Soil production function
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Potential and costs of carbon dioxide removal by enhanced weathering of rocks Open
The chemical weathering of rocks currently absorbs about 1.1 Gt CO _2 a ^−1 being mainly stored as bicarbonate in the ocean. An enhancement of this slow natural process could remove substantial amounts of CO _2 from the atmosphere, aiming …
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Mechanical weathering and rock erosion by climate‐dependent subcritical cracking Open
This work constructs a fracture mechanics framework for conceptualizing mechanical rock breakdown and consequent regolith production and erosion on the surface of Earth and other terrestrial bodies. Here our analysis of fracture mechanics …
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Remineralizing soils? The agricultural usage of silicate rock powders: A review Open
Soil nutrient depletion threatens global food security and has been seriously underestimated for potassium (K) and several micronutrients. This is particularly the case for highly weathered soils in tropical countries, where classical solu…
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K isotopes as a tracer for continental weathering and geological K cycling Open
Significance The potassium stable isotope system is a powerful new geochemical tool for understanding continental weathering linked to Earth’s climate. Potassium isotopes fractionate strongly during silicate weathering, and δ 41 K values i…
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Soil Functions: Connecting Earth's Critical Zone Open
Soil is the central interface of Earth's critical zone—the planetary surface layer extending from unaltered bedrock to the vegetation canopy—and is under intense pressure from human demand for biomass, water, and food resources. Soil funct…
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Enhanced Weathering and related element fluxes – a cropland mesocosm approach Open
The weathering of silicates is a major control on atmospheric CO2 at geologic timescales. It was proposed to enhance this process to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere. While there are some studies that propose and theoretically analy…
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Lithium and Lithium Isotopes in Earth’s Surface Cycles Open
Lithium and its isotopes can provide information on continental silicate weathering, which is the primary natural drawdown process of atmospheric CO2 and a major control on climate. Lithium isotopes themselves can help our understanding of…
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Climate‐driven thresholds for chemical weathering in postglacial soils of New Zealand Open
Chemical weathering in soils dissolves and alters minerals, mobilizes metals, liberates nutrients to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and may modulate Earth's climate over geologic time scales. Climate‐weathering relationships are often…
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Rock organic carbon oxidation CO2 release offsets silicate weathering sink Open
Mountain uplift and erosion have regulated the balance of carbon between Earth’s interior and atmosphere, where prior focus has been placed on the role of silicate mineral weathering in CO 2 drawdown and its contribution to the stability o…
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Quantifying nutrient uptake as driver of rock weathering in forest ecosystems by magnesium stable isotopes Open
Plants and soil microbiota play an active role in rock weathering and potentially couple weathering at depth with erosion at the soil surface. The nature of this coupling is still unresolved because we lacked means to quantify the passage …
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A simple model for regolith formation by chemical weathering Open
We present here a new model for the formation of regolith on geological timescales by chemical weathering based on the assumption that the rate of chemical weathering is primarily controlled by the ability of groundwater to transport solut…
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Porosity production in weathered rock: Where volumetric strain dominates over chemical mass loss Open
Subsurface porosity production is dominated by volumetric strain in deeply weathered granitic saprolite of the Sierra Nevada.
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Prediction of Soil Formation as a Function of Age Using the Percolation Theory Approach Open
Recent modeling and comparison with field results showed that soil formation by chemical weathering, either from bedrock or unconsolidated material, is limited largely by solute transport. Chemical weathering rates are proportional to solu…
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Weathering and erosion of fractured bedrock systems Open
We explore the contribution of fractures (joints) in controlling the rate of weathering advance for a low‐porosity rock by using methods of homogenization to create averaged weathering equations. The rate of advance of the weathering front…
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Potential accumulation of toxic trace elements in soils during enhanced rock weathering Open
Terrestrial enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a carbon dioxide removal technology that aims at accelerating one of the most powerful negative feedbacks on Earth's climate, the chemical weathering of silicates. To achieve this, ERW proposes…
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Temperature and CO2 dependency of global carbonate weathering fluxes – Implications for future carbonate weathering research Open
Carbonate weathering and transfer of carbon towards the coastal zone is one of the relevant sinks for atmospheric CO2, controlled by hydrology, ecosystem respiration, river water degassing, and further factors. Specifically, the connection…
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Patterns in Soil Chemical Weathering Related to Topographic Gradients and Vegetation Structure in a High Andean Tropical Ecosystem Open
Although climate exerts a major control on mineral weathering and soil formation processes, the combined effect of vegetation and topography can influence the rate and extent of chemical weathering at the hillslope scale. In this paper, we…
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Abrupt response of chemical weathering to Late Quaternary hydroclimate changes in northeast Africa Open
Chemical weathering of silicate rocks on continents acts as a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and has played an important role in the evolution of the Earth’s climate. However, the magnitude and the nature of the links between we…
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Weathering of Reactive Mineral Phases in Landslides Acts as a Source of Carbon Dioxide in Mountain Belts Open
Bedrock landsliding in mountain belts can elevate overall chemical weathering rates through rapid dissolution of exhumed reactive mineral phases in transiently stored deposits. This link between a key process of erosion and the resultant w…
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Quantification of CO2 uptake by enhanced weathering of silicate minerals applied to acidic soils Open
The application of ground silicate minerals to agricultural soils has been proposed as a method for taking up CO2 by enhancing the weathering rate of these minerals through their exposure to soil acids. Alternatively, glacial rock flour, a…
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Chemical weathering and CO2 consumption rates of rocks in the Bishuiyan subterranean basin of Guangxi, China Open
To investigate the influence of chemical weathering on CO 2 consumption, an analysis was performed of water chemistry by applying water chemistry equilibria methods in the Bishuiyan subterranean basin, SW China. The average value of total …
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Carbon Dioxide Production in Bedrock Beneath Soils Substantially Contributes to Forest Carbon Cycling Open
Soils are widely considered the primary terrestrial organic matter pool mediating carbon transactions with the atmosphere and groundwater. Because soils are both a host and a product of rhizosphere activity, they are thought to mark the lo…
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Soil core study indicates limited CO2 removal by enhanced weathering in dry croplands in the UK Open
The application of crushed silicate minerals to agricultural soils has been suggested as a route to enhance weathering rates and increase CO2 drawdown. Laboratory studies have attempted to evaluate the potential of enhanced weathering as a…
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Do degree and rate of silicate weathering depend on plant productivity? Open
Plants and their associated below-ground microbiota possess the tools for rock weathering. Yet the quantitative evaluation of the impact of these biogenic weathering drivers relative to abiogenic parameters, such as the supply of primary m…
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Initial Validation of a Soil-Based Mass-Balance Approach for Empirical Monitoring of Enhanced Rock Weathering Rates Open
Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a promising scalable and cost-effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy with significant environmental and agronomic co-benefits. A major barrier to large-scale implementation of ERW is a robust moni…
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Long‐term P weathering and recent N deposition control contemporary plant‐soil C, N, and P Open
Models are needed to understand how plant‐soil nutrient stores and fluxes have responded to the last two centuries of widespread anthropogenic nutrient pollution and predict future change. These models need to integrate across carbon, nitr…
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Kinetically limited weathering at low denudation rates in semiarid climatic conditions Open
Biogeochemical cycling within the Critical Zone depends on the interactions between minerals and fluids controlling chemical weathering and physical erosion rates. In this study, we explore the role of water availability in controlling soi…
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Soils of Mountainous Landscapes Open
Unlike many other soils, mountain soils often are subjected to strong hillslope processes that distinctly affect their properties. At unstable sites, erosion and other mass movements lead to a continuous rejuvenation of the soil. Under suc…
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Can arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi speed up carbon sequestration by enhanced weathering? Open
Societal Impact Statement Mitigating climate change and increasing agricultural sustainability are twin challenges society faces in the upcoming decades. One measure that can contribute to reducing atmospheric CO 2 is "enhanced weathering"…
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Bioturbation and erosion rates along the soil‐hillslope conveyor belt, part 1: Insights from single‐grain feldspar luminescence Open
The interplay of bioturbation, soil production and long‐term erosion–deposition in soil and landscape co‐evolution is poorly understood. Single‐grain post‐infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (post‐IR IRSL) measurements on sand‐sized …