Schlagwort: enhanced rock weathering

Category Icon

Olagaray et al. (2026): Metal Accumulation Risks in Enhanced Rock Weathering: Risk Assessment Framework and Recommendations

Noemma Olagaray, Jonathan Edward Lambert and Tannis Thorlakson, IN: CDRXiv, https://doi.org/10.70212/cdrxiv.2026546.v1

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) has emerged as a promising carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathway that could mitigate climate change while improving agricultural soils. However, as the rocks used in ERW weather, metals posing an environmental safety risk can also be released. The nascency of ERW, complex dynamics of metal release and availability, and heterogeneity of global soil regulations make it difficult for practitioners to determine accumulation risks for many metals. To systematically evaluate these risks, the authors created the ERW Metal Accumulation Calculator (ERW-MAC), a conservative mass-balance model that combines global feedstock and soil datasets to estimate post-ERW deployment soil concentrations for 16 metals across a variety of baseline conditions, agricultural practices, and a range of basalt and peridotite application rates.

⁠LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Qiu et al. (2026): Harnessing cover crop–rock weathering synergies for climate-smart agriculture

Tianyi Qiu, Jay Ram Lamichhane, David J. Beerling et al., IN: Trends in Plant Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.07.012

The use of cover crops (CCs) is increasingly promoted to diversify cropping systems and advance agricultural sustainability. Yet, CC adoption can involve context-dependent trade-offs, including resource competition and elevated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this opinion article, the authors propose enhanced rock weathering (ERW) as a complementary strategy to improve biogeochemical synchrony within CC systems. By synthesizing emerging evidence, they show how CC–ERW interactions can synergistically enhance carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, GHG mitigation, and soil food-web functioning, mainly via root-driven weathering processes and soil feedbacks.

⁠LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Lei et al. (2026): Enhanced Rock Weathering Affects Formation of Mineral-Associated Organic Carbon in Soil

Kaiyu Lei, Pedro P. C. Teixeira, Christopher Just, Franz Buegger, Ingrid Kögel-Knabner and Franziska B. Bucka, IN: Environmental Science & Technology Letters, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.6c00633

Enhanced silicate rock weathering (ERW) is increasingly considered for climate mitigation through inorganic carbon (IC) formation, yet its effects on soil organic carbon (OC) turnover remain poorly constrained and mechanistically unresolved. The authors investigated how the basalt weathering state influences mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) in a 6 month microcosm incubation of a slightly acidic Cambisol. Fresh basalt (olivine-rich) and naturally weathered basalt (olivine-depleted and phyllosilicate-enriched) were applied, and ¹³C-labeled straw was used to trace the incorporation of plant-derived C into MAOM.

LINK⁠

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Thornbush et al. (2026): A Systematic Review of Soil Amendments Using Biochar and Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) for Soil Carbon Sequestration

Mary Thornbush, Michael Zhang, Cooper Mandel, Ethan Andrews, Ellen Kempton and Muhammad Muneeb Ur Rehman, IN: Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.3390/su18147011

This review provides a comparative critical synthesis of biochar and enhanced rock weathering (ERW), identifies key trends and gaps in soil carbon research, and outlines pathways for improving carbon sequestration and monitoring in soil systems. From a global perspective, materials and agricultural studies were read to examine the properties of these amendments and their effects in cropland and forest soils. The main research question guiding this literature review was as follows: What are common trends in published biochar and ERW studies? Major themes were derived from the stated question and structure the Discussion. The Web of Science provided access to relevant literature for both biochar and ERW, and a total of 38 articles (biochar: 17; ERW: 21) were read and covered in this paper.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Mangas-Velayos et al. (2026): Basaltic Rock Weathering as an Atmospheric CO₂ Removal (CDR) Technique: A Review

Héctor Mangas-Velayos, Jorge Mongil-Manso, María del Monte-Maiz and Raimundo Jiménez-Ballesta, IN: Land, https://doi.org/10.3390/land15071153

Atmospheric CO₂ concentrations have reached significant levels during the industrial era, necessitating the implementation of effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) using basalt has emerged as a high-potential strategy, leveraging its mafic composition to sequester CO₂ as stable carbonates. This review analyzes ERW’s geochemical processes, application methods, and multifaceted co-benefits, such as restoring “background fertility” and improving soil structure.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Meyer zu Drewer et al. (2026): Combining biochar and basanite rock powder enhances carbon dioxide removal by carbonate alkalinity production

Johannes Meyer zu Drewer, Maria-Elena Vorrath, Thorben Amann, Jens Hartmann, Maria Ansari, Marcela Cárcamo Pérez and Nikolas Hagemann, IN: Frontiers in Climate, https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2026.1853116

Introduction: The combination of enhanced rock weathering (ERW) with pyrogenic carbon capture and storage (PyCCS) has been proposed to harness synergistic effects on carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Synergies may arise from co-application of silicate rock powder and biochar, or from co-pyrolysis of rock powder and biomass to produce rock-enhanced (RE-)biochar. While co-pyrolysis with silicate rock powder is well documented not to affect the carbon yield nor the aromaticity of RE-biochar, the effect of co-pyrolysis and co-application on alkalinity production by ERW remains poorly constrained.

Methods: The authors quantified the daily and cumulative production of carbonate alkalinity (TAcarb g−1 basanite) in a controlled weathering experiment conducted in columns, comparing 14 treatments consisting of basanite rock powder, biochar, co-applications or RE-biochars produced at contrasting highest treatment temperatures (HTT) of 450 °C and 750 °C. The experiment was run under two conditions: sandy, agricultural topsoil under ambient pCO₂, and washed, quasi non-reactive quartz sand under elevated pCO₂, the latter designed to better isolate leachate signals originating from the amendments alone. Column flushing with demineralized water prior to the experiment and subtraction of TAcarb signals from the matrix material and biochar amendments enabled quantification of the net TAcarb signal from ERW, here referred to as Net_TAcarb. Complementary pseudo-lysimeter experiments (i.e., the same treatments set up in larger vegetated soil columns) were used to assess effects on plant growth.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Waring et al. (2026): Microbiome manipulation and enhanced weathering influence tree growth in reforestation

Bonnie G. Waring, Colin Averill, Martin Bidartondo, Laura M. Suz, David J. Beerling, Tom W. Crowther, Gregory Jones, Lena Lancastle, Dimitar Z. Epihov, Kat Clayton, Laura Gobelius, Oliver Lindsay, Brian Steidinger, Heather Allen & Charlots Nicholls, IN: Communications Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44458-026-00103-0

Limiting future warming invokes the need to maximize the natural carbon sequestration capacity of forests. Here the authors report on a large-scale (11.5 hectare) field trial testing co-deployment of two strategies to increase forest carbon capture: enhanced rock weathering via addition of crushed silicate rock, and modification of the soil microbiome. Individual monitoring of 6400 trees over four years revealed that silicate rock amendment augmented aboveground carbon stocks by 27% in broadleaf stands only.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Waring et al. (2026): Microbiome manipulation and enhanced weathering influence tree growth in reforestation

Bonnie G. Waring, Colin Averill, Martin Bidartondo, Laura M. Suz, David J. Beerling, Tom W. Crowther, Gregory Jones, Lena Lancastle, Dimitar Z. Epihov, Kat Clayton, Laura Gobelius, Oliver Lindsay, Brian …, IN: Communications Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44458-026-00103-0

Limiting future warming invokes the need to maximize the natural carbon sequestration capacity of forests. Here the authors report on a large-scale (11.5 hectare) field trial testing co-deployment of two strategies to increase forest carbon capture: enhanced rock weathering via addition of crushed silicate rock, and modification of the soil microbiome.

LINK⁠

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Park et al. (2026): Geochemical weathering and microbial carbon turnover: coupled drivers of greenhouse gas mitigation in basalt-amended paddy soil

Ji-Hyun Park, Mu Yeol Lee, So-Jeong Kim, Chan-Mi Choi and Young-Soo Han, IN: Geochemical Transactions, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13765-026-01106-0

Increasing agricultural cultivation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Recently, the application of silicate minerals, such as basalt, has gained attention as a strategy to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from paddy soils. These minerals can enhance carbon sequestration through weathering reactions that consume atmospheric CO₂ as they dissolve. This study investigates not only the weathering effects but also how basalt treatment influences microbial processes in paddy soils, ultimately affecting emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄). With different concentrations of basalt powder, biotic and abiotic batch systems were constructed and gas emissions, cation dissolution, carbon turnover, and microbial communities were investigated.

LINK⁠

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Bullock et al. (2026): Dissolution kinetics of platinum mine by-products for nature-based and engineered carbon dioxide removal

L.A. Bullock, A. Cunningham, J. Matter, D. Hasson, E. Smith, M.T. Duret, E.M. Mervine, R.H. James, and D.A.H. Teagle,IN: Applied Geochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2026.106964

In addition to deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, active removal of atmospheric CO₂ is essential to limit global warming to <2 °C above pre-industrial levels. Dissolution of crushed silicate rocks by carbonic acid converts CO₂ into stable carbon species (alkalinity, carbonate minerals), but its effectiveness for CO₂ removal (CDR) depends on identifying suitably abundant and reactive feedstocks. Here, the authors assess dissolution rates of crushed by-products (overburden, processed tailings, smelter slags) from platinum group metal (PGM) mining operations within the Bushveld Complex, South Africa, during reaction with water and CO₂ under far from equilibrium conditions.

LINK⁠

#