Critical zone processes limit alkalinity export from natural basaltic systems
4 affiliations
- 1Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. [email protected]
- 2Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Paris, France. [email protected]
- 3Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- 4University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Abstract
. Here we synthesize observations from natural volcanic watersheds to evaluate alkalinity export along the complete reactive pathways from soil to river. Data from basaltic catchments demonstrate attenuation of alkalinity fluxes, leading to reductions in exported alkalinity. This attenuation is probably the result of precipitation of secondary clay and carbonate minerals along subsurface flow paths and during river transport. Although natural weathering systems differ from engineered EW deployments, these observations provide an empirical baseline on watershed-scale alkalinity export. Our results indicate that critical zone processes influence the efficiency with which weathering-derived alkalinity is exported, implying the need to incorporate watershed processes into future assessments of EW CDR.
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BibTeX
@article{derry2026critical,
title = {{Critical zone processes limit alkalinity export from natural basaltic systems}},
author = {Louis A. Derry and Kate Maher and Oliver A. Chadwick},
journal = {Nature},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1038/s41586-026-10936-3},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10936-3},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Critical zone processes limit alkalinity export from natural basaltic systems
AU - Louis A. Derry
AU - Kate Maher
AU - Oliver A. Chadwick
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/26
JO - Nature
DO - 10.1038/s41586-026-10936-3
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10936-3
AB - . Here we synthesize observations from natural volcanic watersheds to evaluate alkalinity export along the complete reactive pathways from soil to river. Data from basaltic catchments demonstrate attenuation of alkalinity fluxes, leading to reductions in exported alkalinity. This attenuation is probably the result of precipitation of secondary clay and carbonate minerals along subsurface flow paths and during river transport. Although natural weathering systems differ from engineered EW deployments, these observations provide an empirical baseline on watershed-scale alkalinity export. Our results indicate that critical zone processes influence the efficiency with which weathering-derived alkalinity is exported, implying the need to incorporate watershed processes into future assessments of EW CDR.
SN - 0028-0836
SN - 1476-4687
ER -