Trace element mobilization during incipient bioweathering of four rock types

Burghelea, Carmen I.; Dontsova, Katerina; Zaharescu, Dragos G.; Maier, Raina M.; Huxman, Travis E.; Amistadi, Mary Kay; Hunt, Edward A.; Chorover, Jon

doi:10.1016/j.gca.2018.05.011

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Fungal hyphae proliferated throughout grains in the basalt bags, often connecting multiple grains (Figure S7). Hyphae were unpigmented, lacked septa and possessed angular projections (Figure S8), typical characteristics of AM fungi which supply plant roots with nutrients and contribute to bioweathering (Burghelea et al, 2015, 2018; Quirk et al, 2012, 2014). DNA extracted from mesh‐bags on harvesting the plants revealed that up to 45% of the fungal sequences were Glomeromycotina, the phylum‐forming AM (Figure S4).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased yield and CO₂ sequestration potential with the C₄ cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil

Kelland

Wade

Lewis

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

160

124

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Land-based enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a biogeochemical carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy aiming to accelerate natural geological processes of carbon sequestration through application of crushed silicate rocks, such as basalt, to croplands and forested landscapes. However, the efficacy of the approach when undertaken with basalt, and its potential co-benefits for agriculture, require experimental and field evaluation. Here we report that amending a UK clay-loam agricultural soil with a high loading (10 kg/m 2 ) of relatively coarse-grained crushed basalt significantly increased the yield (21 ± 9.4%, SE) of the important C 4 cereal Sorghum bicolor under controlled environmental conditions, without accumulation of potentially toxic trace elements in the seeds. Yield increases resulted from the basalt treatment after 120 days without P-and K-fertilizer addition. Shoot silicon concentrations also increased significantly (26 ± 5.4%, SE), with potential benefits for crop resistance to biotic and abiotic stress.Elemental budgets indicate substantial release of base cations important for inorganic carbon removal and their accumulation mainly in the soil exchangeable pools.Geochemical reactive transport modelling, constrained by elemental budgets, indicated CO 2 sequestration rates of 2-4 t CO 2 /ha, 1-5 years after a single application of basaltic rock dust, including via newly formed soil carbonate minerals whose longterm fate requires assessment through field trials. This represents an approximately fourfold increase in carbon capture compared to control plant-soil systems without basalt. Our results build support for ERW deployment as a CDR technique compatible with spreading basalt powder on acidic loamy soils common across millions of hectares of western European and North American agriculture. K E Y W O R D Scarbon removal, crop productivity, mineral weathering, negative emissions technology, reactive transport modelling, silicon, soil acidification KELLAND Et AL. | 3659

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased yield and CO₂ sequestration potential with the C₄ cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil

Kelland

Wade

Lewis

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

160

124

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“…Gaillardet et al, 1999a). However, more and more studies are now showing that higher plants are a significant reservoir of major rock-derived nutrients such as Ca, Mg, K, or Si at the ecosystem scale (Burghelea et al, 2018) and that nutrient cycling is a key mechanism in the Critical Zone with respect to understanding the partitioning of elements at the Earth surface (e.g. Uhlig et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barium stable isotopes as a fingerprint of biological cycling in the Amazon River basin

et al. 2020

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Abstract. The biological cycle of rock-derived nutrients on the continents is a major component of element transfer between the Earth's surface compartments, but its magnitude currently remains elusive. The use of the stable isotope composition of rock-derived nutrients, which can be fractionated during biological uptake, provides a promising path forward with respect to quantifying biological cycling and its overall contribution to global element cycling. In this paper, we rely on the nutrient-like behaviour of the trace element barium (Ba) and use its elemental and stable isotope compositions in dissolved and sediment load river samples to investigate biological cycling in the Amazon Basin. From these measurements, we show that dissolved Ba mainly derives from silicate rocks, and a correlation between dissolved Ba and K abundances suggests that biological cycling plays a role in the Ba river budget. Furthermore, the isotope composition of Ba (δ138Ba) in the dissolved load was found to be significantly different from that of the parent silicate rocks, implying that dissolved Ba isotopic signatures are affected by (i) the precipitation of soil-forming secondary phases as well as (ii) biological uptake and release from dead organic matter. Results from an isotope mass balance method applied to the river dissolved load data indicate that, after its release to solution by rock weathering, Ba is partitioned between the river dissolved load, secondary weathering products (such as those found in soils and river sediments), and the biota. In most sub-catchments of the Amazon, river Ba abundances and isotope compositions are significantly affected by biological cycling. Relationships between estimates of Ba cycled through biota and independent metrics of ecosystem dynamics (such as gross primary production and terrestrial ecosystem respiration) allow us to discuss the role of environmental parameters such as climate or erosion rates on the biological cycling of Ba and, by extension, the role of major rock-derived nutrients. In addition, catchment-scale mass and isotope budgets of Ba show that the measured riverine export of Ba is lower than the estimated delivery of Ba to the Earth surface through rock alteration. This indicates the existence of a missing Ba component, which we attribute to the formation of Ba-bearing particulate organics (possibly accumulating as soil organic matter or currently growing biomass within the catchments) and to organic-bound Ba exported as “unsampled” river particulate organic matter. Given our findings on the trace element Ba, we explore whether the river fluxes of most major rock-derived nutrients (K, Mg, Ca) might also be significantly affected by biological uptake or release. A first-order correction of river-derived silicate weathering fluxes from biological cycling shows that the carbon dioxide (CO2) consumption by silicate weathering at the mouth of the Amazon could be several times higher than the previously reported value of 13 × 109 mol CO2 yr−1 (Gaillardet et al., 1997). Overall, our study clearly shows that the chemical and isotope compositions of rivers in the Amazon – and most likely in other large river basins – bear a biological imprint, thereby challenging common assumptions made in weathering studies.

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“…Unresolved questions pertaining to mineral transformation mechanisms involve assessing relative controls of biochemical versus biomechanical weathering, indirect or direct microbe-mineral interactions, and whether microbes enhance or slow mineral dissolution 17,18 . Microscopy studies have examined biomechanical and biochemical weathering mechanisms that: weaken mineral structures through the fungal-driven oxidation of Fe(II) in biotite 19 , induce secondary mineral formation and biomineralization 20 , enhance microbial growth around nutrient-rich zones 21 , incongruently leach major and trace elements 10,22 , and exert control of K nutrient uptake and related clay mineral modifications under changing land-use regimes 23 . Atomic force microscopy has been used to detect the simultaneous occurrence of indirect and direct biochemical weathering, where it was observed that abundant small etching pits formed on mineral surfaces exposed to siderophores (molecular Fe chelators) released to solution by microbes, whereas fewer yet larger “biopits” formed on surfaces colonized directly by bacteria 24 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A coupled microscopy approach to assess the nano-landscape of weathering

Lybrand

Austin

Fedenko

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Mineral weathering is a balanced interplay among physical, chemical, and biological processes. Fundamental knowledge gaps exist in characterizing the biogeochemical mechanisms that transform microbe-mineral interfaces at submicron scales, particularly in complex field systems. Our objective was to develop methods targeting the nanoscale by using high-resolution microscopy to assess biological and geochemical drivers of weathering in natural settings. Basalt, granite, and quartz (53–250 µm) were deployed in surface soils (10 cm) of three ecosystems (semiarid, subhumid, humid) for one year. We successfully developed a reference grid method to analyze individual grains using: (1) helium ion microscopy to capture micron to sub-nanometer imagery of mineral-organic interactions; and (2) scanning electron microscopy to quantify elemental distribution on the same surfaces via element mapping and point analyses. We detected locations of biomechanical weathering, secondary mineral precipitation, biofilm formation, and grain coatings across the three contrasting climates. To our knowledge, this is the first time these coupled microscopy techniques were applied in the earth and ecosystem sciences to assess microbe-mineral interfaces and in situ biological contributors to incipient weathering.

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Trace element mobilization during incipient bioweathering of four rock types

Cited by 24 publications

References 85 publications

Increased yield and CO₂ sequestration potential with the C₄ cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil

Increased yield and CO₂ sequestration potential with the C₄ cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil

Barium stable isotopes as a fingerprint of biological cycling in the Amazon River basin

A coupled microscopy approach to assess the nano-landscape of weathering

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Trace element mobilization during incipient bioweathering of four rock types

Cited by 24 publications

References 85 publications

Increased yield and CO2 sequestration potential with the C4 cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil

Increased yield and CO2 sequestration potential with the C4 cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil

Barium stable isotopes as a fingerprint of biological cycling in the Amazon River basin

A coupled microscopy approach to assess the nano-landscape of weathering

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Increased yield and CO₂ sequestration potential with the C₄ cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil

Increased yield and CO₂ sequestration potential with the C₄ cereal Sorghum bicolor cultivated in basaltic rock dust‐amended agricultural soil