Harrington et al. (2023): Implications of the Riverine Response to Enhanced Weathering for CO2 removal in the UK

K.J. Harrington, R.G. Hilton, G.M. Henderson IN: Applied Geochemistry 152, 105643, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2023.105643

Previous estimates have suggested that enhanced silicate weathering (EW) has the potential to remove significant quantities of CO2, as much as 6–30 Mt CO2 yr−1 for the UK. However, if secondary carbonates are precipitated during the riverine transport of the products of EW, a portion of this CO2 will be re-released, lowering the net carbon dioxide removal (CDR) potential of the mitigation strategy. Here, the authors assess the fluvial response to EW in the UK by calculating the expected riverine carbonate precipitation due to the dissolution of 10–50 t ha−1 yr−1 of silicate rock on available arable cropland in major UK catchments.

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