UC Riverside researchers have discovered a piece that was missing in previous descriptions of the way Earth recycles its carbon.
UC Riverside researchers have discovered a piece that was missing in previous descriptions of the way Earth recycles its carbon. As a result, they believe that global warming can overcorrect into an ice age.
The traditional view among researchers is that Earth’s climate is kept in check by a slow-moving but reliable natural system of rock weathering.
In this system, rain captures carbon dioxide from the air, hits exposed rocks on land – especially silicate rocks like granite – and slowly dissolves them. When this captured CO2 reaches the ocean together with dissolved calcium from the rocks, they combine to form seashells and limestone reefs, locking the carbon away on the sea floor for many hundreds of millions of years.
“As the planet gets hotter, rocks weather faster and take up more CO₂, cooling the planet back down again,” said Andy Ridgwell, UCR geologist and co-author of the paper published today in Science.
Read More: University of California - Riverside
Image: Computer simulation of Earth's climate evolving over one million years in response to a sudden release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. (Credit: Andy Ridgwell/UCR)
