What is Enhanced Weathering?
Enhanced weathering is a carbon removal approach that involves accelerating the Earth's natural process of rock weathering to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This typically involves grinding up silicate rocks (like basalt or olivine) to increase their surface area and spreading them on land or in oceans, where they react with CO₂ and water.
Why is Enhanced Weathering important?
Enhanced weathering holds significant potential for large-scale, durable carbon removal. It leverages a natural geological process and can also improve soil health or ocean chemistry, offering co-benefits. It's an emerging technology with the potential to store CO₂ for thousands of years.
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Frequently asked questions
When silicate rocks weather, they react with atmospheric CO₂ (dissolved in rainwater) to form bicarbonates and carbonates, which are then transported by rivers to the ocean, where the carbon is locked away.
Potential impacts include dust generation from grinding, changes in soil chemistry, or localized ocean chemistry alterations. Research is ongoing to understand and mitigate these effects.
Enhanced weathering can be deployed on agricultural lands, coastal areas, or through industrial applications where finely ground minerals are used as additives.