Journal
NATURE GEOSCIENCE
Volume 14, Issue 4, Pages 211-+Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00714-3
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Funding
- Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association
- EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellowship [841663]
- ETH Fellowship
- Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship
- Marie Curie Actions (MSCA) [841663] Funding Source: Marie Curie Actions (MSCA)
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The study suggests that with increasing erosion rate, weathering rates of carbonates and sulfide minerals rise while silicate weathering rates remain steady. This leads to a net CO2 emission rate in rapidly eroding terrain that is at least twice as fast as CO2 sequestration rates in slow-eroding terrain. The researchers propose that these weathering reactions are linked and influenced by factors such as sulfuric acid generation and pH buffering.
Global climate is thought to be modulated by the supply of minerals to Earth's surface. Whereas silicate weathering removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, weathering of accessory carbonate and sulfide minerals is a geologically relevant source of CO2. Although these weathering pathways commonly operate side by side, we lack quantitative constraints on their co-variation across erosion rate gradients. Here we 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 rates remain steady. As a result, on timescales shorter than marine sulfide compensation (approximately 10(6)-10(7) years), weathering in rapidly eroding terrain leads to net CO2 emission rates that are at least twice as fast as CO2 sequestration rates in slow-eroding terrain. We propose that these weathering reactions are linked and that sulfuric acid generated from sulfide oxidation boosts carbonate solubility, whereas silicate weathering kinetics remain unaffected, possibly due to efficient buffering of the pH. We expect that these patterns are broadly applicable to many Cenozoic mountain ranges that expose marine metasediments.
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