160 results for group: journal-article


Enhanced weathering in the U.S. Corn Belt delivers carbon removal with agronomic benefits

David J. Beerling, Dimitar Z. Epihov, Ilsa B. Kantola, Michael D. Masters, Tom Reershemius, Noah J. Planavsky, Christopher T. Reinhard, Jacob S. Jordan, Sarah J. Thorne1, James Weber, Maria Val Martin, Robert P. Freckleton, Sue E. Hartley, Rachael H. James, Christopher R. Pearce, Evan H. DeLucia, Steven A. Banwart Abstract Enhanced weathering (EW) with crushed basalt on farmlands is a promising scalable atmospheric carbon dioxide removal strategy that urgently requires performance assessment with commercial farming practices. Our large-scale replicated EW field trial in the heart of the U.S. Corn Belt shows cumulative time integrated carbon ...

Basalt addition improves the performance of young grassland monocultures under more persistent weather featuring longer dry and wet spells

Simon Reynaert, Arthur Vienne, Hans J De Boeck, Tommy D'Hose, Ivan Janssens, Ivan Nijs, Miguel Portillo-Estrada, Erik Verbruggen, Sara Vicca, Sílvia Poblador Abstract Global warming is altering the intra-annual variability of precipitation patterns in the mid-latitudes, including a shift towards longer dry and wet spells compared to historic averages. Such fluctuations will likely alter soil water and nutrient dynamics of managed ecosystems which could negatively influence their functioning (e.g., productivity and fodder quality). Here, we investigated whether basalt addition could attenuate effects of increasingly persistent precipitation ...

Optimizing Inorganic Carbon Sequestration and Crop Yield With Wollastonite Soil Amendment in a Microplot Study

Fatima Haque, Rafael M. Santos, Yi Wai Chiang Abstract Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major greenhouse gas, and its concentration in the atmosphere is increasing continuously, hence there is an urgent need to reduce its level in the atmosphere. Soils offer a large natural sink to store CO2. This study focuses on sequestering CO2 in the agricultural soils as inorganic carbon, which can be accomplished by adding alkaline-earth silicates. Wollastonite is used in this study as a soil amendment, to sequester CO2 via the geochemical route of mineral carbonation. The first objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of mixing a wide range of ...

Characterization of Physically Fractionated Wollastonite-Amended Agricultural Soils

Aashvi Dudhaiya, Fatima Haque, Hugo Fantucci, Rafael M. Santos Abstract Wollastonite is a natural silicate mineral that can be used as an agricultural soil amendment. Once in the soil, this mineral undergoes weathering and carbonation reactions, and, under certain soil and field crop conditions, our previous work has shown that this practice leads to accumulation of inorganic carbon (calcium carbonate). Mineral carbonation is the carbon sequestration approach with the greatest potential for sequestration capacity and permanency. Agricultural lands offer vast areas onto which such minerals can be applied, while benefiting crops. This work ...

Global Sequestration Potential of Increased Organic Carbon in Cropland Soils

Robert J. Zomer, Deborah A. Bossio, Rolf Sommer, Louis V. Verchot Abstract The role of soil organic carbon in global carbon cycles is receiving increasing attention both as a potentially large and uncertain source of CO2 emissions in response to predicted global temperature rises, and as a natural sink for carbon able to reduce atmospheric CO2. There is general agreement that the technical potential for sequestration of carbon in soil is signifcant, and some consensus on the magnitude of that potential. Croplands worldwide could sequester between 0.90 and 1.85 Pg C/yr, i.e. 26–53% of the target of the “4p1000 Initiative: Soils for Food ...

Co-Benefits of Wollastonite Weathering in Agriculture: CO2 Sequestration and Promoted Plant Growth

Fatima Haque, Rafael M. Santos, Animesh Dutta, Mahendra Thimmanagari, Yi Wai Chiang Abstract To lock atmospheric CO2 at anthropogenic timescale, fast weathering silicates can be applied to soil to speed up natural CO2 sequestration via enhanced weathering. Agricultural lands offer large area for silicate application, but expected weathering rates as a function of soil and crop type, and potential impacts on the crops, are not well known. This study investigated the role of plants on enhanced weathering of wollastonite (CaSiO3) in soils. Using rooftop pot experiments with leguminous beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and non-leguminous corn (Zea mays ...

Solubility curve of rock powder inoculated with microorganisms in the production of biofertilizers

Valeria Nogueira da Silva, Luiz Eduardo de Souza Fernandes da Silva, Apolino Jose Nogueira da Silva, Newton Pereira Stamford, Gorete Ribeiro de Macedo Abstract The study was conducted at the Biochemistry Engineering Laboratory of the Federal University of the Rio Grande do Norte to verify the efficacy of microorganisms as solvents of apatite and biotite rock powder to enable the availability and rapid production of biofertilizers. Bacteria Paenibacillus polymyxa, Ralstonia solanacearum, Cromobacterium violaceum and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and fungi Penicillium fellutanum and Tricoderma humatum were inoculated into biotite rock powder and ...

Improving chemical properties of a highly weathered soil using finely ground basalt rocks

Markus Anda, J. Shamshuddin, C.I. Fauziah Abstract Chemical property degradation of Oxisols (highly weathered soils) is revealed by very low cation exchange capacity and base cations but high Al saturation. The objective of this study was to increase cation exchange capacity and base cations and to alleviate Al toxicity of a highly weathered soil using finely ground basalt rocks. The topsoil and subsoil representing the natural and severely eroded conditions, respectively, were incubated with various rates (up to 80 t ha−1) of finely ground basalt (b50 μm) under ambient laboratory conditions for 24 months. The soils and solution were sampled ...

Understanding the mobility of potential nutrients in rock mining by- products: An opportunity for more sustainable agriculture and mining

Adilson Celimar Dalmora, Claudete Gindri Ramos, Leandro Gomez Plata, Marcondes Lima da Costa, Rubens Muller Kautzmann, Luis Felipe Silva Oliveira Abstract The increase in demand for highly soluble fertilizers brings a global sustainability concern. Alternative sources for traditional fertilization are therefore needed. Rock powder use has been proposed as an alternative approach to soil remineralization. However, research on the agricultural potential of minerals and rocks as alternative sources of nutrients is limited to changes in soil chemical attributes or effects on crop yield. In this work, we report an experimental study addressing the ...

Waste mineral powder supplies plant available potassium: Evaluation of chemical and biological interventions

B.B. Basak, Binoy Sarkar, Peter Sanderson, Ravi Naidu Abstract A study was conducted to evaluate a waste rock powder collected from the Seaham quarry in New South Wales, Australia, as a source of potassium (K) in soil. The K supplying capacity of different size fractions of the mineral powder was evaluated by employing five chemical extractants as well as growing maize and holy basil in sand culture experiments. The K release by chemical extractants increased with decreasing particle size of the mineral powder. The amount of K released by different extractants followed the order: water < 0.01 M calcium chloride < 0.01 M citric acid < 1 N ...