Temperature control on CO2 emissions from the weathering of sedimentary rocks - INRAE - Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement
Article Dans Une Revue Nature Geoscience Année : 2021

Temperature control on CO2 emissions from the weathering of sedimentary rocks

Robert Hilton
Mark Garnett
Tobias Roylands
Sébastien Klotz
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Thomas Croissant
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Mathieu Dellinger

Résumé

The release of carbon dioxide during oxidative weathering of sedimentary rocks acts as a positive feedback to warming, according to 2.5 years of CO2 flux measurements from the Draix-Bleone Critical Zone Observatory, France. Sedimentary rocks can release carbon dioxide (CO2) during the weathering of rock organic carbon and sulfide minerals. This sedimentary carbon could act as a feedback on Earth's climate over millennial to geological timescales, yet the environmental controls on the CO2 release from rocks are poorly constrained. Here, we directly measure CO2 flux from weathering of sedimentary rocks over 2.5 years at the Draix-Bleone Critical Zone Observatory, France. Total CO2 fluxes approached values reported for soil respiration, with radiocarbon analysis confirming the CO2 source from rock organic carbon and carbonate. The measured CO2 fluxes varied seasonally, with summer fluxes five times larger than winter fluxes, and were positively correlated with temperature. The CO2 release from rock organic carbon oxidation increased by a factor of 2.2 when temperature increased by 10 degrees C. This temperature sensitivity is similar to that of degradation of recent-plant-derived organic matter in soils. Our flux measurements identify sedimentary-rock weathering as a positive feedback to warming, which may have operated throughout Earth's history to force the surface carbon cycle.
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hal-03580349 , version 1 (18-02-2022)

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Guillaume Soulet, Robert Hilton, Mark Garnett, Tobias Roylands, Sébastien Klotz, et al.. Temperature control on CO2 emissions from the weathering of sedimentary rocks. Nature Geoscience, 2021, 14 (9), pp.665-671. ⟨10.1038/s41561-021-00805-1⟩. ⟨hal-03580349⟩
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