Breakthrough Tracker record
Natural basalt watersheds lose part of their weathering-generated alkalinity before export
A peer-reviewed Nature synthesis of natural volcanic watersheds finds that subsurface and river processes can remove weathering-generated alkalinity through secondary clay and carbonate formation. The result supplies an empirical watershed-scale constraint for enhanced-rock-weathering carbon removal.
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- Stable ID
earth-basalt-weathering-alkalinity-export-2026- Revision
earth-basalt-weathering-alkalinity-export-2026.v1- Field
- Earth Science · Geochemistry, weathering and carbon dioxide removal
- Evidence
- Tier 1 · Peer reviewed: Yes
- Record state
- Current · Peer-reviewed result
- Last checked
AI role
The article does not disclose a substantive AI role in the analysis or writing.
Record details
- Problem or result
- How much alkalinity produced by basalt weathering survives transport from soil through watersheds to rivers and the ocean
- Authors
- L. A. Derry, K. Maher and O. A. Chadwick
- Institutions
- Cornell University; Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris; Stanford University; University of California, Santa Barbara
- Result date
- Published August 26, 2026
Why it matters
Enhanced weathering removes atmospheric carbon only if generated alkalinity persists and is exported. The synthesis identifies a missing watershed-scale loss term that deployment models and field trials must measure.
Limits
The study synthesizes natural basaltic catchments rather than controlled engineered deployments, so it does not establish a single global efficiency penalty. Direct field measurements remain sparse, and site hydrology, mineralogy and secondary precipitation can change the outcome.
Sources
- Primary: Derry, Maher and Chadwick, Nature watershed synthesis
- Data: Stanford repository for the compiled data and calculations
Correction and revision history
- 2026-09-01 — Added after primary-source, scope, status, AI-role and limitation review.
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