iolite
19-02-2012, 01:55 AM
So I'm in the car on the way to go grocery shopping. I got out of the house really late and as I pull into the parking lot, I was listening to NPR and Radio Lab was on. It was about these 2 scientists (husband and wife Don and Andrea Stierle) in Montana whose research had been completely destroyed when the fridge in their lab got turned off. So, looking around for other things to study, they turned to Berkley Pit. Berkley Pit was created by a former copper mining company. The mining company went under in 1982, they turned off the pumps so the pit began to fill with water. This pit contains pyrite and sulfide minerals that create sulfuric acid when water is introduced. This sulfuric acid began to release other minerals as well such as arsenic and other heavy metals.
Then in the mid 90's a large flock of 200 snow geese landed on the water now in Berkley Pit. The next morning the geese were dead, poisoned by the water. Autopsy of the geese showed extensive ulcerated bleeding in the esophagus, stomach and digestive tract.
Then sometime after that, someone brings to the Stierls a stick with green slime on it that had been found floating in Berkley Pitt. Microbes were found living in that witches brew. But what was really exciting was the black slime someone brought in. At some point, the Stierls placed the black goo in some Pit water. This black goo absorbed all the heavy metals from the water. According to Andrea Stierl, that black microbe can absorb anywhere fro 80-95% of contaminates from water. The microbe has only been found in one other place... from anal swabs of the snow geese.
Potentially, this black microbe could clean the water in the Berkley Pitt. Oh and some of the other microbes show cancer fighting abilities.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/microbes8.htm
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-pit-of-life-and-death/
Then in the mid 90's a large flock of 200 snow geese landed on the water now in Berkley Pit. The next morning the geese were dead, poisoned by the water. Autopsy of the geese showed extensive ulcerated bleeding in the esophagus, stomach and digestive tract.
Then sometime after that, someone brings to the Stierls a stick with green slime on it that had been found floating in Berkley Pitt. Microbes were found living in that witches brew. But what was really exciting was the black slime someone brought in. At some point, the Stierls placed the black goo in some Pit water. This black goo absorbed all the heavy metals from the water. According to Andrea Stierl, that black microbe can absorb anywhere fro 80-95% of contaminates from water. The microbe has only been found in one other place... from anal swabs of the snow geese.
Potentially, this black microbe could clean the water in the Berkley Pitt. Oh and some of the other microbes show cancer fighting abilities.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/microbes8.htm
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-pit-of-life-and-death/