Hi Folks, This idea is just an early thought and may not be practical....But, here it goes.
If you take a look at this paper http://www.mumm-research.de/download_pdf/treude_et_al_aom_hr.pdf Pg 2 "The AOM consortium predominant at HR consists of sulfate-reducing bacteria of the branch Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcus and archaea of the ANME-2 group (Boetius et al. 2000b). The archaea are surrounded by the sulfate-reducing bacteria and both grow together in dense aggregates that comprise up to 90% of the microbial biomass in hydrate-bearing sediments. The current hypothesis on the functioning of AOM assumes that archaea oxidize methane in a process that is reverse to methanogenesis (Valentine & Reeburgh 2000, and references therein). The role of the sulfate-reducing bacteria in AOM-consortia is the oxidation of a *so far unknown intermediate *by simultaneous reduction of sulfate, thus maintaining thermodynamic conditions allowing methane oxidation to proceed exergonically." Now take a look at this: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-scientists-links-biology-cloud-formation.html The "so far unknown intermediate" seems to have been found by the second group. Thus, I believe sulfite enhancement might be used to both feed the sulfate-reducing bacteria in the vent areas to enhance the biomass around vents and thus methane oxidation. There may also be a synergistic link between increasing this process and.... believe it on not.....cloud nucleation. This brings up the possibility of transplanting biotic colonies to less well populated vents to kick start the natural process. Methane hydrates are associated with local sulfate production in some vents. This may be a clue as to how we might get new biotic masses growing....feed them sulfate through dispersing blocks of compressed sulfate around vents. Just a thought....Any comments, suggestions? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
