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Math problem
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 7:22 pm
by duane
Can anyone give me an indication of how big the following amounts are??: Give an estimate such as equivalents i.e., it might be say 1 million football fields.....
1. 1,000,000,000 tonnes and
2. 5,000,000,000 tonnes
That's approximately the sediment loss in the recent qld floods.....much of it ultimately going into the sea in Moreton Bay, along with all the millions of tonnes of dissolved nutrients contained within the water lost to the sea!!!
Until white man came and settled here most of this would have been retained in the landscape to build the system.....we cannot sustain ourselves far into the future, whilst we allow these losses from our (eco)systems to continue.
Re: Math problem
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:05 pm
by ghosta
Lets hope that floods like this continue to be rare events. One cannot help thinking that climate change might be a factor in the changing weather patterns and such events will become more frequent. Perhaps it already to late for meaningful action on a worldwide scale, progress has been painfully slow.
Re: Math problem
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:53 am
by duane
My estimation is somewhere around >23,364,550 semi trailer loads of soil.
What farmer wouldn't like to have some of that. Of course, many will but a vast amount will be lost forever to the sea.
That's part of the disconnect....the topsoil belongs in the landscape where it took aeons to develop. Now we are seeing it disappear.
Re: Math problem
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:42 am
by Stringybark
Duane,
Work on 1.2 metric tonne to the cubic meter, for fine dry silt.
Load 25 tonne to a truck and dog, or semi trailer combination.
Re: Math problem
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:57 pm
by Stringybark
...... and i walk away from the computer. The brain starts clunking....
3000 tonne of silt to an olympic swimming pool.
1000,000,000 tonne would fill 333,333.3 olympic swimming pools. Or Sydney harbour 1.6 times.
5000,000,000 tonne would fill 1,666,666.6 olympic swimming pools. Or Sydney harbour 8.3 times.
Re: Math problem
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:51 pm
by duane
Stringy.....I really appreciate you posting this.
The example using Sydney Harbour is FANTASTIC....it gives people a real sense of the losses.
8.3 Sydney Harbours and thats just from Qld....what about NSW, Vic, SA, and Tasmania??
I am fully aware of the great personal losses suffered by all in the recent floods.....this exercise is in no way meant to diminish their losses.
But we as a nation have also lost some of our future potential.