Alkalinity responses to climate warming destabilise the Earth's thermostat.

ABSTRACT: Alkalinity generation from rock weathering modulates Earth's climate at geological time scales. Although lithology is thought to dominantly control alkalinity generation globally, the role of other first-order controls appears elusive. Particularly challenging remains the discrimination of climatic and erosional influences. Based on global observations, here we uncover the role of erosion rate in governing riverine alkalinity, accompanied by areal proportion of carbonate, mean annual temperature, catchment area, and soil regolith thickness. We show that the weathering flux to the ocean will be significantly altered by climate warming as early as 2100, by up to 68% depending on the environmental conditions, constituting a sudden feedback of ocean CO₂ sequestration to climate. Int

SUBMITTER: Lehmann N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10039064 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature