Science – Zeng et al. (2024): 3775-year-old wood burial supports “wood vaulting” as a durable carbon removal method
Ning Zeng, Xinpeng Zhao, Ghislain Poisson, Bryson Clifford, Yu Liu, He Liu, Taotao Meng, Laura Picard, Elisa Zeng-Mariotti, Ben Zaitchik, Liangbing Hu IN: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.adm8133
The authors found a 3775-year-old ancient wood log buried 2 meters belowground that was preserved far beyond its expected lifetime. The wood had near-perfect preservation, with carbon loss less than 5% compared to a modern sample. The lack of decay is likely due to the low permeability of the compact clay soil at the burial site. The observation suggests a hybrid nature-engineering approach for carbon removal by burying woody biomass in similar anoxic environments.