Zhang et al. (2026): Rock weathering can counteract river CO₂ emissions induced by permafrost thaw
Liwei Zhang, Aaron Bufe, Joshua F. Dean, Gerard Rocher-Ros, Ryan A. Sponseller, Emily H. Stanley, Jan Karlsson, David E. Butman, Ran Liu, Lijun Hou, Jinzhi Ding, Shilong Piao, Xinghui Xia and Tom J. Battin, IN: Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10664-8
Climate-induced permafrost thaw unlocks large stores of organic carbon that are mineralized and emitted as carbon dioxide (CO₂) from rivers to the atmosphere. Concurrently, warming and permafrost thaw can increase mineral weathering rates, thus affecting the release and sequestration of inorganic carbon. Yet how these biological and geological carbon cycles interact and jointly affect CO₂ dynamics (emission compared with drawdown) in permafrost rivers remains unknown. Here the authors combine CO₂ emissions, organic and inorganic solute concentrations, dual carbon isotopes (δ¹³C–Δ¹⁴C) and geochemical modelling to infer how permafrost thaw may affect river biogeochemistry over decades to centuries across the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.