Vienne et al. (2026): Weathering without realizing inorganic CO₂ removal revealed through base cation monitoring
Arthur Vienne, Patrick Frings, Jet Rijnders, Lucilla Boito, Jens Hartmann, Harun Niron, Reinaldy Poetra, Miguel Portillo Estrada, Tom Reershemius, Laura Steinwidder, Tim Jesper Suhrhoff, and Sara Vicca, IN: SOIL, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-421-2026
Enhanced Weathering using basalt rock dust is a scalable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technique, but quantifying rock weathering and CDR rates poses a critical challenge. Here, the authors investigated realized inorganic CO₂ removal (defined as the sum of the change in dissolved inorganic C leaching and in neoformed solid inorganic C) and weathering rates by treating mesocosms planted with maize with basalt (0, 10, 30, 50, 75, 100, 150 and 200 t ha−1) and monitoring them for 101 d. They observed no significant realized inorganic CO₂ removal, as leaching of dissolved inorganic carbon did not increase and soil carbonate content declined over time. To gain insights into the weathering processes, they traced the fate of base cations in the soil and plants.