Scientists find powerful source of carbon emissions in ancient rocks 15:08

British scientists from the University of Oxford have refuted the claim that natural weathering of rocks helps absorb carbon dioxide (CO2). They found that the Earth’s crust can also act as a significant source of CO2, releasing as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as all volcanoes on the planet. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature.

Rocks contain large stores of carbon in the ancient remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Additionally, some minerals actually have the ability to extract carbon dioxide from the air under the influence of weak acids found in rainwater.

Oxford researchers have measured the natural release of CO2 from rocks into the atmosphere for the first time. Currently this factor is not included in most natural carbon cycle models.

Carbon dioxide is released as the rocks formed on the sea floor during the formation of mountains turn into land. As a result, the carbon stored at depth reacts with oxygen and turns into CO2.

Until now, it has been difficult to measure CO2 emissions from the decomposition of organic carbon in rocks. In the new study, scientists used a trace element (rhenium) that is released into water when organic carbon in the rock reacts with oxygen.
Emission hotspots are concentrated in the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, the Rocky Mountains, and the Andes. Scientists found that global CO2 emissions from the weathering of rock organic carbon reach 68 megatons of carbon per year.

“This is around 100 times less than modern human CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, but is comparable to the amount of carbon dioxide released by volcanoes around the world in a year,” said Professor Robert Hilton, from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford. .

Ecologists before named Planting trees to offset carbon emissions is ineffective and harms biodiversity.