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A comment on Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?. Parent comment

Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by jessaustin on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:47PM (#12491594)
They could be using iron dust because it's cheaply available as a byproduct of something else, but I would have expected e.g. silica dust to be cheaper still.

[EDIT:] thanks for the info! TFA went on and on, yet somehow omitted the explanation for iron...

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Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by civilian on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:59PM (#12491689)
Iron is needed for photosynthesis, and silicia is not. Iron is the key limiting factor in the growth of oceanic plankton, so it has to be iron.

Optionally, we could use volcanic ash instead. But only because it contains a lot of iron. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization

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Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by shiggerino on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:54PM (#12491646)
I bet sewer sludge would be even cheaper, but that practice was banned for a reason. I fail to see how iron oxide is much better.
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