How Microbes Cool Oceans and

Cause Earthquakes
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY AUTHORS GREGORY JOHN KEIZER AND GLENN A. BECHTEL

By converting heat energy indirectly to chemical bond energy microbes lower sea temperature as they build biomass and associated energetic chemicals. This process fits well with recent environmental observations where:

1. Higher air temperatures have not translated into higher ocean temperatures.

2. Carbon dating techniques have pointed to water column mixing without seemingly carrying associated heat, subsequent cfc concentration data bolster this finding.

3. A thick layer of very cold sediment millions of years old is sandwiched between earth's geothermal heat from below and the ocean's solar heated warmth from above. Temperature differentials within it act as a natural calorimetric log of geologic, biologic, and ocean current activity.

4. This same layer is loaded with living microbes, mostly archaea, with no conventional energy source to power life.

5. Anoxic diagenesis and related terms for lifeless sediment cooling theory are disproved by modern canning practice. Canned goods are sterile and therefore do not grow colder with storage only warmer.

6. Sea levels are rising as this layer thickens due to biomass production within it along with dangerously buoyant ice crystals. Whole sections of ocean floor are known to rise releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas and byproduct in these conditions, from its once pressurized hydrate form.

7. Seismic waves often increase in strength as they travel along sediment layers in a propagation geologists call amplification. Detonation waves increase in strength as they travel through explosives in a process demolition experts call propagation. Detailed seismic activity animations could easily be replicated in miniature with explosives in a tub by high speed camera.

Conventional physics proclaims background heat energy to be useless, however a new statistical approach, Fluctuation Theorem does not. FT effectively bridges the gap between small scale chemical equilibrium observations and large scale thermodynamics. It is possible that a biological affinity for self construction at this level results in temperature depression. Our old air breathing model of the cell resembling a tiny engine which burns fuel or absorbs sunlight does not work here. Our intermediate model of chemosynthesis power from hot vents does not work here either. Only a kinetically facilitated anabolic cell model could exhibit life, reproduction, and cooling while stuck deep in sediment. Of course this is probably happening above in the water column also, but photosynthesis overpowers by such an extent and life is so complex that it is difficult to detect.

One simple mechanism that may be at work here is chemical equilibrium with a ratchet. Life has a penchant for probing every perturbation of combinations of the 100+ atomic building blocks available to it. A mutation that successfully jumps a metabolic hurdle will continue into the next generation with an advantage. Holding on to a useful chemical reactant is the ratchet mechanism. Chemical equilibrium is a well studied phenomenon where the equal means chemical A is turning into chemical B at the same rate B is turning into A. If B is something the cell needs to build its structure the cell will take it. Once it is sequestered in the cell's structure, it is neither A or B. Lack of B now forces more A to turn into B even though it may be an uphill reaction in terms of energy considerations. Biological selection of available chemicals favors the more rare which usually contain more potential energy. This may be a slow way to make a living, but it is all there is in this vast energy starved environment and the only alternative to life has always been the same dead end.

An example of equilibrium activity with biological impact seems essential for proper understanding. 2009 being the centennial of the pH standard makes the choice of this example a celebration. Pure water has a pH of seven indicating that one in every ten million water molecules has been split into H and OH by intrinsic kinetic forces. This rarity means there are only about 6 billion billion (18 zeros) of these free radicals in each liter of water. Random motions allow these reactants to find each other and reunite at the same rate they split. However if specialized enzymes are present their genetically refined surfaces may be able to efficiently hold these reactants apart in weak chemical bonds. Diffusion eventually moving them to cellular construction sites. They may then be used with other similarly procured molecules to add to cell structure. Oxygen is a prized building block, while hydrogen is in excess and therefore grouped with carbon, another useful but overly abundant atom to produce methane. Spontaneous snapping of the strong oxygen/hydrogen bond powers the process. Buildup of cell structures and byproducts into biomass with more but generally weaker chemical bonds produces the temperature depression. Other measurements of convenience exist like pSW for sea water where many constituents contend in very complex ways.

Highly stable polyatomic molecules such as dinitrogen, water, and carbon dioxide have little affinity for their neighbors, that is why they are fluids. In order to build the fabric of life from them they must be cracked to expose adherent bonding surfaces. They can then be woven into a matrix of weaker but complimentary bonds to form the fortress we call the cell. As air breathers we possess the energy level to quickly do much of this cracking, anaerobes must wait for these molecules to fall apart and then pick up the pieces. We both end up with similar structures tied together with bond strengths durable in the temperature ranges we live. The heat from our speedy method outpaces the cooling caused by the chemical structural rearrangement, therefore we grow warmer while they grow colder.

Cold oceans help keep the planet from spiraling into a global warming crisis. An almost unlimited amount of cold seawater could be brought up and mixed with warm top water producing power by conventional thermodynamic methods along the way. Small scale attempts exist. Global cooling could easily be created if needed and would not likely pose a permanent future hazard because the rate of microbial cooling should increase with increased bottom water temperature and increased carbon dioxide fertilization at the cooled surface/air interface. Warm deepwater can cause sea level rise and changes habitat so this is no panacea, but ocean water on average is so cold that a little experimentation shouldn't be a problem especially where hurricanes prowl. Cooled topwater steals away a hurricane's energy source so a few mixing ships in a storm's projected path is just self defense.

Upwelling of methane deposits from the ocean floor have occurred in the past and will again. Biologically active fields trapped under down slope deposition are likely the largest and most unpredictable future offenders. Vulcanism may owe a good deal of its ferocity to subduction of these layers expressing stored chemical potential. Detonation of deposits being felt as seismic waves. Extremophiles multiply to the point of explosion then regrow from survival inoculation to explode again often without atmospheric involvement. In close association with astrophysics and strengths of materials, seafloors fall catastrophically when these reactions compact matter to stable polyatomic molecules. Shallow detonations initially express expansion before sinking into collapse. Classic aftershock tremors due to the contractions of heat dissipation. Mankind could intercede here providing the spark for many small backfire quakes eliminating full scale earthquakes and tsunamis. Eruption disperses atmospheric ash blocking sunlight and then manifests itself as fallout fertilization. Further cooling follows due to specialized ocean life blooms.

Methods to find cold buoyant sediments and safely mine their much needed natural gas should probably be implemented both to lower sea level and mitigate disaster. Intentional detonation of geologically bioactive layers poses huge risk, leaving them alone to detonate naturally poses far more. Mass evacuation is a community organization specialty. The aftermath of a planned event where utilities have been turned off and firefighters are in place lowers risk. Wave damage, collapse of structures, and fires leaving few dead. Initial experiments will seem wasteful and dangerous to a skeptical public. Understanding and acceptance of properly crafted geocontrol practices inevitable.

The ecologically concerned should be reassured that this mud will grow back and in an octopus's garden many new things could be possible. Cultures of microbes that exhibit cooling should be studied for their possible beneficial attributes including air conditioning, food, fuel, and electrical power production. Extended hibernation, another curiosity, may well be explained by lineage or symbiosis with these heat absorbing specialists. Converting background heat to useful purpose by way of microbes and their extracted enzymes may be the ultimate green with no chlorophyll involved. Is this the dawning of the age of aquariums?