Potential of global croplands and bioenergy crops for climate change mitigation through deployment for enhanced weathering. (5th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kantola, Ilsa B.; Masters, Michael D.; Beerling, David J.; Long, Stephen P.; DeLucia, Evan H.
• Is Part Of: Biology letters. Volume 13:Number 4(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017-04-05
• Subjects: basalt -- carbon sequestration -- agriculture -- global climate change -- silicate weathering -- biofuels; Biology -- Periodicals; 570.5
• DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0714
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1744-9561

Abstract

Abstract : Conventional row crop agriculture for both food and fuel is a source of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and nitrous oxide (N2 O) to the atmosphere, and intensifying production on agricultural land increases the potential for soil C loss and soil acidification due to fertilizer use. Enhanced weathering (EW) in agricultural soils—applying crushed silicate rock as a soil amendment—is a method for combating global climate change while increasing nutrient availability to plants. EW uses land that is already producing food and fuel to sequester carbon (C), and reduces N2 O loss through pH buffering. As biofuel use increases, EW in bioenergy crops offers the opportunity to sequester CO2 while reducing fossil fuel combustion. Uncertainties remain in the long-term effects and global implications of large-scale efforts to directly manipulate Earth's atmospheric CO2 composition, but EW in agricultural lands is an opportunity to employ these soils to sequester atmospheric C while benefitting crop production and the global climate.