This blog coming so soon after my last is due to a couple of reasons – firstly I have bruised rib(s) after a bit of a bingle in my SxS last week. I was crossing a narrow bore drain culvert & veered into the Xfence with my chest coming to a sudden stop against the steering wheel. The dogs were thrown out on impact which was a bummer for Ootie as he had only just started to ride with me. Ootie is the red/brown kelpie starting to turn up in the website pics. His parents were siblings, so I don’t think he’s quite the full quid. The 2nd more important reason for this blog is what my blitz on birraa (whitewood/ Atalaya hemiglauca) has revealed – plenty of goolahgools have calcium carbonate inside them so its not a result of bone accumulation or cultural activity. In fact I don’t even know if the whitewoods have to be goolahgools for them to fix carbon via the oxalate carbonate pathway (OCP).
When I say whitewood carbon capture is not a result of cultural activity I mean the goolahgools are cultural but changing CO2 into CaCO3 wasn’t the intent. I don’t even know if water storage was the aim – perhaps it was a side effect? What if the ancestors just wanted a supply of white ochre for ceremonial body paint? We are a long way from the limestone belts in the central west and gypsum deposits of the Murray & Eromanga basins. Kopai for grave stones and widow mourning caps were made from burnt gypsum – Some Burial Customs of the Australian Aborigines R. H. Mathews Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 48, No. 192 (Apr. – Aug. 1909), pp. 313-318 (6 pages) but why not just use the CaCO3 inside the whitewoods? Mix it with animal fats & blood/ charcoal/ sap or something for colour variation – there is plenty of information on the internet about Aboriginal extensive uses of ochre like on the Bangarra dance theatre’s Knowledge ground website – Ochre is of the earth by Shane Carroll.
Allan Tighe always talked about aboriginal ‘cement’ & how the ancestors had moulds in the earth where they poured the stuff. It seems to me that like the TinTs, the use of CaCO3 from inside the goolahgools may have been a local thing? Also it’s become apparent that many of these goolahgools could be identified by the lichen on the outside of the trunk – See photos below – Do the goolahgools act like caves with the CaCO3 forming stalactites inside?
Charlie has cut plenty of whitewood and says he has never seen hollow ones or any with white sediment inside them. I think its likely only the goolahgools contain CaCO3 so we need to research to know how they were created & over what time period. Like my watering a wilga planted in a dead eucalypt in the hope of creating a TinT – this probably sounds easier than it is. Below are the basic designs Ive seen involving trunk bending or realignment (pollarding) You need drainage lines so the rain runs down the trunk(s) into a collection point inside the tree. Just bending a saplings trunk & putting an entry hole in the curve probably wont do the trick. Its possible the water storage chamber needed a fire inside to seal it as Ive seen 3 goolahgools with charcoal in them.
If you google a map of where the whitewoods reside in Australia – they grow everywhere except Vic & Tassie basically. You can click on the whitewood Grokipedia AI page or find whatever info is available on the net Atalaya hemiglauca — Grokipedia This web page also contains a link in the references (no.30) to a ‘short communication’ I wrote in 2024 called Australian Aboriginal Arboriculture https://www.corpuspublishers.com/assets/articles/cjoah-v1-24-101.pdf
Grok says – Whitewoods are “a drought-tolerant pioneer species, it is commonly used in mine site rehabilitation in Queensland” & “contributes to soil stabilization, particularly on sandy ridges and erosion-prone areas, where its root system and suckering habit help prevent degradation in dry open forests and deserts”- What’s not to like about this tree – easy to grow in a wide range of climates & landscapes & if modified like the ancestors did, can be a CO2 fixer? The problem with storing organic carbon in the soils (carbon farming) is that drought destroys the built up reserves. When carbon is stored as calcium carbonate it is way more stable & won’t be returned to the atmosphere if the trees burn. Research on the quantitative assimilation of CO2 into mineralized carbon is therefore required to create a commercially viable soil carbon sink, which is practically accessible via OCP. And hence, the cultivation of carbon-mineralizing trees in the form of agroforestry projects can serve multiple purposes of carbon assimilation and soil recovery. Syed S, Buddolla V and Lian B (2020) Oxalate Carbonate Pathway—Conversion and Fixation of Soil Carbon—A Potential Scenario for Sustainability. Front. Plant Sci. 11:591297. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.591297
Intriguing how the oldest culture on earth may help us today if anyone would actually listen isn’t it? The same old climate change doom & gloom from aussie academics .. or dead silence. This is my recent email exchange with a WA professor with more publications than chatGPT “I am familiar with the principle, but dismiss the idea that they can be used, instead of decarbonising our economy. We must not expect we can store carbon in these trees of the order of magnitude that we burn fossil fuels. The math doesn’t stack up. It’s like planting trees and increasing soil carbon. All great ideas, but none must be used as an excuse not to decarbonise our economy.”
This was my response – Im a farmer not a politician but I do know that soil carbon is linked absolutely to the seasons. Our son who studied Agronomy almost signed up to carbon farming program here but went to a meeting of agronomists in agribusiness who explained the correlation. In a drought the soil releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere & the planted trees die. On the other hand mineralized carbon (carbonate) is substantially stable (10(2)–10(6) years), unlike organic biomass and plays an important role in regulating CO2 content in the global C cycle (Cailleau et al., 2011, 2014) You don’t know the math doesn’t stack up because you don’t know the figures – nobody does. I recommend you read Syed S, Buddolla V and Lian B (2020) Oxalate Carbonate Pathway—Conversion and Fixation of Soil Carbon—A Potential Scenario for Sustainability. Front. Plant Sci. 11:591297. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.591297 No solution stands on its own & throwing your hands up saying its all too hard doesn’t help – no offence. When we run out of diesel in July we will be decarbonising big time so be careful what you wish for, thanks for your contribution
CaCO3 anyone – whitewoods locking up carbon doesn’t deserve further investigation apparently?
Fortunately, American Archaeobotanist Kathryn Puseman from the Paleoscapes Archaeobotanical Services Team LLC in Colorado has been more helpful & instead of an ideological lecture on climate change I got this promise “I posted your request on the Archaeobotany list group which includes researchers from all over the world. I am hoping one of the Australian members of the group can help you.”
Unfortunately, the math doesnt stack up re fuel supply in this country either thats for sure. Try this quick quiz – We have enough petrol, diesel & Avgas until early July according to the prime minister. Only 20% of the world’s oil comes thru the Strait of Hormuz but 80% of Australia’s oil does. Even if the Strait opens this week it takes 8-10 weeks to get it refined & shipped here. Now by my calculations this leaves at least a month with bugga all fuel to run the country. So if you want to see what a decarbonised economy looks like Professor you probably won’t have long to wait …
