Rolling stones; fast weathering of olivine in shallow seas for cost-effective CO2 capture and mitigation of global warming and ocean acidification R. D. Schuiling and P. L. de Boer Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.021, 3508TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
Received: 20 Nov 2011 – Accepted: 22 Nov 2011 – Published: 06 Dec 2011
Abstract. Human CO2 emissions may drive the Earth into a next
greenhouse state. They can be mitigated by accelerating weathering of
natural rock under the uptake of CO2. We disprove the paradigm that
olivine weathering in nature would be a slow process, and show that it is
not needed to mill olivine to very fine, 10 μm-size grains in order to
arrive at a complete dissolution within 1–2 year. In high-energy shallow
marine environments olivine grains and reaction products on the grain
surfaces, that otherwise would greatly retard the reaction, are abraded so
that the chemical reaction is much accelerated. When kept in motion even
large olivine grains rubbing and bumping against each other quickly produce
fine clay- and silt-sized olivine particles that show a fast chemical
reaction. Spreading of olivine in the world's 2% most energetic shelf
seas can compensate a year's global CO2 emissions and counteract ocean
acidification against a price well below that of carbon credits.
Citation: Schuiling, R. D. and de Boer, P. L.: Rolling stones; fast weathering of olivine in shallow seas for cost-effective CO2 capture and mitigation of global warming and ocean acidification, Earth Syst. Dynam. Discuss., 2, 551-568, doi:10.5194/esdd-2-551-2011, 2011.
IF 3.062
SNIP 0.707
SJR 1.399
h5-index 13