新生代构造抬升对地表化学风化和全球气候变化的影响

全球新生代构造抬升 ,特别是南亚喜马拉雅青藏高原和南美安底斯山脉和Altiplano高原在新生代的抬升对地表化学风化和全球气候变化产生了重要影响。它对地表化学风化的影响主要表现为引起造山带地区化学风化能力的提高 ;而它对全球气候变化的影响则主要表现在两个方面 ,一是直接的物理影响 ,即通过对大气和海洋循环的影响来对大气变化产生作用 ;一是通过对地表硅酸盐岩石的化学风化造成大气CO2 变化和全球温度的改变 ,从而对气候变化产生间接的生物化学效应。目前看来 ,新生代构造抬升造成的大气CO2 浓度减少是造成全球新生代气候变冷的重要原因。这已得到了近 10年来计算机大气环流模型 (GCMs)数值模拟和野外实验研究的支持 ,但在关于地表化学风化的主要控制因素 ,以及海洋Sr同位素是否可作为反映地表化学风化速率变化的替代性标志和气候变化反馈机制等方面 ,还需要作进一步研究。     

Atmospheric CO2 sink: Silicate weathering or carbonate weathering?

It is widely accepted that chemical weathering of Ca–silicate rocks could potentially control long-term climate change by providing feedback interaction with atmospheric CO₂ drawdown by means of precipitation of carbonate, and that in contrast weathering of carbonate rocks has not an equivalent impact because all of the CO₂ consumed in the weathering process is returned to the atmosphere by the comparatively rapid precipitation of carbonates in the oceans. Here, it is shown that the rapid kinetics of carbonate dissolution and the importance of small amounts of carbonate minerals in controlling the dissolved inorganic C (DIC) of silicate watersheds, coupled with aquatic photosynthetic uptake of the weathering-related DIC and burial of some of the resulting organic C, suggest that the atmospheric CO₂ sink from carbonate weathering may previously have been underestimated by a factor of about 3, amounting to 0.477 Pg C/a. This indicates that the contribution of silicate weathering to the atmospheric CO₂ sink may be only 6%, while the other 94% is by carbonate weathering. Therefore, the atmospheric CO₂ sink by carbonate weathering might be significant in controlling both the short-term and long-term climate changes. This questions the traditional point of view that only chemical weathering of Ca–silicate rocks potentially controls long-term climate change.     

Global weathering variations inferred from marine radiogenic isotope records

Determining the past record of chemical weathering is essential for understanding changes in climate and atmospheric CO₂, such as those that occur throughout the Cenozoic (the last 65 my). Many natural radiogenic isotopes in seawater are sensitive to variations in chemical weathering, but taken alone cannot distinguish such changes from those caused by variations in erosional source (such as composition, geographical location or ocean circulation). However, comparison of isotope systems with different sources and different behaviour in seawater can resolve such effects, and the relationship between weathering and climate change can be examined on both long and short timescales.     

Forests, climate, and silicate rock weathering

Over time periods of 10⁶ years and longer, atmospheric carbon dioxide content is largely controlled by a balance between silicate rock weathering and CO₂ sources (degassing from the Earth plus net organic carbon oxidation). Vegetation cover can affect silicate rock weathering rates by increasing soil CO₂ content, stabilizing soil cover, and producing organic acids. Forests absorb more solar radiation than most other ecosystems; this tends to warm Earth's climate, especially outside of the tropics; this warmth would tend to increase silicate rock weathering rates. Here, we develop preliminary parameterizations of this effect that could be incorporated into carbonate–silicate cycle models, based on the results of general circulation model simulations.     

Stable isotope variation in tooth enamel from Neogene hippopotamids: monitor of meso and global climate and rift dynamics on the Albertine Rift, Uganda

The Neogene was a period of long-term global cooling and increasing climatic variability. Variations in African-Asian monsoon intensity over the last 7 Ma have been deduced from patterns of eolian dust export into the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea as well as from lake level records in the East African Rift System (EARS). However, lake systems not only depend on rainfall patterns, but also on the size and physiography of river catchment areas. This study is based on stable isotope proxy data (¹⁸O/¹⁶O, ¹³C/¹²C) from tooth enamel of hippopotamids (Mammalia) and aims in unravelling long-term climate and watershed dynamics that control the evolution of palaeolake systems in the western branch of the EARS (Lake Albert, Uganda) during the Late Neogene (7.5 Ma to recent). Having no dietary preferences with respect to wooded (C₃) versus grassland (C₄) vegetation, these territorial, water-dependant mammals are particularly useful for palaeoclimate analyses. As inhabitants of lakes and rivers, hippopotamid tooth enamel isotope data document mesoclimates of topographic depressions, such as the rift valleys and, therefore, changes in relative valley depth instead of exclusively global climate changes. Consequently, we ascribe a synchronous maximum in ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ¹³C/¹²C composition of hippopotamid enamel centred around 1.5–2.5 Ma to maximum aridity and/or maximum hydrological isolation of the rift floor from rift-external river catchment areas in response to the combined effects of rift shoulder uplift and subsidence of the rift valley floor. Structural rearrangements by ~2.5 Ma within the northern segment of the Albertine Rift are well constrained by reversals in river flow, cannibalisation of catchments, biogeographic turnover and uplift of the Rwenzori horst. However, a growing rain shadow is not obvious in ¹⁸O/¹⁶O signatures of the hippopotamid teeth of the Albertine Rift. According to our interpretation, this is the result of the overriding effect of evaporation on ¹⁸O/¹⁶O responding to aridification of the basin floor by a valley air circulation system through relative deepening of the valley. On the other hand, a synchronous arid pulse is not so clearly recorded in palaeosol data and mammalian fauna of the eastern branch of the EARS. This discrepancy indicates that rift mesoclimates may represent an underestimated aspect in previous palaeoclimate reconstructions from rift valley data and represent a clear limitation to attempts at global climate reconstructions. The results of this study also suggest that using ¹⁸O/¹⁶O data as a proxy to rain shadow evolution must take into account relative basin subsidence to properly document mountain range uplift.     

Contribution of carbonate rock weathering to the atmospheric CO2 sink

To accurately predict future CO₂ levels in the atmosphere, which is crucial in predicting global climate change, the sources and sinks of the atmospheric CO₂ and their change over time must be determined. In this paper, some typical cases are examined using published and unpublished data. Firstly, the sensitivity of carbonate rock weathering (including the effects by both dissolution and reprecipitation of carbonate) to the change of soil CO₂ and runoff will be discussed, and then the net amount of CO₂ removed from the atmosphere in the carbonate rock areas of mainland China and the world will be determined by the hydrochem-discharge and carbonate-rock-tablet methods, to obtain an estimate of the contribution of carbonate rock weathering to the atmospheric CO₂ sink. These contributions are about 0.018 billion metric tons of carbon/a and 0.11 billion metric tons of carbon/a for China and the world, respectively. Further, by the DBL (Diffusion Boundary Layer)-model calculation, the potential CO₂ sink by carbonate rock dissolution is estimated to be 0.41 billion metric tons of carbon/a for the world. Therefore, the potential CO₂ source by carbonate reprecipitation is 0.3 billion metric tons of carbon/a. Received: 12 May 1999 · Accepted: 16 August 1999     

Eco-hydrological versus supply-limited weathering regimes and the potential for biotic enhancement of weathering at the global scale

Biotic enhancement of weathering (BEW) has been proposed to substantially alter the geologic C cycle but the large scale impact of small scale biotic processes remains elusive, especially when compared to large scale drivers of weathering such as climate and crustal uplift. A global land surface model was used to estimate the potential strength of BEW for two contrasting types of weathering regimes that are either limited by the supply of fresh parent material by uplift or controlled by the climatic and eco-hydrological conditions. The biospheric effect on soil CO₂ in the model was then removed in order to determine the reduction of weathering rates and thereby to infer BEW. It was found that only those areas that are not supply limited are susceptible to biotic enhancement. This indicates that the potential for BEW depends directly on the supply of fresh material and thus on crustal uplift.     

Rivers, chemical weathering and Earth's climate

We detail the results of recent studies describing and quantifying the large-scale chemical weathering of the main types of continental silicate rocks: granites and basalts. These studies aim at establishing chemical weathering laws for these two lithologies, describing the dependence of chemical weathering on environmental parameters, such as climate and mechanical erosion. As shown within this contribution, such mathematical laws are of primary importance for numerical models calculating the evolution of the partial pressure of atmospheric CO₂ and the Earth climate at geological timescales. The major results can be summarized as follow: (1) weathering of continental basaltic lithologies accounts for about 30% of the total consumption of atmospheric CO₂ through weathering of continental silicate rocks. This is related to their high weatherability (about eight times greater than the granite weatherability); (2) a simple weathering law has been established for basaltic lithologies, giving the consumption of atmospheric CO₂ as a function of regional continental runoff, and mean annual regional temperature; (3) no such simple weathering law can be proposed for granitic lithologies, since the effect of temperature can only be identified for regions displaying high continental runoff; (4) a general law relating mechanical erosion and chemical weathering has been validated on small and large catchments. The consequences of these major advances on the climatic evolution of the Earth are discussed. Particularly, the impacts of the onset of the Deccan trapps and the Himalayan orogeny on the global carbon cycle are reinvestigated. To cite this article: B. Dupré et al., C. R. Geoscience 335 (2003).     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112000898

In more than 4 Ga of geological evolution, the Earth has twice gone through extreme climatic perturbations, when extensive glaciations occurred, together with alternating warm periods which were accompanied by atmospheric oxygenation. The younger of these two episodes of climatic oscillation preceded the Cambrian “explosion” of metazoan life forms, but similar extreme climatic conditions existed between about 2.4 and 2.2 Ga. Over long time periods, changing solar luminosity and mantle temperatures have played important roles in regulating Earth's climate but both periods of climatic upheaval are associated with supercontinents. Enhanced weathering on the orogenically and thermally buoyed supercontinents would have stripped CO₂ from the atmosphere, initiating a cooling trend that resulted in continental glaciation. Ice cover prevented weathering so that CO₂ built up once more, causing collapse of the ice sheets and ushering in a warm climatic episode. This negative feedback loop provides a plausible explanation for multiple glaciations of the Early and Late Proterozoic, and their intimate association with sedimentary rocks formed in warm climates. Between each glacial cycle nutrients were flushed into world oceans, stimulating photosynthetic activity and causing oxygenation of the atmosphere. Accommodation for many ancient glacial deposits was provided by rifting but escape from the climatic cycle was predicated on break-up of the supercontinent, when flooded continental margins had a moderating influence on weathering. The geochemistry of Neoproterozoic cap carbonates carries a strong hydrothermal signal, suggesting that they precipitated from deep sea waters, overturned and spilled onto continental shelves at the termination of glaciations. Paleoproterozoic (Huronian) carbonates of the Espanola Formation were probably formed as a result of ponding and evaporation in a hydrothermally influenced, restricted rift setting. Why did metazoan evolution not take off after the Great Oxidation Event of the Paleoproterozoic? The answer may lie in the huge scar left by the ～2023 Ma Vredefort impact in South Africa, and in the worldwide organic carbon-rich deposits of the Shunga Event, attesting to the near-extirpation of life and possible radical alteration of the course of Earth history.     

Greenhouse gases and greenhouse effect

Conventional theory of global warming states that heating of atmosphere occurs as a result of accumulation of CO₂ and CH₄ in atmosphere. The writers show that rising concentration of CO₂ should result in the cooling of climate. The methane accumulation has no essential effect on the Earth’s climate. Even significant releases of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide into the atmosphere do not change average parameters of the Earth’s heat regime and the atmospheric greenhouse effect. Moreover, CO₂ concentration increase in the atmosphere results in rising agricultural productivity and improves the conditions for reforestation. Thus, accumulation of small additional amounts of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere as a result of anthropogenic activities has practically no effect on the Earth’s climate.     

Role of low solar luminosity in the history of the biosphere

It was shown that the history of the biosphere is closely related to processes caused by low solar luminosity. Solar radiation is insufficient to maintain the Earth’s surface temperature above the freezing point of water. Positive temperatures are kept owing to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere: CO₂, CH₄, and others. Certain stages in the development of the biosphere and climate are related to these effects. Methane was the main carbon-bearing gas in the primordial atmosphere. It compensated the low solar luminosity. Life originated under the reduced conditions of the early Earth. Methane-producing biota was formed. Methane remained to be the main greenhouse gas in the Archean. The release of molecular oxygen into the atmosphere 2.4 Ga ago resulted in the disruption of the established mechanism of the compensation of the low solar luminosity. Methane ceased to cause a significant greenhouse effect, and the content of carbon dioxide was insufficient to play this role. A global glaciation began and had lasted for approximately 200 million years. However, the increasing CO₂ content in the atmosphere reached eventually a level sufficient for the compensation for the low solar luminosity. The glaciation period came to an end. Simultaneously, a conflict arose between the role of CO₂ as a gas controlling the thermal regime of the planet and as an initial material for biota production. As long as the resource of biotic carbon was inferior to that of atmospheric CO₂, the uptake of atmospheric CO₂ related to sporadic increases in biologic production was insufficient for a significant change in the thermal regime. This was the reason for a long-term climate stabilization for 1.5 billion years. By 0.8 Ga, the resource of oceanic biota reached the level at which variations in the uptake of atmospheric CO₂ related to variations in the production of organic and carbonate carbon became comparable with the resource of atmospheric CO₂. Since then, an oscillatory equilibrium has been established between the intensity of biota development and climate-controlling CO₂ content in the atmosphere. Glaciation and warming periods have alternated. These changes were triggered by various geologic events: intensification or attenuation of volcanism; growth, breakup, or migration of continents; large-scale magmatism; etc. A new relation between atmospheric CO₂ and biotic carbon was established in response to the emergence of terrestrial biota and the appearance of massive buffers of organic carbon on land. The interrelation of the biosphere and climate changed.     

Earth dynamics and climate changes

The evolution of the Earth's climate over geological time is now relatively well known. Conversely, the causes and feedback mechanisms involved in these climatic changes are still not well determined. At geological timescales, two factors play a prevailing role: plate tectonics and the chemical composition of the atmosphere. Their climatic effects will be examined using palaeoclimatic indicators as well as results of climate models. I focus primarily on the influence of continental drift on warm and cold climatic episodes. The consequences of peculiar land sea distributions (amalgamation/dispersal of continental blocks) are discussed. Plate tectonics also drive sea level changes as well as mountain uplift. Marine transgressions during the Mid-Cretaceous favoured warmth within the interiors of continents, although their effect could be very different according to the season. Mountain uplift is also an important factor, which is able to alter climate at large spatial scales. Experiments relative to climatic sensitivity to the elevation of the Appalachians during the Late Permian are discussed. To affect the whole Earth, the chemical composition of the atmosphere appears to be a more efficient forcing factor. The carbon dioxide driven by the long-term carbon cycle has influenced the global climate. Geochemical modelling simulates more or less accurately the long-term evolution of pCO₂, which corresponds roughly to the icehouse/greenhouse climatic oscillations. However, the uncertainties on pCO₂ are still important because different parameters involved in the long-term carbon cycle (degassing rate, chemical weathering of silicates, burial of organic matter) are not well constrained throughout the past. The chemical composition of the atmosphere is also altered by the emissions of modern volcanic eruptions leading to weak global cooling. The influence of large flood basalt provinces on climate is not yet known well enough; this volcanism may have released huge amounts of SO₂ as well as CO₂. At last, the chemical composition of the atmosphere may have been altered by the release of methane in response to the dissociation of gas hydrates. This scenario has been proposed to explain the abrupt warming during the Late Palaeocene.     

Review of plant evolution and its effect on climate during the time of the Old Red Sandstone

A substantial decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration during the mid-Palaeozoic is likely to have been the consequence partially of the evolution of rooted land plants. The earliest land plants evolved in the Ordovician but these were small cryptophytes without any roots. Much of the evidence for the evolution of vascular plants comes from the Old Red Sandstone of South Wales and the Welsh Borderland. Plants with large rooting systems evolved during the Middle Devonian and resulted in an increase in chemical weathering of silicate rocks. This, in turn, caused a contemporaneous drop in atmospheric CO₂ concentration from approximately 25 times present concentration in the Cambrian to twice the present concentration by the late Carboniferous. The supposed mechanism for CO₂ removal from the atmosphere involves oceanic carbonate precipitation, enhanced by plant-enhanced chemical weathering of Ca and Mg silicates.     

Seasonality of bedrock weathering chemistry and CO2 consumption in a small watershed, the White River, Vermont

The draw down of CO₂ from the atmosphere during mineral weathering plays a major role in the global budget of this greenhouse gas. Silicate minerals remove twice the CO₂ of carbonate minerals per mole of calcium in runoff during weathering. Bedrock weathering chemistry was investigated in the White River watershed of northeastern USA to investigate whether there are seasonal differences in carbonate and silicate weathering chemistry. Geographic Information Systems analyses of bedrock geology were combined with major element concentrations in river waters to gain an understanding of the consistency of mineral weathering during three seasons. The percent of carbonate mineralogy comprising the bedrock in tributaries of the White River varied from less than 5% to 45% by area. A mass balance calculation using major element concentrations in waters was applied to estimate the seasonal relationships between bedrock geology and bicarbonate flux. In all tributaries and the main stem of the White River the highest calculated percent of bicarbonate from carbonate mineral weathering was measured in the late fall. The results suggest that carbonate and silicate bedrock weathering processes are seasonally controlled. Thus single season sampling could not accurately represent an entire year's geochemical budget. In the White River, water samples obtained solely during the summer would consistently underestimate the total yearly source of bicarbonate from carbonate bedrock weathering. The same sample set would also provide data that would lead to an underestimation of the yearly atmospheric CO₂ draw down by bedrock weathering in the watershed. For example at four of the seven locations studied there was an almost two-fold difference between summer and spring calculated atmospheric CO₂ consumption rates.     

Geochemical Behavior of Manganese in Weathering Environments and Its Significance in Exploration

Under and climate conditions the chemical weathering of manganese ores is govermed by the fugacities of O2,CO2 and S2 in the atmosphere and soils.Manganese minerals exhibit solid phase transformations without migration of Fe and Mn.Under tropical and subtropical humid climate condi-tions low-valent Mn is instable and apt to be oxidized into high valency state.High-valent Mn miner-als are stable and easy to form secondary high-grade Mn ores.Secondary concentration is possible for Mn ores in carbonate formations,while those in clastic rocks tend to migrate and may be washed away.Such differences are the main obstacles in prospecting Mn ore deposits.     

从碳源到碳汇：大陆弧演化过程中岩浆与剥蚀作用对长期碳循环的影响

在百万年时间尺度上,大气、海洋中的二氧化碳浓度(P_CO2,二氧化碳分压)和长期变化主要受岩浆-变质脱碳作用和硅酸盐风化作用(消耗二氧化碳)控制。因此,地球表层主要构造活动带的构造-岩浆活动对长期碳循环具有重要的驱动作用。本文在总结已发表文献的基础上,系统评估了大陆弧,尤其是晚白垩世大陆弧的岩浆作用和剥蚀作用的碳通量,并以此为依据探讨了大陆弧演化对于全球长期碳循环的影响。大陆弧岩浆作用以周期性(几十万年至一百百万年)岩浆爆发(magmatic flare-ups)为特征。在一个周期内,大规模岩浆喷发会导致CO₂排放量大幅度增加,促进温室效应。但同时,大规模的岩浆作用又会导致地壳增厚和和地表抬升,从而促进剥蚀作用、提高化学风化通量,进而增加CO₂消耗量。对于单个的大陆弧来说,在其演化的不同阶段对于碳循环扮演着不同的角色：演化早期由于岩浆作用起主导作用,表现为净碳源;而在岩浆作用减弱或停止后,由于剥蚀作用的持续进行,表现为净碳汇。因此,从长周期和全球尺度上讲,大陆弧岩浆活动表现的“碳源属性”受到化学风化作...     

Morphotectonics of the Baikal rift valley,Eastern Siberia,USSR

The Baikal rift valley, the central segment of the Baikal rift zone located in southern East Siberia, consists of two large depressions separated by an interdepressional uplift. The thickness of the Neogene-Quaternary sediments filling in the depression amounts to 5 km (Logatchev and Florensov 1978). The interdepressional uplift consists of subsiding residual steps and active tilted horsts.The NW slope of the Baikal rift is controlled by a system of faults diverging to the N. This system comprises tectonic scarps (faceted ridge spurs), an inclined piedmont surface and a summit slope. The facets indicate the position of the main dip slip faults behind which longitudinal strike slip faults are distributed. Between the branching faults, the so-called intermediate steps are situated. Their subsidence and destruction result in expansion of the rift valley. Transformation of normal faults into listric faults is manifested in the tectonic topography in the areas of the residual and intermediate steps. The large dimensions of the Baikal rift valley are evidently due to its being confined to the faults striking NE-SW.     

Fluxes of high- versus low-temperature water-rock interactions in aerial volcanic areas: Example from the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

Volcanic areas play a key role in the input of elements into the ocean and in the regulation of the geological carbon cycle. The aim of this study is to investigate the budget of silicate weathering in an active volcanic area. We compared the fluxes of the two major weathering regimes occurring at low temperature in soils and at high temperature in the active volcanic arc of Kamchatka, respectively. The volcanic activity, by inducing geothermal circulation and releasing gases to the surface, produces extreme conditions in which intense water-rock interactions occur and may have a strong impact on the weathering budgets. Our results show that the chemical composition of the Kamchatka river water is controlled by surface low-temperature weathering, atmospheric input and, in some limited cases, strongly imprinted by high-temperature water-rock reactions. We have determined the contribution of each source and calculated the rates of CO₂ consumption and chemical weathering resulting from low and high-temperature water/rock interactions. The weathering rates (between 7 and 13.7 t/km²/yr for cations only) and atmospheric CO₂ consumption rates (∼0.33-0.46 × 10⁶ mol/km²/yr for Kamchatka River) due to rock weathering in soils (low-temperature) are entirely consistent with the previously published global weathering laws relating weathering rates of basalts with runoff and temperature. In the Kamchatka River, CO₂ consumption derived from hydrothermal activity represents about 11% of the total HCO₃ flux exported by the river. The high-temperature weathering process explains 25% of the total cationic weathering rate in the Kamchatka River. Although in the rivers non-affected by hydrothermal activity, the main weathering agent is carbonic acid (reflected in the abundance of in rivers), in the region most impacted by hydrothermalism, the protons responsible for minerals dissolution are provided not only by carbonic acid, but also by sulphuric and hydrochloric acid. A clear increase of weathering rates in rivers impacted by sulphuric acid can be observed. In the Kamchatka River, 19% of cations are released by hydrothermal acids or the oxidative weathering of sulphur minerals.Our results emphasise the important impact of both low and high-temperature weathering of volcanic rocks on global weathering fluxes to the ocean. Our results also show that besides carbonic acid derived from atmospheric CO₂, hydrochloric acid and especially sulphuric acid are important weathering agents. Clearly, sulphuric acid, with hydrothermal activity, are key parameters that cause first-order increases of the chemical weathering rates in volcanic areas. In these areas, accurate determination of weathering budgets in volcanic area will require to better quantify sulphuric acid impact.     

CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Air–Sea Exchange due to Calcium Carbonate and Organic Matter Storage,and its Implications for the Global Carbon Cycle

Release of CO₂ from surface ocean water owing to precipitation of CaCO₃ and the imbalance between biological production of organic matter and its respiration, and their net removal from surface water to sedimentary storage was studied by means of a quotient θ = (CO₂ flux to the atmosphere)/(CaCO₃ precipitated). θ depends not only on water temperature and atmospheric CO₂ concentration but also on the CaCO₃ and organic carbon masses formed. In CO₂ generation by CaCO₃ precipitation, θ varies from a fraction of 0.44 to 0.79, increasing with decreasing temperature (25 to 5°C), increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration (195–375 ppmv), and increasing CaCO₃ precipitated mass (up to 45% of the initial DIC concentration in surface water). Primary production and net storage of organic carbon counteracts the CO₂ production by carbonate precipitation and it results in lower CO₂ emissions from the surface layer. When atmospheric CO₂ increases due to the ocean-to-atmosphere flux rather than remaining constant, the amount of CO₂ transferred is a non-linear function of the surface layer thickness because of the back-pressure of the rising atmospheric CO₂. For a surface ocean layer approximated by a 50-m-thick euphotic zone that receives input of inorganic and organic carbon from land, the calculated CO₂ flux to the atmosphere is a function of the CaCO₃ and C_org net storage rates. In general, the carbonate storage rate has been greater than that of organic carbon. The CO₂ flux near the Last Glacial Maximum is 17 to 7×10¹² mol/yr (0.2–0.08 Gt C/yr), reflecting the range of organic carbon storage rates in sediments, and for pre-industrial time it is 38–42×10¹² mol/yr (0.46–0.50 Gt C/yr). Within the imbalanced global carbon cycle, our estimates indicate that prior to anthropogenic emissions of CO₂ to the atmosphere the land organic reservoir was gaining carbon and the surface ocean was losing carbon, calcium, and total alkalinity owing to the CaCO₃ storage and consequent emission of CO₂. These results are in agreement with the conclusions of a number of other investigators. As the CO₂ uptake in mineral weathering is a major flux in the global carbon cycle, the CO₂ weathering pathway that originates in the CO₂ produced by remineralization of soil humus rather than by direct uptake from the atmosphere may reduce the relatively large imbalances of the atmosphere and land organic reservoir at 10²–10⁴-year time scales.     

Is orogenesis a net sink or source of atmospheric CO2?

In global carbon cycle models, orogenesis is often viewed as a sink for atmospheric CO₂, acting on tectonic timescales. However, recent attempts to quantify fluxes for CO₂ produced by metamorphic reactions and released to the atmosphere suggest that these are an order‐of‐magnitude greater than CO₂ uptake by chemical weathering of silicate minerals, and that metamorphic CO₂ is released on millennial timescales. These hypotheses have gained support from both measurements of CO₂ emissions from present‐day orogenic hot springs and chromatographic modelling of carbonation reactions in metamorphic rocks from ancient orogens. In this article I review research that attempts to quantify metamorphic CO₂ release fluxes, focussing specifically on studies conducted in the SW Scottish Highlands.