Kauai, HI Reef Accelerated Corrosion Team
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: ChemE Stewart <cheme911@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 11:58 AM
Subject: Re: Great meeting today about our coral reefs
To: Some people and You
The one thing I think should have a close look if a study moves forward is the amount of iron “dust” in the water along the coastline. Iron in seawater is already known to kill a reef and promote algae growth. Since you have lots of agriculture and “red dirt” and “red cliffs” you also probably have lots of iron oxide dust blowing around in the wind from farms and construction projects. Kauai is high in volcanic iron.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140204-shipwreck-coral-reefs-damage-algae-remove-pacific/
“A scientific study published today at The ISME Journal shows that the shipwreck is releasing iron slowly into the surrounding waters, thus fertilizing the iron-poor waters of Kingman Reef and causing a population explosion of algae, and microbes. The result is the killing of one km of reef in less than three years. Linda Wegley of San Diego State University (SDSU) and lead author of the study says that ” the black reefs show that a very small amount of some pollutant (in this case iron) can kill a large area of a pristine reef.”
Dust in the wind and reef bleaching/decline:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Dust/
In the end, it all still looks like a form of accelerated electrochemical corrosion(galvanic and/or stray electrical current) to me (oxidation/reduction Rx going on with minerals/metals) due to the orange/red colors on the reef, cliffs and red dirt on the west side and dissolving calcium carbonate.
Aloha,
Stewart
West/Northwest Side of Kauai, HI
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: ChemE Stewart <cheme911@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: Thoughts about the military and 2016 RIMPAC?
To: Some People
Make sure to check the red dust generated from the Ag companies, it is mostly iron/iron oxide, it is probably washing up on the reef during rain and when it is windy. It will accelerate the corrosion of calcium (galvanic currents) because it has lots of surface area.
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/trouble_in_paradise1/
Dust can also create lots of electrical charge in the atmosphere, especially when passing through strong EM fields
I think one of the reason you have more iron oxide/red dirt/red cliffs is you have more corrosion on the NW of Kauai due to the military base antennas and high power/high gain electronics
The red color of the soils of the Wahiawa plateau is primarily due to the iron oxide hematite. As you move away from the central plateau into the flanks of the Koolaus, the bright red colors fade and turn brownish. This tells you that another iron oxide of a different color is replacing hematite. The brown iron oxide is a hydrated iron oxide called goethite. The content of hydrated iron oxide increases as rainfall increases as is the case as you move upslope on the Koolaus.
Red Dust from Kauai Agriculture is blowing onto the coral reef. The red/orange is due to iron oxides
“Peer into the skies of Miami or San Juan on a late summer day, and you’ll see that threat lurking as a reddish haze that virtually blots out the sun. Researchers have long known that strong winds periodically sweep clay-rich red soil off the dry surface of the Sahel–the region just south of the Saharan desert in North Africa–and send it across the Atlantic Ocean in giant plumes easily visible from space. The airborne dirt then rains down in south Florida and the Caribbean Sea as it has done every summer for hundreds of thousands of years. (In fact, the topsoil of Barbados is almost entirely African dust.) Only recently have researchers realized that the dust is loaded with potential coral killers–including disease spores, radioactive elements and overabundant nutrients.Marine geologist Eugene A. Shinn of the U.S. Geological Survey in St. Petersburg, Fla., became suspicious of the African dust after nearly 30 years of studying the Caribbeans reef-building corals and their perplexing demise. When Shinn began his work–and for at least 6,000 years before that time–branching elkhorn and staghorn corals (Acropora palmata andAcropora cervicornis) dominated Caribbean reefs”
Double Whammy
All looks like accelerated Electrochemical Corrosion Damage to me.
Aloha,
Stewart
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