Haque et al. (2023): Constraining the Capacity of Global Croplands to CO2 Drawdown via Mineral Weathering
Fatima Haque, Reza Khalidy, Yi Wai Chiang, Rafael M. Santos IN: ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00374
The authors emphasized the importance of soil pH and soil temperature on silicate weathering and looked to estimate an upper limit of (i.e., constrain) the global capacity until the year 2100 for enhanced rock weathering (ERW) to draw down CO2 in the form of accumulated pedogenic carbonate or soluble bicarbonate. They assessed the global spatial distribution of cropland soil pH, which serves as a proxy for local innate SIC; annual rate of pluvial (rainfall) precipitation; and soil temperature, and found that the potential CO2 drawdown difference between faster and slower weathering silicates is narrower in Asia, Africa, and South America, while the gap is larger for Europe, North America, and Oceania.