# Seven American Nights question

*The Urth list — 7 messages, 6 voices, 15 Jul 2007*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4880>

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### aaron
*15 Jul 2007, 07:36*

This may sound like a stupid question: What causes the ocean to turn yellow
at the beginning of Seven American Nights?  The American on board becomes
very offended when Nadan points this out to him.  Any help is greatly
appreciated.

Aaron Singleton

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### Nigel Price
*15 Jul 2007, 14:53 · follows aaron*

Aaron Singleton asked:

>> This may sound like a stupid question: What causes the ocean to turn
>> yellow

at the beginning of Seven American Nights?  The American on board becomes
very offended when Nadan points this out to him.  Any help is greatly
appreciated.<<

Doesn't sound like a stupid question to me.

I imagine that the yellow colouration is caused by sand and mud carried out
into the ocean by rivers flowing from the American interior. America has
been blasted by war and bombs which have destroyed nearly all the
vegetation. No longer secured by the roots of trees and plants, the top soil
has come loose and blown and washed away. Now the rivers are washing all
this loose topsoil out into the sea, where it discolours the water.

Nigel

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### Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
*15 Jul 2007, 16:26 · in reply to aaron*

I have always assumed that it was pollution (or perhaps an algae
blossom like a red tide) caused by American industry.

> On 7/15/07, aaron <aaronsingleton at gmail.com> wrote:
> This may sound like a stupid question: What causes the ocean to turn yellow
> at the beginning of Seven American Nights?  The American on board becomes
> very offended when Nadan points this out to him.  Any help is greatly
> appreciated.
> 
> Aaron Singleton
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net

```
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com
Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations,
inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire
salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards
reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful.
```

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### Kurt Schwind
*16 Jul 2007, 11:42 · in reply to Dan'l Danehy-Oakes*

I'm with Dan'l.  I always thought it was a type of industrial
pollution.  I'm not sure why it's 'yellow' particularly, but I just
assumed it was some poisonous industrial waste.

> On 7/15/07, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have always assumed that it was pollution (or perhaps an algae
> blossom like a red tide) caused by American industry.
> 
> On 7/15/07, aaron <aaronsingleton at gmail.com> wrote:

>> This may sound like a stupid question: What causes the ocean to turn yellow
>> at the beginning of Seven American Nights?  The American on board becomes
>> very offended when Nadan points this out to him.  Any help is greatly
>> appreciated.
>> 
>> Aaron Singleton
>> _______________________________________________
>> Urth Mailing List
>> To post, write urth at urth.net
>> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net

> --
> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
> -----
> http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
> http://www.danehyoakes.com
> Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations,
> inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire
> salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards
> reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful.
> _______________________________________________

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### aaron
*16 Jul 2007, 12:06 · in reply to Kurt Schwind*

Thanks for everyone's input on this.  I had always assumed that the yellow
color came from oil or gasoline etc. leaking into the sea.  The only thing
that, to me, disputes the pollution theory is the fact that the captain
tells Nadan: "It's his country...bleeding to death."  That is why I assumed
crude oil "bleeding" from the earth.  But, after doing a little research, I
found several sources that confirm the erosion theory.  It seems that dirt
carried into the ocean from rivers turns the water yellow (in the worst
cases) or green (not quite as bad).  Again, thanks to all.

Aaron Singleton

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### Gwern Branwen
*16 Jul 2007, 12:41 · in reply to aaron*

On  0, aaron <aaronsingleton at gmail.com> scribbled:

>    Thanks for everyone's input on this.  I had always assumed that the yellow
>    color came from oil or gasoline etc. leaking into the sea.  The only thing
>    that, to me, disputes the pollution theory is the fact that the captain
>    tells Nadan: "It's his country...bleeding to death."  That is why I
>    assumed crude oil "bleeding" from the earth.  But, after doing a little
>    research, I found several sources that confirm the erosion theory.  It
>    seems that dirt carried into the ocean from rivers turns the water yellow
>    (in the worst cases) or green (not quite as bad).  Again, thanks to all.
> 
>    Aaron Singleton

And the captain isn't kidding about the bleeding to death thing. I remember the phrase 'soil erosion' popping up a distressing number of times in Jared Diamond's ''Collapse'' (usually in reference to something like the Mayan collapse, or the Fertile Crescent becoming unfertile, or Australia's environment...) and other places. It's still a little odd in America though - I personally associate yellow effluvium with more China and the Yellow River and company.

```
gwern
FDM GRU LRTS SIGDEV NACSI MEU/SOCPSAC PTT RFI ZL31 SIGDASYS TDM. SUKLO Schengen
```

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### Russ Allbery
*16 Jul 2007, 16:30 · in reply to Gwern Branwen*

Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> writes:

> And the captain isn't kidding about the bleeding to death thing. I
> remember the phrase 'soil erosion' popping up a distressing number of
> times in Jared Diamond's ''Collapse'' (usually in reference to something
> like the Mayan collapse, or the Fertile Crescent becoming unfertile, or
> Australia's environment...) and other places. It's still a little odd in
> America though - I personally associate yellow effluvium with more China
> and the Yellow River and company.

Ah, but see the Dust Bowl.  Soil erosion has happened before in the US on
a massive scale due to poor agricultural practices or use of land for
things it just can't sustain.

See http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/DustBowl/ for more information,
and there are many other interesting pages via Google.

```
Russ Allbery (rra at stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
```

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