Accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short-term enhanced weathering study

Various approaches are currently used to quantify the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) associated with enhanced weathering (EW), which involves amending soils with crushed silicate minerals. We aimed to contribute to the development of a standardized procedure for CDR quantification by complementing the...

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Main Authors: Emily E. E. M. te Pas, Elliot Chang, Alison R. Marklein, Rob N. J. Comans, Mathilde Hagens
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Climate
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2024.1524998/full
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author Emily E. E. M. te Pas
Elliot Chang
Elliot Chang
Alison R. Marklein
Rob N. J. Comans
Mathilde Hagens
author_facet Emily E. E. M. te Pas
Elliot Chang
Elliot Chang
Alison R. Marklein
Rob N. J. Comans
Mathilde Hagens
author_sort Emily E. E. M. te Pas
collection DOAJ
description Various approaches are currently used to quantify the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) associated with enhanced weathering (EW), which involves amending soils with crushed silicate minerals. We aimed to contribute to the development of a standardized procedure for CDR quantification by complementing the results of a recently published soil column experiment, in which crushed olivine, wollastonite, and albite were added to soils, with total fusion ICP-OES analyses of base cation concentrations. CDR quantified by soil-based mass balance approaches was only comparable to leachate-based total alkalinity measurements after correcting for the weathering products that were retained within the soil profile, which we defined as the retarded fraction. The retarded fraction comprised 92.7–98.3% of the weathered cations, indicating that at least in our short-term study (64 days), the majority of weathering products were retained within the soil. Further investigation of the fate of retarded weathering products showed that small portions precipitated as carbonate minerals (up to 34.0%) or adsorbed to reactive surfaces, such as soil organic matter and clay minerals (up to 32.5%). Hence, a large portion of weathering products may be retained in the soil due to strong adsorption and/or further mineral precipitation reactions (31.6–92.7%), with potentially important implications for the quantification of CDR across time. We conclude that soil-based mass balance approaches are useful in quantifying weathering rates and can infer potential CDR; however, the actual CDR realized for a given time and depth interval can only be constrained after accounting for the retarded fraction.
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spelling doaj-art-597c7c91d1d24887804b4f4c849296042025-02-07T06:49:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Climate2624-95532025-02-01610.3389/fclim.2024.15249981524998Accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short-term enhanced weathering studyEmily E. E. M. te Pas0Elliot Chang1Elliot Chang2Alison R. Marklein3Rob N. J. Comans4Mathilde Hagens5Soil Chemistry Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, NetherlandsEion Corp., Princeton, NJ, United StatesLithos Carbon, Inc., Seattle, WA, United StatesTerradot Soil Inc., San Francisco, CA, United StatesSoil Chemistry Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, NetherlandsSoil Chemistry Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, NetherlandsVarious approaches are currently used to quantify the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) associated with enhanced weathering (EW), which involves amending soils with crushed silicate minerals. We aimed to contribute to the development of a standardized procedure for CDR quantification by complementing the results of a recently published soil column experiment, in which crushed olivine, wollastonite, and albite were added to soils, with total fusion ICP-OES analyses of base cation concentrations. CDR quantified by soil-based mass balance approaches was only comparable to leachate-based total alkalinity measurements after correcting for the weathering products that were retained within the soil profile, which we defined as the retarded fraction. The retarded fraction comprised 92.7–98.3% of the weathered cations, indicating that at least in our short-term study (64 days), the majority of weathering products were retained within the soil. Further investigation of the fate of retarded weathering products showed that small portions precipitated as carbonate minerals (up to 34.0%) or adsorbed to reactive surfaces, such as soil organic matter and clay minerals (up to 32.5%). Hence, a large portion of weathering products may be retained in the soil due to strong adsorption and/or further mineral precipitation reactions (31.6–92.7%), with potentially important implications for the quantification of CDR across time. We conclude that soil-based mass balance approaches are useful in quantifying weathering rates and can infer potential CDR; however, the actual CDR realized for a given time and depth interval can only be constrained after accounting for the retarded fraction.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2024.1524998/fullenhanced weatheringsoil-based mass balancesleachate-based total alkalinityolivinewollastonitealbite
spellingShingle Emily E. E. M. te Pas
Elliot Chang
Elliot Chang
Alison R. Marklein
Rob N. J. Comans
Mathilde Hagens
Accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short-term enhanced weathering study
Frontiers in Climate
enhanced weathering
soil-based mass balances
leachate-based total alkalinity
olivine
wollastonite
albite
title Accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short-term enhanced weathering study
title_full Accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short-term enhanced weathering study
title_fullStr Accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short-term enhanced weathering study
title_full_unstemmed Accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short-term enhanced weathering study
title_short Accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short-term enhanced weathering study
title_sort accounting for retarded weathering products in comparing methods for quantifying carbon dioxide removal in a short term enhanced weathering study
topic enhanced weathering
soil-based mass balances
leachate-based total alkalinity
olivine
wollastonite
albite
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2024.1524998/full
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