110 results for group: climate-change

The effect of time on the weathering of silicate minerals: why do weathering rates differ in the laboratory and field?

Art F.White, Susan L.Brantley Abstract The correlation between decreasing reaction rates of silicate minerals and increasing duration of chemical weathering was investigated for both experimental and field conditions. Column studies, using freshly prepared Panola Granite, produced ambient plagioclase weathering rates that decreased parabolically over 6 years to a final rate of 7.0* 10^-14 mol m^-2 s^-1  1. In contrast, the corresponding plagioclase reaction rate for partially kaolinized Panola Granite, after reaching steady-state weathering after 2 months of reactions, was significantly less (2.1 *10^-15 mol m^-2 s^-1). Both rates were ...

Is the climate change mitigation effect of enhanced silicate weathering governed by biological processes?

Sara Vicca, Daniel S. Goll, Mathilde Hagens, Jens Hartmann, Ivan A. Janssens, Anna Neubeck, Josep Peñuelas, Sílvia Poblador,Jet Rijnders, Jordi Sardans, Eric Struyf,Philipp Swoboda, Jan Willem van Groenigen, Arthur Vienne, Erik Verbruggen Abstract A number of negative emission technologies (NETs) have been proposed to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere, with enhanced silicate weathering (ESW) as a relatively new NET with considerable climate change mitigation potential. Models calibrated to ESW rates in lab experiments estimate the global potential for inorganic carbon sequestration by ESW at about 0.5–5 Gt CO2 year−1, suggesting ESW ...

Effects of Rock Powder Additions to Cattle Slurry on Ammonia and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Maria Eunice Paulade Souza, André Mundstock Xavierde Carvalho, Daniely de Cássia Deliberali, Ivo Jucksch, George Gardner Brown, Eduardo Sá Mendonça, Irene Maria Cardoso Abstract For several decades, farmers have been mixing rock powders with livestock slurry to reduce its NH3 emissions and increase its nutrient content. However, mixing rock powders with slurry is controversial, and there is currently no scientific evidence for its effects on NH3 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or on changes in its nutrient content due to element release from rock powders. The major aim of this study was therefore to analyze the effects of mixing two ...

Urban Farming with Enhanced Rock Weathering As a Prospective Climate Stabilization Wedge

Fatima Haque, Rafael M. SantosRafael M. Santos Abstract With no single carbon capture and sequestration solution able to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5−2.0 °C by 2100, additional climate stabilization measures are needed to complement current mitigation approaches. Urban farming presents an easy-to-adopt pathway toward carbon neutrality, unlocking extensive urban surface areas that can be leveraged to grow food while sequestering CO2. Urban farming involves extensive surface areas, such as roofs, balconies, and vertical spaces, allowing for soil presence and atmospheric carbon sequestration through air-to-soil contact. In this ...

The role of enhanced rock weathering deployment with agriculture in limiting future warming and protecting coral reefs

Negar Vakilifard, Euripides P Kantzas, Neil R Edwards, Philip B Holden and David J Beerling Abstract Meeting the net-zero carbon emissions commitments of major economies by mid century requires large-scale deployment of negative emission technologies (NETs). Terrestrial enhanced rock weathering on croplands (ERW) is a NET with co-benefits for agriculture, soils and ocean acidification that creates opportunities for generating income unaffected by diminishing carbon taxes as emissions approach net-zero. Here we show that ERW deployment with croplands to deliver net 2 Gt CO2 yr−1 removal approximately doubles the probability of meeting the Paris ...

Prospects for CO2 mineralization and enhanced weathering of ultramafic mine tailings from the Baptiste nickel deposit in British Columbia, Canada

Ian M.Power, Gregory M.Dipple, Peter M.D.Bradshaw, Anna L.Harrison Abstract The Baptiste deposit is located within the Decar nickel district in British Columbia, Canada and is a promising candidate for a CO2 sequestration demonstration project. The deposit contains awaruite (nickel-iron alloy) hosted in an ultramafic complex, which is dominated by serpentine [Mg3Si2O5(OH)4; ∼80 wt.%] and contains reactive brucite [Mg(OH)2; 0.6–12.6 wt.%]. Experiments were conducted using metallurgical test samples and pulps from cores with the aim of determining the potential for this deposit to sequester CO2 via direct air capture of atmospheric CO2 and ...

Large carbon sink potential of secondary forests in the Brazilian Amazon to mitigate climate change

Viola H. A. Heinrich, Ricardo Dalagnol, Henrique L. G. Cassol, Thais M. Rosan, Catherine Torres de Almeida, Celso H. L. Silva Junior, Wesley A. Campanharo, Joanna I. House, Stephen Sitch, Tristram C. Hales, Marcos Adami, Liana O. Anderson & Luiz E. O. C. Aragão Abstract Tropical secondary forests sequester carbon up to 20 times faster than old-growth forests. This rate does not capture spatial regrowth patterns due to environmental and disturbance drivers. Here we quantify the influence of such drivers on the rate and spatial patterns of regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon using satellite data. Carbon sequestration rates of young secondary ...

Fire effects on the persistence of soil organic matter and long-term carbon storage

Adam F. A. Pellegrini, Jennifer Harden, Katerina Georgiou, Kyle S. Hemes, Avni Malhotra, Connor J. Nolan & Robert B. Jackson Abstract One paradigm in biogeochemistry is that frequent disturbance tends to deplete carbon (C) in soil organic matter (SOM) by reducing biomass inputs and promoting losses. However, disturbance by fire has challenged this paradigm because soil C responses to frequent and/or intense fires are highly variable, despite observed declines in biomass inputs. Here, we review recent advances to illustrate that fire-driven changes in decomposition, mediated by altered SOM stability, are an important compensatory process ...

Exploring cross-national public support for the use of enhanced weathering as a land-based carbon dioxide removal strategy

Elspeth Spence, Emily Cox & Nick Pidgeon Abstract This study explores how public attitudes across three countries influence support towards terrestrial enhanced weathering, whereby silicate minerals are applied to agricultural land to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. An online survey was administered in Australia (N = 1000), the UK (N = 1000), and the USA (N = 1026) where there are ongoing field trials of this technique. Findings are similar across all three countries with many participants unfamiliar with enhanced weathering and unsure about supporting the use of enhanced weathering. Results show that positive affect is the main ...

Enhancing natural cycles in agro-ecosystems to boost plant carbon capture and soil storage

Wolfram Buss, Kirsty Yeates, Eelco J Rohling, Justin Borevitz Abstract One of society’s greatest challenges is sequestering vast amounts of carbon to avoid dangerous climate change without driving competition for land and resources. Here we assess the potential of an integrated approach based on enhancement of natural biogeochemical cycles in agro-ecosystems that stimulate carbon capture and storage while increasing resilience and long-term productivity. The method integrates plant photosynthesis in the form of (cover) crops and agroforestry, which drives carbon capture. Belowground plant-carbon is efficiently stored as stable soil organic ...