopding has stopped but they are also having trouble with the soil.
- version_five 4y ago
  Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started By Changes In Earth's Orbit, Accelerated By Atmospheric And Vegetation Feedbacks https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.h... Via the wikipedia article on the Sahara desert. I think many deserts come and go based on climate patterns
  - yesenadam 4y ago
    Fascinating article, thanks. The main author Martin Claussen has many papers on that and related subjects, available here: https://mpimet.mpg.de/en/staff/martin-claussen/publications/peer-reviewed-articles https://mpimet.mpg.de/en/staff/martin-claussen/publications/... Claussen on Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=udBYQ-cAAAAJ&hl=en https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=udBYQ-cAAAAJ&hl=en
- akiselev 4y ago
  No, ancient Egyptian civilization was always been dependent on the Nile not just for water but for the flooding that brings eroded trace minerals and deposits them along the basin. That's why we have so much material on ancient Egyptian civilization: the desert is so arid and has been for Egypt's entire history that the normal processes that would break down papyrus or other organic matter were significantly slowed down as long as they were buried far enough away from the Nile.
- wahern 4y ago
dredmorbius 4y ago
As others have noted, water erosion is a major factor, but there are others. The Dust Bowl in the US occurred after a drought coincided with recently-arrived dryland farming (unirrigated land) and overtilling. The topsoil from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles was deposited across the U.S. at points east, as far as New York City. Tilling itself can expose and degrade carbon in the topsoil, which is why various no-till farming methods are increasingly employed. Wikipedia has a good overview: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_erosion#Physical_processes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_erosion#Physical_processe...>

Rivers carry it to the sea

During the Dust Bowl, a lot of the soil blew away into the Atlantic Ocean off New England. Not sure how they knew that but I’ve come across this a number of times. Absent organic matter, the soil becomes dust and literally blows away.

jseutter 4y ago
The wikipedia page mentions it - the prevailing winds are west-to-east across much of the US and Canada due to the jet stream. In the winter the jet stream also moves further south. It mentions some of what must have been epic multi-day dust storms that started in South Dakota and reached Chicago one day and the east coast the next. New England had red snowfall from the residual dust in the air. I was surprised recently when I was watching an Iowa corn farmer on youtube who is the new generation taking over the farm and trying to change things for the better by doing "new" things such as no till farming. I remember reading about no-till as a kid back in the 80s and there are still people who are just now getting the memo and trying it. I loved farming but didn't take over the family farm because my dad was reticent to trying new things, and chose computer programming instead.
- randomdata 4y ago
  > I remember reading about no-till as a kid back in the 80s and there are still people who are just now getting the memo and trying it. I remember as a kid in the 80s watching people try it. They either went bankrupt or soon pulled the old iron back out of the shed. But the march of technological progress continues. The tools on the market now aren't the same tools they had in the 80s. It stands to reason that it is going to be tried again. Not no-till related, but I recently bought an implement for my farm and my grandfather was concerned because a similar tool he had decades ago didn't work well on the farm. But the new tool is only similar on the surface. When you start looking at the details it is very different, benefiting from decades of advancement. It's worth trying again.
  - JamisonM 4y ago
    What is the implement you bought?
- theGnuMe 4y ago
  Where I live in the US, no till farming is common and it is growing in use.

lukas099 4y ago

Soil erodes into waterways which spill into oceans. Btw, the nutrients that the soil carries can cause spikes in algal populations, which then lower the oxygen content of water bodies, killing large numbers of other organisms like fish.

Keyframe 4y ago
The story just keeps giving, isn't it? Initial thought I had was, well maybe they'll drag out and filter (for salt) ocean floor sediment to use it.
hypertele-Xii 4y ago
> spikes in algal populations, which then lower the oxygen content of water bodies How can algae lower oxygen when oxygen is the very byproduct of their photosynthesis? They literally turn water into oxygen. Wouldn't that increase the oxygen content?
- mindracer 4y ago
  When the algae bloom dies oxygen is used during decay https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/effects-dead-zones-and-harmful-algal-blooms https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/effects-dead-zones-and...
  - lukas099 4y ago
    This is similar to how mulch works to suppress weed growth. Mulch is decaying matter and nutrients like nitrogen are temporarily 'locked up' during the decay process.

sva_ 4y ago

I sometimes wonder if places like Egypt used to be covered in much more fertile land and perhaps they overdid the agriculture for a couple 100 years which turned it into an arid wasteland (I'm a total geology noob.)

rqtwteye 4y ago
Ancient Egypt relied on the Nile flooding the land. Now with the dams the flopding has stopped but they are also having trouble with the soil.
version_five 4y ago
Sahara's Abrupt Desertification Started By Changes In Earth's Orbit, Accelerated By Atmospheric And Vegetation Feedbacks https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/07/990712080500.h... Via the wikipedia article on the Sahara desert. I think many deserts come and go based on climate patterns
- yesenadam 4y ago
  Fascinating article, thanks. The main author Martin Claussen has many papers on that and related subjects, available here: https://mpimet.mpg.de/en/staff/martin-claussen/publications/peer-reviewed-articles https://mpimet.mpg.de/en/staff/martin-claussen/publications/... Claussen on Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=udBYQ-cAAAAJ&hl=en https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=udBYQ-cAAAAJ&hl=en
akiselev 4y ago
No, ancient Egyptian civilization was always been dependent on the Nile not just for water but for the flooding that brings eroded trace minerals and deposits them along the basin. That's why we have so much material on ancient Egyptian civilization: the desert is so arid and has been for Egypt's entire history that the normal processes that would break down papyrus or other organic matter were significantly slowed down as long as they were buried far enough away from the Nile.
wahern 4y ago

dredmorbius 4y ago

As others have noted, water erosion is a major factor, but there are others. The Dust Bowl in the US occurred after a drought coincided with recently-arrived dryland farming (unirrigated land) and overtilling. The topsoil from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles was deposited across the U.S. at points east, as far as New York City. Tilling itself can expose and degrade carbon in the topsoil, which is why various no-till farming methods are increasingly employed. Wikipedia has a good overview: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_erosion#Physical_processes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_erosion#Physical_processe...>