Zhang et al. (2025): An Integrated Modelling Framework to Determine Terrestrial Carbon Dioxide Removal via Enhanced Rock Weathering
Ziyan Zhang, Gregory Jones, Salvatore Calabrese, Matteo Bertagni, Simone Fatichi, Bonnie Waring, Athanasios Paschalis, IN: Global Change Biology, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70650
Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is an emerging carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy that can support net-zero emission targets. However, current ERW modelling efforts rely on assumptions that introduce substantial variation in CDR estimates across varying ecosystems and hydroclimatic conditions. They typically ignore or oversimplify plant–soil interactions and high-frequency hydrological dynamics, obscuring short-term weathering responses and biotic feedbacks to soil moisture dynamics. Here, the authors introduce an integrated, process-based modelling framework, T&C-SMEW, which represents ecohydrological and ERW dynamics, along with microbially explicit biogeochemical processes. They compared framework simulations against a controlled mesocosm experiment and long-term field observations, demonstrating its ability to reproduce feedstock cation release, soil pH dynamics, gross primary production, and CO₂ fluxes.