As a working hypothesis, the coupling produces two dominant chemostatic modes:, a state of elevated atmospheric CO2, warm climate, and depressed seawater Mg/Ca and SO4/Ca mol ratios, pH, and carbonate saturation states, and elevated Sr concentrations, with calcite and dolomite as dominant minerals found in marine carbonate sediments, and, a state of depressed atmospheric CO2, cool climate, and elevated seawater Mg/Ca and SO4/Ca ratios, pH, and carbonate saturation states, and low Sr concentrations, with aragonite and high magnesian calcites as dominant minerals found in marine carbonate sediments. Because of decreased calcification rates and increased dissolution rates in a future higher CO2, warmer world with seas of lower pH and carbonate saturation state, the rate of accretion of carbonate structures is likely to slow and dissolution may even exceed calcification.

R. U. Ayres Industrial Metabolism the Grand Nutrient Cycles September 1, 1996 Page 2 Solar Exergy: Driver of all the Cycles Exergy inflows from the sun to the earth must be balanced by exergy outflows, exergy gains by or losses from terrestrial inventories and exergy losses from biospheric and economic processes. If the solar exergy influx had not changed, it would follow that the exergy available for driving natural processes on the earth's surface must have increased quite significantly in consequence.

Great strides have been made in understanding the biodiversity and ecosystem function of the ocean's midwaters, but large regions, including those containing many exploration license areas and the greater depths where mining plumes will occur, remain very poorly studied. Plume models will help evaluate the spatial and temporal extent of pelagic ecosystem effects and help to assess risks from different technologies and mining scenarios.

Tidal freshwater forests on the coast of Georgia, USA, offer considerable potential for carbon sequestration and nutrient accumulation. However, soil accretion in these forests is substantially lower than the rate of sea level rise along the coast, according to research by the University of Georgia's School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering. Soil accretion averaged 1.3-2.2 mm yr−1, compared to the recent rate of sea level rise along the coast of 3.0 mm yr−1. As the sea level rises, tidal forests are likely to decline, with oligohaline and brackish marshes expanding where soil accretion exceeds the current rate of sea level rise. While marshes will deliver some ecosystem services, such as increased carbon sequestration and sediment trapping, other services, such as migratory songbird habitat, will decline. Tidal forests have a tenuous future unless they can migrate upriver, researchers said.

The Coastal Plain province of Virginia contains a variety of unconsolidated sediments that yield different types of water depending on location. The water in the western part of the region, along the Fall Zone, is soft and low in total mineralization, but as it moves eastward it becomes harder and gains in mineral content. In the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay, the water can be somewhat brackish and contain high levels of chloride. The variance in water quality is due to the different sediment types and processes that occur when the water interacts with them. Soft water in the Fall Zone with free carbon dioxide dissolves calcium carbonate and forms hard calcium-bicarbonate water in adjacent areas to the east. The gain in bicarbonate that occurs even without free carbon dioxide is accounted for by the breakdown of sulphate and liberation of carbon dioxide. Fluoride levels in the water vary depending on the sediments and are generally higher in the south, while high chloride levels in the east are due to incomplete flushing of the sediments with sea water. Base exchange within the system occurs as sea water freshens, with clays adsorbing mostly magnesium and sodium when saturated with sea water and depositing calcium and magnesium and liberating sodium in contact with dilute solutions.