Desert minerals cycle carbon daily
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Scientists at UC Berkeley discovered that soils in the Mojave Desert, California, cycle carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the ground through mineral adsorption and desorption.
Researchers monitoring the Mojave Desert since 2017 noticed carbon dioxide flowing into the soil at night, a phenomenon not explained by typical biological processes like plant respiration. They found that as temperatures drop overnight, carbon dioxide molecules attach to minerals and particles in the soil.
As the sun heats the soil during the day, the carbon dioxide detaches and returns to the atmosphere. The team confirmed this process through lab tests using Mojave soil samples at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. They measured how much carbon dioxide the soil adsorbed at different temperatures, finding a clear link between cooling temperatures and increased carbon uptake. This adsorption isn’t limited to the Mojave Desert.
Researchers believe this mineral-driven carbon cycle occurs in other deserts globally, including those in Antarctica, and may even happen on Mars. When considering all deserts worldwide, they estimate that between 1 and 3 gigatons of carbon move into and out of desert soils annually, a substantial portion of yearly human emissions. This discovery suggests current carbon cycle models may need to account for this non-biological process and could inform new climate solutions.
