Farmers around the world can help decarbonize the planet by: mix crushed volcanic rocks into your fieldsaccording to the results of a study that also highlighted the humid and warm tropics as the most promising locations for this climate response strategy.
research published in the journal The Future of the Worldprovides one of the first possible global predictions carbon dioxide retention by placing basalt stones in agricultural areas of the whole world.
This type of weather intervention is technically called ‘advanced rock weathering’. It takes advantage of the weathering process (breaking and weathering of rocks) that naturally traps carbon dioxide in carbonate minerals. The idea is simple: speed up the weather in a way that benefits people too. Used in parallel with reducing emissions, it can help slow the pace of climate change.
“It also provides some important benefits, such as revitalizing depleted soils and countering ocean acidification.”
Also, according to the study’s authors, ‘breading’ rock into crops may be a safer bet than other carbon reduction systems. “Advanced rock erosion poses less of a risk compared to other climate interventions,” said Yale University climate scientist S. Hun Baek, who led the study. “It also provides some important benefits, such as Revitalize depleted soils and prevent ocean acidificationwhich may make it more socially desirable.”
New study explores potential to use crushed basalt, a rapidly eroding rock that forms as lava coolshighlights agricultural areas around the world and which regions are able to break up rock most efficiently.
“There is great potential in it,” he said. Noah Planavsky, a geochemist at Yale University and co-author of the study. “While we still have things to learn from a basic science perspective, there is hope and we need to focus on what we can do from this point. market and financial outlook“.
crushed basalt in farmland
Researchers have a new biogeochemical model to simulate how crushed basalt is placed on farmland around the world captures carbon dioxideto test the climate sensitivity of advanced rock weathering and to identify areas where the method could be most effective.
new model simulated the use of this system on 1,000 agricultural fields around the world Under two emission scenarios from 2006 to 2080. They found that over the 75-year study period, these farmlands would consume 64 gigatons of carbon dioxide. By extrapolating this to all agricultural areas representing the full potential application of this strategy in the world, Up to 217 gigatons of carbon can be captured in that time period.
“The latest IPCC report says we need to eliminate 100 to 1,000 gigatons of carbon by 2100, in addition to drastically reducing emissions”
“The latest IPCC report said: We need to eliminate 100 to 1000 gigatons of carbon by 2100In addition to significantly reducing emissions to prevent global temperatures from rising more than one and a half degrees Celsius, Baek said.
“For global farmland scaling, the decarbonization estimates we found are roughly comparable to the lower end of this range needed to have a fighting chance to meet these climate targets.”
Because Decomposition progresses faster in hot and humid environments.the use of rocks in crops, tropical regions inside higher latitudes, the study highlights. Farmers and companies looking to invest in carbon extraction solutions are making cost-effective and carbon-efficient decisions by focusing on basalt application in the tropics.
Natural retention of carbon dioxide
The model revealed another promising result: Enhanced rock weathering works just as well, if not slightly better, at higher temperatures. Some other carbon sequestration systems, such as those that rely on storing organic carbon in the soil, become less effective with continued warming.
“Advanced rock weathering is surprisingly resistant to climate change,” Baek said. “Our results show that it is relatively insensitive to climate change and works in roughly the same way in moderate and severe global warming scenarios. This gives us confidence in its potential as a long-term strategy.”
Farmers are already releasing millions of tons of limestone It’s a calcium carbonate rock in your fields (which can be a carbon source or swamp) to provide nutrients and control soil acidity, so gradually changing the rock type could mean a smooth transition to better practice erosion based on the scale of the rocks, Planavsky said.
Enhanced rock weathering has been applied on a small scale on farms around the world. Planavsky said the next step is to work towards a “realistic implementation.”
Reference work: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023EF003698
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Source: Informacion
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