Peter Burgess
New member
Did Gus suggest it wasn't a natural process? Ice melting is a natural process.
The dissolution of Stal requires that the cave atmosphere has substantially higher CO2 than the water, and that the wate is not saturated with CO2gus horsley said:Here's another possible long-term effect of climate change on caves: erosion of speleothems. If there is an increased rainfall on the surface, there will be an increased percolation rate through the minute fissures which allow CaCO3 to be taken into solution and precipitated. The increased flow can exceed the point at which CaCO3 is precipitated and erosion takes over. Therefore many of our formations may start to slowly disappear.
Les W said:The dissolution of Stal requires that the cave atmosphere has substantially higher CO2 than the water, and that the wate is not saturated with CO2gus horsley said:Here's another possible long-term effect of climate change on caves: erosion of speleothems. If there is an increased rainfall on the surface, there will be an increased percolation rate through the minute fissures which allow CaCO3 to be taken into solution and precipitated. The increased flow can exceed the point at which CaCO3 is precipitated and erosion takes over. Therefore many of our formations may start to slowly disappear.
The water will then take more CO2 from the [cave] atmosphere and become more aggressive. If the water is saturated (normally the case) then the water will not get more aggressive and will not erode the speleothems.
whitelackington said:One natural process that caused some species to virtually self destruct
was the over population of organisms that excreted oxygen.
They gassed themselves out of the outside environment and retreated underground.
Are they now taking their revenge :-\
gus horsley said:cap 'n chris said:But that's a natural process. Unless, of course, people are aliens.
How do you mean?
After Henry enacted the dissolution of the monastries,Peter Burgess said:Les W said:The dissolution of Stal requires that the cave atmosphere has substantially higher CO2 than the water, and that the wate is not saturated with CO2gus horsley said:Here's another possible long-term effect of climate change on caves: erosion of speleothems. If there is an increased rainfall on the surface, there will be an increased percolation rate through the minute fissures which allow CaCO3 to be taken into solution and precipitated. The increased flow can exceed the point at which CaCO3 is precipitated and erosion takes over. Therefore many of our formations may start to slowly disappear.
The water will then take more CO2 from the [cave] atmosphere and become more aggressive. If the water is saturated (normally the case) then the water will not get more aggressive and will not erode the speleothems.
I wonder if the monasteries had a lower tolerance threshhold to carbon dioxide. Sorry. :-[
andymorgan said:whitelackington said:One natural process that caused some species to virtually self destruct
was the over population of organisms that excreted oxygen.
They gassed themselves out of the outside environment and retreated underground.
Are they now taking their revenge :-\
Are you talking about plants :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\
cap 'n chris said:gus horsley said:cap 'n chris said:But that's a natural process. Unless, of course, people are aliens.
How do you mean?
Oops! Sorry, Gus; I was off with the fairies. You make a good observation (I re-read the title of this thread) and that's what this is about, not the whys-and-wherefores of climate change, about which I was thinking.
whitelackington said:They used to be called bacteria, they made the oxygen rich atmosphere we now enjoy
gus horsley said:There would be changes to the fauna of caves. I'm not sure how global warming will affect bats but I'm fairly certain it will be negative. They may not go into hibernation due to the temperature not dropping below a sufficient level (6 degrees and below for horseshoe bats) which means they may be active throughout the winter. Most hibernating bats mate in the autumn but don't become pregnant until the early spring (which is quite a feat) so I suspect that warmer winters will seriously disrupt their gestation cycles. There may also be a lack of food in the winter which is one of the reasons they hibernate in the first place.