Enhanced weathering is the process of exposing large quantities of minerals that are reactive with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and storing the resulting compound in the ocean or soil. It is considered a form of carbon dioxide removal or CDR.
BENEFITS
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CHALLENGES
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- Has the potential to increase terrestrial and oceanic net productivity
- Can be used to improve agricultural output
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- Dependent on fossil fuels for execution which may reduce overall efficacy
- Insufficient data and inability to accurately predict how fluxes in nutrients will impact Earth’s various systems
- Applications of rock powder to the land’s surface may increase overall dust
- The mobilization of potentially toxic chemicals from silicate rocks may detrimentally affect the food chain
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see also:
Question: What is geoengineering?
Albedo Enhancement
Space Reflectors
Stratospheric Aerosols
Afforestation
Ambient Air Capture
Biochar
Bioenergy Capture and Sequestration
Ocean Fertilization
Enhanced Weathering
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement
source:
Jens Hartmann, A. J.-G. (2013, May 23). Enhanced chemical weathering as a geoengineering strategy to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, supply nutrients, and mitigate ocean acidification. Review of Geophysics, pp. 113-149.
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Ocean fertilization is an untested carbon dioxide sequestration (CDR) technique that involves dissolving nitrates or iron into the water which will encourage an increase in carbon uptake by phytoplankton. After the plankton blooms, it dies and then sinks to the ocean floor where the carbon will be stored as sedimentary…
