Disperser
2015-06-22 23:34:27
I can't quite recall where I read it, but nickel and iron are fertilizer for microorganisms, such as plankton, which form the base of the food chain. I have to believe that stainless steel filings or dust then (nickel is what makes stainless steel stainless) would make a perfect fertilizer.
So, has anyone heard of efforts to try this to improve the fisheries, including for salmon? It seems like something we ought to consider, perhaps even on our own. Given how hard it has gotten to trust our government ( joke...never did trust them did we?) perhaps we ought to try it.
Looking at potential impacts, I see none adverse. The only possible adverse effect could be deoxification by blooms, but from what I read, blooms don't happen without an abundance of all nutrients, which would make the water nearly sterile for anything else anyway. All this stainless dust would do is replace what is missing, sufficient nickel and iron to allow the normal amount of microorganisms.
Of course, we could do this completely scientifically, but it would involve measuring the current nutrient load and comparing it to a baseline condition representing the normal load, pre-fishing. And unless we can get archived samples, or data of nutrient loads from back then, I don't see how we can determine what amounts are missing if any. Alternatively, we could measure the microorgansim load, compare it to the needs of the normal food chain, and estimate the need for fertilizer based on the nutrittional needs of the ideal microorganism load.
Whew, its complicated to even write, much less think about trying to find that data.
In the end, perhaps we should just experiment for ourselves, see how our dispersing of stainless dust affects our fisheries, and let the government come in and try to explain the miraculous recovery. For that kind of satisfaction, I would go to the local scrapyard and buy a whole drum of stainless dust.
Better yet, I would love to take out some frustrations and make dust myself with a grinder...
If I ever get a float plane....hmm, I wonder how much it would be to rent a crop duster...
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