Answer to Question #181501 in Biology for yazid

Question

1.     History of Iron hypothesis.

Define the iron fertilization? How did they know about the atmospheric gas composition in ancient times? How did Martin’s come to this finding? What is the main objective of this OIC?

Answer 1

Martin's iron hypothesis states that seeding the ocean surface with iron should make microscopic marine organisms like diatoms multiply dramatically, which might, in turn, cool the planet. Martin carried out bottle-based experiments that showed that adding iron to water from high-nutrient areas rapidly boosted phytoplankton populations. The atmospheric gas composition can be estimated from the amounts of carbon deposits at the ocean bottom. High carbon dioxide concentration is associated with increased bioproductivity of marine organisms. As a result, it was concluded that adding iron would encourage the growth of carbon-munching marine phytoplankton that would pull carbon out of the atmosphere on a global scale.