Superdirt Made Lost Amazon Cities Possible

nationalgeographic ^

[JoeProBono]

Now scientists are trying to recreate the recipe for the apparently human-made supersoil, which still covers up to 10 percent of the Amazon Basin. Key ingredients included of dirt, charcoal, pottery, human excrement and other waste.

If recreated, the engineered soil could feed the hungry and may even help fight global warming, experts suggest.

Video Clip From Lost Cities of the Amazon Documentary

[MrEdd]

The artical identified itself as junk science as soon as it began parroting the “Global warming” line.

[rdl6989]

ping.

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[ScreamingFist]

Yes, we call it “manure” now.

[Red_Devil 232]

They used the super rich natural compost piles found in their swamps and low lands!

[seowulf]

You’d better be careful if you’re going to mix human waste in with the soil you grow food in. All kinds of nasty diseases are possible, including cholera.

There may be a reason these cities were empty when the Conquistadors found them.

[Daffynition]

[TexGuy]

Oh goody ... Let us recreate our civilization after the Amazon tribes’. They are to be admired and imitated. EVERYBODY! Off with your pants and into the nearest river. Wahhooooooo!

[JerseyHighlander]

This soil type was described briefly in the book 1941 by Charles C. Mann.
Seems that many indigenous people still farm on the soil to this day.
Quite an amazing legacy.

[SunkenCiv]

Amazonian find stuns researchers
The Seattle Times | 9-20-03 | By Thomas H. Maugh II
Posted on 09/20/2003 6:15:45 PM PDT by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/986400/posts

and, for many more related links, see:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2070246/posts?page=25#25
in:
Scientists find ancient lost settlements in Amazon
Reuters | Aug 28, 2008 | Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Maggie Fox
Posted on 08/28/2008 5:54:59 PM PDT by decimon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2070246/posts

‘Lost towns’ discovered in Amazon
BBC News | 8-28-08
Posted on 09/19/2008 4:43:17 AM PDT by Renfield
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2085718/posts

unrelated, but still interesting:

Amazon ‘Outgrows Nile’
The Telegraph (UK) | 6-18-2007 | Andrew Downie
Posted on 06/17/2007 7:45:47 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1851895/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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[null and void]

Mary, Mary, quite contrary
how does your garden grow?
With silver bells
and cockle shells
and a little manure
just to be sure...

[pabianice]

Key ingredients included of dirt, charcoal, pottery, human excrement and other waste.

Sounds like the carpet inside an Obama supporter's home.

[JoeProBono]

[Grizzled Bear]

Didn’t that happen in our spinach crop a few years ago...

[Fred Nerks]

TERRA PRETA/LINK.

"Terra Preta de Indio" (Amazonian Dark Earths, earlier also called “Terra Preta do Indio” or Indian Black Earth) is the local name for certain dark earths in the Brazilian Amazon region. These dark earths occur, however, in several countries in South America (Brazil, Ecuador and Peru) and possibly beyond.

As ecologically rich as the rainforest may appear, the soil it stands in is unsuited to farming – largely a result of the incessant rain washing away all nutrients. But those pockets of soil that are Terra Preta, are suitable for farming and thus form an out of place patch of fertility in an otherwise harsh environment. In fact, it has the ability to maintain nutrient levels over hundreds of years. According to Bruno Glaser, a chemist at the University of Bayreuth, "If you read the textbooks, it shouldn't be there." According to a study led by Dirse Kern of the Museu Goeldi in Belem, Terra Preta is "not associated with a particular parent soil type or environmental condition", suggesting it was not produced by natural processes...

[SunkenCiv]

thanks Fred Nerks!

Rainforest Researchers Hit Paydirt (Farming 11K Years Ago in South America)
University Of Vermont | 8-29-2002 | Lynda Majarian
Posted on 08/30/2002 10:11:59 AM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/742036/posts