Mammoth Dung May Speed Global Warming

Photos

Scientist Sergei Zimov examines mammoth dung. Reuters Photo

see larger image

uploaded by ppeggy

The thawing of mammoth dung and other organic matter left by the creatures that roamed the Arctic for thousands of years may accelerate global warming faster than the most pessimistic forecasts.

Sergei Zimov, the chief scientist at the Russian Academy of Science's Northern Eastern Scientific station, is concerned with the melting of permafrost.  His research centers on an area in Siberia larger than France and Germany combined.   He has observed that climate change is already causing a thawing of permafrost seen in a landscape dotted with trees that have fallen over in the soft muck.  But the real threat, says Zimov, is the thawing of huge amounts of mammoth dung and other organic deposits that will results in the release of microbes that have lain dormant for thousands of years into the air, creating gigantic amounts of carbon dioxide and methane gas.  It will be impossible to stop the effect this will have on global warming.