Nature – Delmelle et al. (2025): Explosive volcanic eruptions can act as carbon sinks
Pierre Delmelle, Sébastien Biass, Mathilde Paque and Benjamin Lobet, IN: Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59692-4
Using field measurements, the authors demonstrate that single eruptions can bury substantial amounts of stable organic carbon in soils. They develop a modelling framework and estimate that, in Ecuador alone, at least 1.1 Pg C has been stored in volcanic soils repeatedly affected by tephra deposition during the Holocene. This stock of tephra-buried soil organic carbon exceeds the cumulative CO₂ emissions from the source eruptions.