20 Jun 10
Originally posted by zeeblebotI gather you are playing devil's advocate here. There were definite spikes in CO2 from about 3 million years ago of course from natural causes but today's spike cannot be attributed to any natural cause, considering tens of millions of vehicles on the roads and fossil fuel burned profligately in thousands of power plants around the world. One tank of petrol burned adds hundreds of pounds of CO2 that wasn't there before.
several million years ago, did Lucy the oft-Tree-Dwelling Hominid tool around in a combustion-engine-powered Fred Flintstone Special?
20 Jun 10
Originally posted by sonhouseDo you not see that your statement assumes the conclusion it sets out to prove?
I gather you are playing devil's advocate here. There were definite spikes in CO2 from about 3 million years ago of course from natural causes but today's spike cannot be attributed to any natural cause, considering tens of millions of vehicles on the roads and fossil fuel burned profligately in thousands of power plants around the world. One tank of petrol burned adds hundreds of pounds of CO2 that wasn't there before.
20 Jun 10
Originally posted by zeeblebotThe transition between the end of the Eocene and the beginning of the Oligocene, called the Grande Coupure in Europe, occurring 33.9 ± 0.1 Ma, is marked by large-scale extinction and floral and faunal turnover
several million years ago, did Lucy the oft-Tree-Dwelling Hominid tool around in a combustion-engine-powered Fred Flintstone Special?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eocene-Oligocene_extinction_event
About 34 Ma, the time of the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event and when the Antarctic ice sheet started to take its current form, CO2 is found to have been about 760 ppm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_in_Earth%27s_atmosphere#Historical_variation