How Plants Enhance Weathering and How Weathering is Important to Plants

Elements ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Porder
Keyword(s):  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Carbon Uptake ◽  
Rock Weathering ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Carbon Loss ◽  
Weathering Rates ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Primary Minerals

Since land plants emerged from swampy coastlines over 400 million years ago, they have played a fundamental role in shaping the Earth system. Roots and associated fungi increase rock weathering rates, providing access to nutrients, while altering atmospheric CO2. As soils weather, the dissolution of primary minerals forces plants to rely on recycling and atmospheric deposition of rock-derived nutrients. Thus, for many terrestrial ecosystems, weathering ultimately constrains primary production (carbon uptake) and decomposition (carbon loss). These constraints are most acute in agricultural systems, which rely on mined fertilizer rather than the recycling of organic material to maintain production. Humans now mine similar amounts of some elements as weather out of rocks globally. This increase in supply has myriad environmental consequences.

scholarly journals Environmental impact of weathering and soil formation in geomorphological research

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 047-051
Author(s):  
Clinton Aloni ◽  
Chinago Budnuka Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Soil Formation ◽  
Rock Weathering ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Chemical Action ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Face ◽  
Physical Features ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
Geomorphic Processes

Weathering is a part of geomorphic processes leading to the disintegration and decomposition of rocks and minerals on the earth’s surface as a result of physical and chemical action that leads to the formation of soil being a most vital natural resource of rock weathering. Development of soils in an environment enhances plants dependence on it for growth, and man depends directly or indirectly on plants for food, thus the functions of soil as a fundamental interface, providing an excellent example of the integration among many parts of the earth system. Hence, geomorphology research being based on processes of the earth’s surfacing that result into most of the physical features seen on the face of the earth.

scholarly journals Rock weathering controls the potential for soil carbon storage at a continental scale

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric W. Slessarev ◽  
Oliver A. Chadwick ◽  
Noah W. Sokol ◽  
Erin E. Nuccio ◽  
Jennifer Pett-Ridge
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Mineral Weathering ◽  
Rock Weathering ◽  
Weathering Rates ◽  
Primary Mineral ◽  
Organic Carbon Storage ◽  
Primary Minerals

AbstractAs rock-derived primary minerals weather to form soil, they create reactive, poorly crystalline minerals that bind and store organic carbon. By implication, the abundance of primary minerals in soil might influence the abundance of poorly crystalline minerals, and hence soil organic carbon storage. However, the link between primary mineral weathering, poorly crystalline minerals, and soil carbon has not been fully tested, particularly at large spatial scales. To close this knowledge gap, we designed a model that links primary mineral weathering rates to the geographic distribution of poorly crystalline minerals across the USA, and then used this model to evaluate the effect of rock weathering on soil organic carbon. We found that poorly crystalline minerals are most abundant and most strongly correlated with organic carbon in geographically limited zones that sustain enhanced weathering rates, where humid climate and abundant primary minerals co-occur. This finding confirms that rock weathering alters soil mineralogy to enhance soil organic carbon storage at continental scales, but also indicates that the influence of active weathering on soil carbon storage is limited by low weathering rates across vast areas.

scholarly journals Assessing Carbon Dioxide Removal Through Global and Regional Ocean Alkalization under High and Low Emission Pathways

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Lenton ◽  
Richard J. Matear ◽  
David P. Keller ◽  
Vivian Scott ◽  
Naomi E. Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
System Model ◽  
Carbon Uptake ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Surface Warming ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Low Emission ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 Concentrations

Abstract. Atmospheric CO2 levels continue to rise, increasing the risk of severe impacts on the Earth system, and on the ecosystem services that it provides. Artificial Ocean Alkalization (AOA) is capable of reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, surface warming and addressing ocean acidification. Here we simulate global and regional responses to alkalinity addition (0.25 PmolAlk/year) using the CSIRO-Mk3L-COAL Earth System Model in the period 2020–2100, under high (RCP8.5) and low (RCP2.6) emissions. While regionally there are large changes associated with locations of AOA, globally we see only a very weak dependence on where and when AOA is applied. We see that under RCP2.6, while the carbon uptake associated with AOA is only ~ 60 % of the total under RCP8.5, the relative changes in temperature are larger, as are the changes in pH (1.4×) and aragonite saturation (1.7×). The results of this modelling study are significant as they demonstrate that AOA is more effective under lower emissions, and the higher the emissions the more AOA required to achieve the same reduction in global warming and ocean acidification. Finally, our simulations show AOA in the period 2020–2100 is capable of offsetting global warming and ameliorating ocean acidification increases due to low emissions, but regionally the response is more variable.

Towards a quantification of the water planetary boundary

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Wang-Erlandsson ◽  
Tom Gleeson ◽  
Fernando Jaramillo ◽  
Samuel C. Zipper ◽  
Dieter Gerten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Weighting Factors ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Stability

<p>The planetary boundaries framework defines nine Earth system processes that together demarcate a safe operating space for humanity at the planetary scale. Freshwater - the bloodstream of the biosphere - is an obvious member of the planetary boundary framework.  Water fluxes and stores play a key role for the stability of the Earth’s climate and the world’s aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Recent work has proposed to represent the water planetary boundary through six sub-boundaries based on the five primary water stores, i.e., atmospheric water, soil moisture, surface water, groundwater, and frozen water. In order to make it usable on all spatial scales we examine bottom-up and top-down approaches for quantification of the water planetary boundary. For the bottom-up approaches, we explore possible spatially distributed variables defining each of the proposed sub-boundaries, as well as possible weighting factors and keystone regions that can be used for aggregation of the distributed water sub-boundaries to the global scale. For the top-down approaches, we re-examine the stability of key biomes and tipping elements in the Earth System that may be crucially influenced by water cycle modifications. To identify the most appropriate variables for representing the water planetary boundary, we evaluate the range of explored variables with regard to scientific evidence and scientific representation using a hierarchy-based evaluation framework. Finally, we compare the highest ranked top-down and bottom-up approaches in terms of the scientific outcome and implications for governance. In sum, this comprehensive and systematic identification and evaluation of variables, weighting factors, and baseline conditions provides a detailed basis for the future operational quantification of the water planetary boundary. </p>

scholarly journals The effect of pH on rates of reaction and hydrogen generation during serpentinization

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2165) ◽  
pp. 20180428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. McCollom ◽  
Frieder Klein ◽  
Peter Solheid ◽  
Bruce Moskowitz
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Hydrogen Generation ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Reaction Pathways ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Alkaline Conditions ◽  
Neutral Conditions ◽  
Primary Minerals ◽  
Ongoing Experiment

A series of three laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate how pH affects reaction pathways and rates during serpentinization. Two experiments were conducted under strongly alkaline conditions using olivine as reactant at 200 and 230°C, and the results were compared with previous studies performed using the same reactants and methods at more neutral pH. For both experiments, higher pH resulted in more rapid serpentinization of the olivine and generation of larger amounts of H 2 for comparable reaction times. Proportionally greater amounts of Fe were partitioned into brucite and chrysotile and less into magnetite in the experiments conducted at higher pH. In a third experiment, alkaline fluids were injected into an ongoing experiment containing olivine and orthopyroxene to raise the pH from circumneutral to strongly alkaline conditions. Increasing the pH of the olivine-orthopyroxene experiment resulted in an immediate and steep increase in H 2 production, and led to far more extensive reaction of the primary minerals compared to a similar experiment conducted under more neutral conditions. The results suggest that the development of strongly alkaline conditions in actively serpentinizing systems promotes increased rates of reaction and H 2 production, enhancing the flux of H 2 available to support biological activity in these environments. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Serpentinite in the Earth System’.

scholarly journals Inclusion of a suite of weathering tracers in the cGENIE Earth System Model – muffin release v.0.9.10

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Adloff ◽  
Andy Ridgwell ◽  
Fanny M. Monteiro ◽  
Ian J. Parkinson ◽  
Alexander Dickson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biogeochemical Cycles ◽  
Earth System Model ◽  
System Model ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Weathering Rates ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Isotopic Shifts ◽  
Box Models ◽  
Geologic Record

Abstract. The metals strontium (Sr), lithium (Li), osmium (Os) and calcium (Ca) and their isotopes are important tracers in the study of changes in weathering rates and volcanism, two main processes which shape the long-term cycling of carbon and other biogeochemically important elements at the Earth's surface. Traditionally, isotopic shifts of these four elements in the geologic record are interpreted with isotope-mixing, tracer-specific box models because of their long residence times in the ocean. However, these models often lack mechanistic links between the cycling of the four metals and other geochemically relevant elements, particularly carbon. Here we develop and evaluate the implementation of Sr, Li, Os and Ca isotopes into the Earth system model cGENIE. The model has the potential to study these metal systems at equilibrium and under perturbations alongside other biogeochemical cycles. We provide examples of how to apply this new model to investigate Sr, Li, Os and Ca isotope dynamics and responses to environmental change.

Using Physics To Capture The Changes To The Earth System In The Anthropocene

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orfeu Bertolami ◽  
Frederico Francisco
Keyword(s):  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

Editorial: Fire in the Earth System

PAGES news ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Whitlock ◽  
Willy Tinner
Keyword(s):  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

SPIES AND BLOGGERS: NEW SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY TOOLS TO UNDERSTAND MICROBIAL PROCESSES IN THE EARTH SYSTEM

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline A. Masiello ◽  
◽  
Jonathan J. Silberg ◽  
Hsiao-Ying Cheng ◽  
Ilenne Del Valle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Microbial Processes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth
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