Trapp-Müller et al. (2026): Silicate weathering in marine sediments: processes, governing factors, and role in global elemental cycles
Gerrit Trapp-Müller, Robert C. Aller, Appy Sluijs and Jack J Middelburg, IN: ESS Open Archive, https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.177032866.61920613/v1
Silicate weathering occurs across marine sediments with a spectrum of reaction balances and fluxes, influencing seawater chemistry and carbon cycling on long timescales. Fluxes range from net alkalinity and cation consumption (‘reverse’ weathering) to net alkalinity and cation release (‘forward’ weathering), varying across depositional environments and locally with depth and time. Here, the authors review the research history, mechanisms and biogeochemistry of silicate weathering in marine sediments. They then examine the distribution of marine sediment sources (reactants), depositional environments (biogeochemical, physical), and authigenic mineral suites (products) from the coast to the deep sea to assemble representative reaction balances and rate estimates.