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Acid rain has a much less harmful effect on oceans on a global scale, but it creates an amplified impact in the shallower waters of coastal waters. [92] Acid rain can cause the ocean's pH to fall, known as ocean acidification, making it more difficult for different coastal species to create their exoskeletons that they need
The absorption of CO 2 from the atmosphere does not affect the ocean's alkalinity. [34]: 2252 This is important to know in this context as alkalinity is the capacity of water to resist acidification. [35] Ocean alkalinity enhancement has been proposed as one option to add alkalinity to the ocean and therefore buffer against pH changes.
Laze plumes forming from pāhoehoe lava flowing into the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii. Laze is acid rain and air pollution arising from steam explosions and large plume clouds containing extremely acidic condensate (mainly hydrochloric acid), which occur when molten lava flows enter cold oceans. [1] [2] The term laze is a portmanteau of lava and haze.
Diagram depicting the sources and cycles of acid rain precipitation. Freshwater acidification occurs when acidic inputs enter a body of fresh water through the weathering of rocks, invasion of acidifying gas (e.g. carbon dioxide), or by the reduction of acid anions, like sulfate and nitrate within a lake, pond, or reservoir. [1]
Also, acid rain and polluted runoff from agriculture and industry change the ocean's chemical composition. Such changes can have dramatic effects on highly sensitive ecosystems such as coral reefs , [ 109 ] thus limiting the ocean's ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere on a regional scale and reducing oceanic biodiversity globally.
The inorganic cycle begins with the production of carbonic acid (H 2 CO 3) from rainwater and gaseous carbon dioxide. [6] Due to this process, normal rain has a pH of around 5.6. [7] Carbonic acid is a weak acid, but over long timescales, it can dissolve silicate rocks
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This would leave them dependent on plant life and thus the sun. Some hydrothermal vent organisms do consume this "rain", but with only such a system, life forms would be sparse. Compared to the surrounding sea floor, however, hydrothermal vent zones have a density of organisms 10,000 to 100,000 times greater.