Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
(Begin at 'oxygen in the air'): Breathe gently, 'tasting' the oxygen that you take
into your body with every in-breath. Savour the life giving oxygen molecules as
you draw them deep into your lungs. Feel the oxygen coursing through your body,
giving you energy and igniting your consciousness.
You are an oxygen molecule swirling through the atmosphere, feeling your cor-
rosive yet passionate double-edged quality as both a giver of life and a bringer
of death. You rush wildly on a gust of wind that almost blows you onto a cliff
face rich in oxygen-hungry organic carbon molecules that had once been part of a
tree fern in a Carboniferous forest 300 million years ago. Many oxygen molecules
vanish here, but you are blown away from the cliff at the last minute by a passing
breeze. There are so many oxygen molecules in the air that great wildfires rage
all over the planet, set by lightning strikes.
(To 'fire'): You take the form of a wild Jarrah tree in the great bush country of
south-western Australia. Fires rage nearby in the oxygenrich atmosphere, and
soon the trees around you are alight. Smoke billows around you, and fleeing an-
imals rush past you on all sides. Feel the heat of the fire as it comes towards you,
searing every living thing in its path.
(To 'vegetation'): The great fires have burnt away vast swathes of the forest, but
you are one of the few surviving trees. Most of the bush around you is black with
the charred remains of what was once a rich and diverse ecological community.
