Schlagwort: enhanced rock weathering

Peer-reviewed Publications

Maslouski et al. (2025): Long-term carbon dioxide removal potential from the application of wood biochar and basanite rock powder in sandy soil using the LiDELSv2 process-based modeling approach

Mikita Maslouski, Maria Ansari, Susanne E Hamburger, Johannes Meyer zu Drewer, Nikolas Hagemann, Annette Eschenbach, Christian Beer, Joscha N Becker, Claudia I Kammann, Maria-Elena Vorrath and Philipp Porada, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae21f6

The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations requires scalable and effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies. pyrogenic carbon capture and storage relies on the pyrolysis of biomass and the non-oxidative use of biochar, e.g. in soils. Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) captures CO₂ by forming dissolved bicarbonate. In addition to CDR, both methods may offer soil improvement as a co-benefit. However, their interaction and combined CDR potential remain largely unexplored. Here, the authors investigate their individual and combined effects on carbon dynamics in a temperate agricultural soil. Using the process-based LiDELSv2 model calibrated against data from the lysimeter experiment, they simulate 1000 year impacts of applying 4.2 wt% wood biochar, 2 wt% basanite rock powder (RP), their co-application, and co-pyrolyzed material (rock-enhanced biochar, RE-biochar) on soil organic carbon (SOC), net primary production (NPP), net CO₂ ecosystem exchange (NEE), and calcium (Ca²⁺) leaching in a northern German sandy soil.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Wang & You (2025): Cropland Enhanced Weathering in Low GDP Regions for Gigaton Scale Carbon Removal with Potential Economic Co-benefits

Bingzheng Wang and Fengqi You, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae1cd4

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) applies crushed silicate rocks like basalt to croplands and offers significant potential for atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Here, the authors explored the potential of ERW as a bridge for sharing decarbonization responsibilities, with less-developed regions contributing cropland deployment and more developed regions providing financial support, thereby enhancing equity in global decarbonization.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Wang & You (2025): Cropland Enhanced Weathering in Low GDP Regions for Gigaton Scale Carbon Removal with Potential Economic Co-benefits

Bingzheng Wang and Fengqi You, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae1cd4

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) applies crushed silicate rocks like basalt to croplands and offers significant potential for atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Here, the authors explored the potential of ERW as a bridge for sharing decarbonization responsibilities, with less-developed regions contributing cropland deployment and more developed regions providing financial support, thereby enhancing equity in global decarbonization.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Nature – Calogiuri et al. (2025): Alive and dead earthworms capture carbon during mineral weathering through different pathways

Tullia Calogiuri, Mathilde Hagens, Jan Willem Van Groenigen, Florian Wichern, Reinaldy P. Poetra, Lukas Rieder, Ivan A. Janssens, Jens Hartmann, Anna Neubeck, Harun Niron, Abhijeet Singh, Siegfried E. Vlaeminck, Sara Vicca and Alix Vidal, IN: Communications Earth & Environment, www.doi.org/s43247-025-02766-4

Enhanced rock weathering aims at capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide as inorganic carbon, while potentially stabilizing soil organic carbon. However, the role of soil biota in this process remains underexplored. Earthworms, being key soil engineers, may impact carbon dynamics both when alive, through mineral ingestion and casting activities, and when dead, through microbial processes. Using stable isotope tracing, the authors investigate how live and dead earthworms affect carbon dynamics during rock weathering.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Clarkson et al. (2025): Unlocking Gigatonne-scale Carbon Dioxide Removal with strategic tipping point frameworks

Matthew Oliver Clarkson, Mariane Chiapini, Marcella Daubermann, Veronica Furey, Suzi Huff Theodoro, Injy Johnstone, Junyao Kang, David Manning, Igor Nogueira, Eduardda Pivatto, Noah J. Planavsky, Bruno Ramos, Mayra Maniero Rodrigues, Leticia Schwerz, Philipp Swoboda, Jeandro Vitorio and Christina Larkin, IN: EarthArXiv Preprint, https://doi.org/10.31223/X56J15

This study explores the enabling conditions and interventions that place Brazil at the forefront of uniting the emerging Enhanced Rock Weathering industry with sustainable agrogeological transformation. These conditions include pioneering research, an established community movement and representation body, and a ‘first-of-its-kind’ national legal framework for feedstock production.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Cong et al. (2025): Harnessing enhanced rock weathering for carbon neutrality: potential and challenges in China

Lianghan Cong, Shuaiyi Lu, Pan Jiang, Tianqi Zheng, Yanjun Zhang, Xiaoshu Lü, Ziwang Yu and Tianfu Xu, IN: Earth-Science Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105309

By applying powdered silicate rocks rich in calcium and magnesium, such as basalt, the dissolution process can be accelerated to sequester CO₂ in the form of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) within soil porewater, which is ultimately transported to the ocean, achieving long-term carbon storage. Using a life cycle assessment (LCA) framework, this study evaluates the feasibility of basalt-based enhanced rock weathering in China, focusing on its environmental and economic implications across various application scenarios.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Kreuzburg et al. (2025): Hawaiian beaches as natural analogues for enhanced silicate weathering of olivine

Matthias Kreuzburg, Astrid Hylén, Devon B. Cole, Stephen J. Romaniello, Chandra W. Winardhi, Veerle Cnudde, Daniel A. Frick, Josephine Barnett, Kirsten E. P. Nicolaysen and Filip J. R. Meysman, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae130c

Silicate weathering induces atmospheric CO₂ sequestration through alkalinity release, which is Earth’s prime mechanism for regulating the climate. Marine enhanced rock weathering (mERW) seeks to accelerate this process by distributing fast-weathering silicate minerals like olivine in coastal environments, thus targeting deliberate carbon dioxide removal. However, the efficiency and environmental impact of mERW remain uncertain, as experimental studies are not capable of tracking the CO₂ sequestration rate and ecological effects over sufficiently long timescales. Natural coastal environments with olivine-rich sands enable insight into long-term weathering and may serve as analogues envisioned for mERW applications. Papakōlea Beach (Hawai‘i) is one of the few beaches across the world with olivine-rich sands (>80% by weight), thus providing a unique mERW analogue. The authors examined in situ weathering and biogeochemical cycling at Papakōlea as well as in the nearby mixed volcanic/coral sands of Richardson Ocean Park.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Steeley et al. (2025): Agroforestry and enhanced rock weathering: A dual strategy for sustainable cacao

Isabella L. Steeley, Edson S. França, Dimitar Z. Epihov, Noah J. Planavsky, David J. Beerling, IN: Plant-Environment Interactions, https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70097

Cacao production is both economically vital and environmentally intensive, presenting a major sustainability challenge as a crop largely cultivated by smallholder farmers in climate-vulnerable regions. This review synthesises evidence that integrating agroforestry with enhanced rock weathering (EW) may significantly reduce emissions from cacao production. The authors’ projections indicate that applying EW to 10% of the cocoa harvest area gives a notably high mitigation potential.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Cunningham et al. (2025): Carbon dioxide removal during dissolution of granular basalt: A mass balance test of enhanced rock weathering at the hillslope scale

Charles J. Cunningham, Andrew Guertin, Marine Gelin, Louis A. Derry, Hannes H. Bauser, Minseok Kim, Jennifer L. Druhan, Scott Saleska, Peter A. Troch and Jon Chorover, IN: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119662

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is proposed as a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy that sequesters carbon through the carbonic acid-promoted dissolution of ground silicate rocks. Studies have explored the efficacy of ERW through geochemical models and bench-scale reactors, but field-scale experimentation is limited. A year-long, replicated study was conducted at the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) at Biosphere 2 to quantify basaltic CDR at the hillslope scale. LEO comprises three mesoscale surfaces (each 330 m²) with 1 m depth of granular basalt. The authors subjected these structures to three 30 d irrigation events followed by progressively lengthened dry periods.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Araujo & Santos (2025): Soil Calcimetry Dynamics to Monitor Weathering Flux: Method Calibration in Wollastonite-Amended Croplands – Preprint

Francisco SM Araujo and Rafael M Santos, IN: Preprints.org, doi: 10.20944/preprints202509.2142.v1

Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) is a promising carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy that accelerates mineral dissolution, sequestering atmospheric CO₂ while improving soil health. This study builds on prior applications of soil calcimetry by investigating its ability to resolve short-term carbonate fluxes and rainfall-modulated weathering dynamics in wollastonite-amended croplands. Conducted over a single growing season (May–October 2024) in temperate row-crop fields near Port Colborne, Ontario—characterized by lacustrine clay soils and variable rainfall—the study tests whether calcimetry can differentiate between dissolution and precipitation phases and serve as a proxy for total weathering flux within the sentinel layer.

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