Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PALEOCARBON (PALEOcene greenhouse climate and the effect of basalt weathering on CARBON sequestration)
Berichtszeitraum: 2019-09-01 bis 2022-08-31
Our results suggest that (1) higher atmospheric CO2 levels (e.g. similar to the Paleocene atmospheric level) increased the average weathering rate of basaltic materials, hence enhancing the associated carbon sequestration; (2) plant growth increased the average weathering rate compared to no plant scenario under a specific climatic condition; (3) adding basaltic materials to soils as carried out in the growth chamber experiment reduced plant growth.
This contribution has been exploited through international scientific conference presentations, invited seminar talks, public engagement/media outreach activities, etc., and is currently being exploited by open access scientific journey publications (in preparation).
The results improve our understanding of silicate weathering processes and enable us to better quantify the associated carbon sequestration under high atmospheric pCO2. The results also show the challenges associated with the quantification of carbon sequestration through enhanced silicate weathering and its impacts on plant growth. These have major implications on the future development of enhanced weathering as potential negative emissions technology. The obtained constraints on these processes also provide end member parameters to improve the climate models used to predict future climate change and carbon drawdown scenarios.