Helmrich et al. (2025): Reactive transport simulation of organic and inorganic carbon cycling following carbon dioxide sorption onto soil amendments in drylands
Stefanie Helmrich, Alexandra Jo Ringsby, Kate Maher IN: Frontiers in Climate Change, doi: 10.3389/fclim.2025.1505472
Drylands cover approximately 45 % of the global land area and are threatened by soil degradation, necessitating the deployment of CDR methods for drylands that also promote soil health. Soil amendments with high CO2 sorption capacity, such as biochar, could provide CDR potential and soil health benefits in drylands provided they do not negatively impact the large inorganic carbon pools typical of dryland soils. The dynamics of soil CO2 are therefore critical for assessing the response of dryland systems to sorbing amendments. To assess the soil response to CO2 sorption, we developed a 1D reactive transport model of unsaturated soils in equilibrium with dissolved inorganic carbon and calcite under varying soil respiration rates and soil amendment application conditions.