Accelerated carbon dioxide release from sedimentary rocks in a warming world

Rocks contain a vast store of carbon locked in the ancient remains of plants and animals. In the upper metre of Earth's surface alone, there is estimated to be more than 1000 billion tonnes of carbon in rocks, which is similar to the amount of carbon found in plants alive today and more than is present in the atmosphere. Weathering processes, which break down rocks into pieces and result in chemical reactions, can release this carbon stored in rocks back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that controls global temperature.

Until recently, the stores of carbon in rocks were considered to be relatively unreactive, and thus viewed as a stable store of carbon. However, a new method developed by the team has directly measured CO2 emissions from rock weathering for the first time. This work shows that weathering can release CO2 rapidly, and that the rates of CO2 release increase with temperature. In addition, there is evidence that in mountain locations, the retreat of glaciers can expose these ancient carbon-containing minerals to weathering processes. This provides another link between climate warming and release of CO2 from rocks to the atmosphere.

These recent findings lead us to question how the Earth's long term carbon cycle operates. Traditionally, chemical weathering of rocks is viewed as a CO2 sink via the weathering of silicate minerals. This process increases CO2 drawdown as temperature warms - a so called "negative feedback". However, it appears that weathering of sedimentary rocks acts in the opposite direction, raising fundamental questions on what controls the trajectory of atmospheric CO2 over Earth's history. In addition, the release of CO2 to the atmosphere from rock weathering may increase over the coming century. While the global fluxes are modest compared to fossil fuel CO2 emissions, they are currently very poorly constrained and will eat into our remaining carbon budget.

This ambitious proposal will establish...