this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
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Science Memes

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Moss (mander.xyz)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 142 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

It always staggers me when I remember that for roughly sixty million years during the Carboniferous Period, there were trees but no microorganisms capable of decomposing them.

Just sixty million years of branches falling off and trees falling down and... just sitting there on the ground, not rotting at all.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Now consider wild fires during that period.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Fire hadn't been invented yet.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

they said "wild fires"

just like wild horses, wild fires existed long before they were domesticated.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You just ruined the song.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Was the world turning though?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Not the song I mean, but thanks for the ear worm.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago

they must have been wild

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Note that although species can be described as tree-like, they didn't quite look like modern trees do. Also, much of the world was swamp, and much of the dead plant material sank into these bogs and decayed into peat.

The amount of CO2 trapped during this period caused the atmosphere to be around 35% oxygen. This allowed life with inefficient respiratory systems to grow much bigger in size without suffocating, mainly insects. Think woodlice 6 feet long, spiders the size of dogs, millipedes as big as cars, and dragonflies as big as eagles.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago

Think woodlice 6 feet long, spiders the size of dogs, millipedes as big as cars, and dragonflies as big as eagles.

No, I don't think I will

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I LOVE the thought of a world-covering swamp with pseudo-trees and giant fucking bugs. Such a stimulating thought. I'd love to explore and see it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Have you been to Florida, friend?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Nope, but I was in Australia. Not quite as swampy.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It was a lot more fun to believe that coal was crushed dinosaurs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

We have oil for that

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Sus: bacteria predate trees by like... a lot. There may not be many fossils of them:-), but surely they would eat whatever they could.