Mountains, erosion and the carbon cycle
Robert G. Hilton,A. Joshua West +1 more
- Vol. 1, Iss: 6, pp 284-299
TLDR
In this paper, the authors examined the mechanisms of carbon exchange between rocks and the atmosphere, and discussed the balance of CO2 sources and sinks, and demonstrated that organic carbon burial and oxidative weathering, not widely considered in most models, control the net CO2 budget associated with erosion.Abstract:
Mountain building results in high erosion rates and the interaction of rocks with the atmosphere, water and life. Carbon transfers that result from increased erosion could control the evolution of Earth’s long-term climate. For decades, attention has focused on the hypothesized role of mountain building in drawing down atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) via silicate weathering. However, it is now recognized that mountain building and erosion affect the carbon cycle in other important ways. For example, erosion mobilizes organic carbon (OC) from terrestrial vegetation, transferring it to rivers and sediments, and thereby acting to draw down atmospheric CO2 in tandem with silicate weathering. Meanwhile, exhumation of sedimentary rocks can release CO2 through the oxidation of rock OC and sulfide minerals. In this Review, we examine the mechanisms of carbon exchange between rocks and the atmosphere, and discuss the balance of CO2 sources and sinks. It is demonstrated that OC burial and oxidative weathering, not widely considered in most models, control the net CO2 budget associated with erosion. Lithology strongly influences the impact of mountain building on the global carbon cycle, with an orogeny dominated by sedimentary rocks, and thus abundant rock OC and sulfides, tending towards being a CO2 source. By increasing erosion, mountain building can steer the evolution of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and global climate. This Review expands from the canonical focus on silicate weathering to consider the net carbon budget of erosion, including both CO2 sinks (silicate weathering, organic-carbon burial) and CO2 sources (oxidative weathering).read more
Citations
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Mineral protection regulates long-term global preservation of natural organic carbon
TL;DR: Broadening activation energy distributions and increasing radiocarbon ages reveal the global importance of mineral protection in promoting organic carbon preservation.
The dependence of chemical weathering rates on fluid residence time
TL;DR: In this paper, a reactive transport analysis is used to interpret chemical weathering rate data for a range of systems, showing that weathering rates depend most strongly on fluid residence times and fluid flow rates, and depend very weakly on material age.
Journal ArticleDOI
Co-variation of silicate, carbonate and sulfide weathering drives CO2 release with erosion
Aaron Bufe,Niels Hovius,Robert Emberson,Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein,Albert Galy,H. J. Hassenruck-Gudipati,Jui-Ming Chang +6 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use stream-water chemistry across an erosion rate gradient of three orders of magnitude in shales and sandstones of southern Taiwan, and find that sulfide and carbonate weathering rates rise with increasing erosion, while silicate weathering remains steady.
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Controls on Organic Carbon Burial in the Eastern China Marginal Seas: A Regional Synthesis
Journal ArticleDOI
High‐resolution mapping of the global silicate weathering carbon sink and its long‐term changes
Chaojun Li,Xiaoyong Bai,Qiu Tan,Guangjie Luo,Luhua Wu,Fei Chen,Hui-Hui Xi,Xuling Luo,Chen Ran,Huan Chen,Sirui Zhang,Min Liu,Suhua Gong,Liangping Xiong,Fengjiao Song,B.-L. Xiao,Chaochao Du +16 more
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors used the improved first-order model with correlated factors and nonparametric methods, and produced spatiotemporal data sets (0.25° × 0.75°) of the global silicate weathering carbon-sink flux (SCSFα) under different scenarios (SSPs) in present (1950-2014) and future (2015-2100) periods based on the Global River Chemistry Database and CMIP6 data sets.
References
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Book Chapter
The Physical Science Basis
E. Jansen,J Overpeck,Keith R. Briffa,J. C. Duplessy,F. Joos,Masson-Delmotte,Daniel Olago,B. Otto-Bliesner,W. R. Peltier,Stefan Rahmstorf,Rengaswamy Ramesh,D Raynud,D Rind,O Solomina,Ricardo Villalba,De Zhang +15 more
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TL;DR: In this paper, data from 280 rivers discharging to the ocean indicates that sediment loads/yields are a log-linear function of basin area and maximum elevation of the river basin.
Journal ArticleDOI
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TL;DR: In this article, newly compiled data on the 60 largest rivers of the world are used to calculate the contribution of main lithologies, rain and atmosphere to river dissolved loads, and the relationship between the chemical weathering rates of silicates and the possible controlling parameters are explored.
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Sedimentary organic matter preservation: an assessment and speculative synthesis
John I. Hedges,Richard G. Keil +1 more
TL;DR: For example, in a recent paper as discussed by the authors, the authors investigated the mechanisms governing sedimentary organic matter preservation in marine sediments and found that organic preservation in the marine environment is < 0.5% efficient, and that the factors which directly determine preservation vary with depositional regime, but have in common a critical interaction between organic and inorganic materials over locally variable time scales.