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Yep. I remember being blown away when I learned that most early trees fossilized because there was nothing yet to break them down. Not fungi, not bacteria, no
by RajT88 3y ago
Yep. I remember being blown away when I learned that most early trees fossilized because there was nothing yet to break them down. Not fungi, not bacteria, not insects.
- hanniabu 3y agoPretty crazy to imagine. large swaths of land with layers and layers of fallen trees
- OkayPhysicist 3y agoMost of them would have broken down, it's not like giant piles of logs. Think more "heavily wooded bog"
- Loughla 3y agoThe weather still breaks down dead plant matter, even without fungi or insects, I think?
- M95D 3y agoYes, it turned to mud, then oil.
- 1970-01-01 3y agoIf there was oxygen, it still burned. One lightning strike would be enough to wipe the ground clean.
- londons_explore 3y agoThere was much less oxygen back then.
- Tagbert 3y agoThis was the Carboniferous age when oxygen levels are thought to have been up to 35% as opposed to 21% now. Most trees probably grew in swampy areas and the water they fell into would have been lower in oxygen. The material would have built up in the water and mud.
- junofan 3y agoThe evolutionary lag hypothesis is trivially false. Simple calculations show you’d quickly run out of atmospheric carbon.
- Loughla 3y agoSo, can you provide the calculations?
- saalweachter 3y agoI mean, we did? Atmospheric CO2 levels in the pre-tree era 400 Myears ago was something like above 6000ppm, compared to 280ppm in the pre-industrial era. Even burning coal formed during this time like mad, 90% of the atmospheric CO2 is still just gone.