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Re: chicken and Egg?-biogenic decalcification
>Larry Frank wrote, Friday, Apr. 24:
>....So this is sort of a chicken and egg question. Does the rise in PH due to
>CO2 being pulled from solution cause biogenic decalsification. Or does
>biogenic decalsification cause a rise in PH?
>
Plants like Elodea, Najas, Eigeria, Ceratophyllum, and Vallisneria are able
to utilize the bicarbonate ion, HCO3-, They remove CO2, leaving behind
OH-. The high pH created causes precipitation of calcium carbonate on the
leaf. The increased OH- drives the equation, HCO3- -------> H+ + CO3-- to
the right. The H+ combines with the OH- to form H2O, and the CO3--
combines with Ca++ to precipitate out as CaCO3.
Paul Krombholz, in cool central Mississippi, where it is going to get
warmer.