A geological carbon cycle sink hosted by ocean crust talus breccias.

ABSTRACT: Calcium carbonate precipitation in ageing ocean crust sequesters carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater through seafloor weathering reactions, influencing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations on million-year timescales. However, this crustal carbon sink, and the extent it balances CO₂ degassing during crustal formation at mid-ocean ridges, remain poorly quantified due to limited sampling of the vast ridge flanks where CO₂ uptake continues for millions of years. Here we quantify the carbon sink hosted within talus breccias that accumulated through mass wasting 61 million years ago during rift faulting at the slow spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge, cored during International Ocean Discovery Program South Atlantic Transect Expedition 390. After 40 million years of carbonat

SUBMITTER: Coggon RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12685744 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature