Kurokawa et al. (2026): Direct evidence for enhanced mineral weathering in cropland verified by quantitative X-ray powder diffraction
Kohei Kurokawa, Atsushi Nakao, Kazuki Azuma, Hodaka Tomita, Katashi Kubo, Kazuki Nomura and Junta Yanai, IN: Applied Geochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2026.106869
Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a promising carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal (CDR) strategy that involves applying powdered rocks such as basalt to croplands to accelerate the natural weathering of rock minerals. However, despite numerous recent field investigations, direct evidence for the weathering of rock minerals in soils is lacking because most studies rely on cation budgets to estimate ERW-induced CDR. In this study, buckwheat was cultivated for 2.5 months in plots with and without basalt powder applied at a rate of 150 t ha⁻¹, and the decrease in basaltic mineral contents of the soils during the cultivation period was measured using quantitative X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD).