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The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle focused on carbon and how it is sequestered in and moves between different reservoirs in the Earth system.
Emissions of CO2 from drained peat soils with 6- 12% organic C can be as high as those from soils with >12% organic C. This was shown in an incubation study of >100 organic soils, and may have implications for national greenhouse gas inventories.
This study demonstrates that future whole-soil warming has a much stronger effect on soil carbon emission in the alpine grassland ecosystem than what is estimated by previous warming experiments which only warm surface soils mostly.
Deep carbon mobilization and emission in the central part of the India-Asia collision zone is spatially variable and controlled by the underthrusting of India beneath Asia, according to calculations for CO2 origins and fluxes in regional extensional terranes.
Atmospheric methane-oxidizing bacteria constitute the sole biological sink for atmospheric methane. Here, Schmider et al. assess the ability and strategies of seven methanotrophic species to grow with air as sole energy, carbon, and nitrogen source, showing that these bacteria can grow on the trace concentrations of methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen present in air.
The resilience of tropical forest ecosystems to seasonal drought is linked to terrestrial potassium and phosphorus availability, according to a nutrient addition experiment in a moist forest in Uganda.
There are no good models for the chemical evolution of the Earth’s surface over the planet’s lifetime, because models typically overlook the progressive build-up of carbonate rocks in the crust. A new model that includes this accumulation enables the reconstruction of major oxygen and temperature trends throughout Earth’s history.
The carbon emissions of large igneous province magmatism are commonly associated with severe environmental crises. We developed a technique that used sedimentary mercury records to estimate these carbon fluxes through time and found that they are smaller and/or slower than assumed, which suggests that the influence of carbon-cycle feedback processes is underestimated in current models.
Canal networks in Southeast Asian peatlands are zones of rapid, light-driven biogeochemical cycling. The canals increase carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere and decrease organic carbon export to the ocean.
An integrated model of mineral weathering and carbon cycling reveals the substantial influence that clay minerals originating from the weathering of magnesium-rich rocks have on Earth’s climate. This research indicates that this clay-forming process contributed to each Palaeozoic glaciation.
Blue carbon will not solve climate change. The effect is too small; existing sediment carbon stock is a liability; and there is a timescale mismatch between ancient fossil fuel emissions and uptake by vegetation. Clearer communication would support informed decision-making.