Carbon mineralization, in the context of carbon sequestration topics, refers to the suite of geochemical and geomicrobiological processes by which inorganic carbon, typically as dissolved CO₂ or bicarbonate, is transformed into stable carbonate minerals such as calcite, magnesite, or siderite. It proceeds via reactions between CO₂-bearing fluids and metal cations (e.g., Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Fe²⁺) derived from silicate or oxide minerals, often involving dissolution–precipitation mechanisms controlled by pH, alkalinity, temperature, and fluid–rock ratios. Carbon mineralization is studied as a thermodynamically favorable, long-term CO₂ storage pathway in natural and engineered subsurface systems.
Cheap volcanic rock that languishes in open-cut mines and quarries could transform Australia's farming sector as a natural fertilizer, boosting crop yields and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Agriculture
Jul 14, 2025
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26
Adding lime to agricultural soils can remove CO2 from the atmosphere, rather than cause CO2 emissions, claims new research.
Ecology
Jul 9, 2025
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310
At more than 470 times the atmospheric concentration of CO₂, a humble soil bacterium does something extraordinary: it turns gas into stone.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 8, 2025
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218
We are going back 55 million years. That was when Greenland and Norway began to drift apart, causing the Atlantic Ocean to open up. The Earth's crust between them became thinner and thinner, and enormous amounts of lava poured ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 7, 2025
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31
Some species of fig trees store calcium carbonate in their trunks—essentially turning themselves (partially) into stone, new research has found. The team of Kenyan, U.S., Austrian, and Swiss scientists found that the trees ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 7, 2025
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1873
From sugar plantations in Brazil to tea estates in India, crushed rock is being sprinkled across large stretches of farmland globally in a novel bid to combat climate change.
Earth Sciences
Jun 24, 2025
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60
A new study has revealed for the first time that ancient carbon, stored in landscapes for thousands of years or more, can find its way back to the atmosphere as CO₂ is released from the surfaces of rivers.
Earth Sciences
Jun 4, 2025
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30
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies use a wide range of techniques to capture CO2 from the air and store it durably, offering a frontier solution for counteracting the increasing levels of the greenhouse gas in our environment. ...
Over the past decade, the Curiosity rover has repeatedly detected methane on the surface of Mars. This gas is often produced by microbes, so it could herald the presence of life on the red planet. But skeptics have postulated ...
Astrobiology
May 12, 2025
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91
Newly released documents add more detail to the New Zealand government's plans for a regulatory framework to enable carbon capture and storage.
Environment
Apr 29, 2025
0
19
