@mike_malaska@deepspace.social
2026-03-11 01:41 UTC
The authors showed these wild non-intuitive effects that make sense when you tease it out.
Slower sinking particles dissolve sorta slow.
Medium speed sinking particles (10 meters a day drop) dissolve very fast
Faster sinking particles dissolve slow again.
There is definitely a Goldilocks effect going on. What drives it?
Replies (1)
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@mike_malaska@deepspace.social 2026-03-11 01:44
Slow particles have active microbes, but not much water flow, so aerobic respiration (needing O2 dissolved in water) kinda shuts down. Slow diffusion of O2 restricts microbial growth. Local CO2 release from local microbial growth kinda weak. Not much dissolution. Fast speed has another problem. Great delivery of O2 to microbes, but any local CO2 (acidic) release is whooshed and diluted away by fast moving water. Great growth, but not much dissolution.