Seven American Nights question

Gwern Branwen · 16 Jul 2007, 12:41 · from 2007-July.txt.gz

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From: gwern0 at gmail.com (Gwern Branwen)
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:41:01 -0400
Subject: (urth) Seven American Nights question
In-Reply-To: <ecbb2eb0707160506n39d2602bg345319db7ff6344c at mail.gmail.com>
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	<a0dc3dcf0707160442t5d597511m320f9af3f3b41db6 at mail.gmail.com>
	<ecbb2eb0707160506n39d2602bg345319db7ff6344c at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20070716124101.GA8496@localhost>

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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