Enhanced Weathering and Carbon Sequestration Strategies

Enhanced weathering harnesses natural mineral dissolution processes to accelerate the capture of atmospheric CO2 and its storage as stable inorganic forms. By grinding silicate rocks such as basalt or olivine into fine powders and distributing them over land or in coastal zones, chemical reactions are intensified, generating alkalinity and releasing cations that form bicarbonate and carbonate minerals. This approach can deliver both geochemical removal of CO2 and biotic benefits through nutrient release, potentially boosting plant growth and soil health. Critical factors include mineral selection, particle size, application rate, local climate and hydrology, and the monitoring of co-released elements to assess ecological risks. Integration with agricultural systems offers practical pathways to deploy this scalable carbon dioxide removal technique alongside other negative emission technologies.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated that applying basalt powder to forest soils can substantially enhance carbon sequestration by combining direct geochemical CO2 uptake with stimulated ecosystem productivity. Model simulations indicate that forest applications may triple carbon removal rates compared with cropland, while reducing dependence on other engineered carbon removal approaches. Another foundational analysis has quantified the global potential of alkaline industrial by-products to sequester billions of tonnes of CO2 annually in the form of carbonate and bicarbonate, framing enhanced weathering of waste materials as a cost-effective component of climate mitigation pathways.

Enhanced Weathering and Carbon Sequestration Strategies publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in enhanced weathering and carbon sequestration strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Enhanced weathering: Acceleration of natural mineral dissolution to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it as bicarbonate or carbonate minerals.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR): A suite of methods aimed at extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestering it long term.

Alkalinity: The capacity of water or soil to neutralise acids, increased by mineral dissolution and crucial for stabilising dissolved CO2.

Basalt: A common volcanic silicate rock which, when finely ground, reacts with CO2 to form stable inorganic carbon compounds.

Bicarbonate: A dissolved form of inorganic carbon (HCO3–) that transports sequestered CO2 to oceans and sediments.

References

1. Leveraging ecosystems responses to enhanced rock weathering in mitigation scenarios. Nature Communications (2025).
2. The negative emission potential of alkaline materials. Nature Communications (2019).
3. Potential and costs of carbon dioxide removal by enhanced weathering of rocks. Environmental Research Letters (2018).
4. Enhanced Weathering and related element fluxes – a cropland mesocosm approach. Biogeosciences (2020).
5. Olivine Dissolution in Seawater: Implications for CO2 Sequestration through Enhanced Weathering in Coastal Environments. Environmental Science and Technology (2017).
6. Olivine Weathering in Soil, and Its Effects on Growth and Nutrient Uptake in Ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.): A Pot Experiment. PLOS ONE (2012).
7. Increased yield and CO2 sequestration potential with the C4 cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil. Global Change Biology (2020).