| Title | Nova Scotia Basalt as a soil additive for CO2 capture and fertilizing crops |
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| Author | Jauer, C D |
| Source | Atlantic Geology 2022 p. 1-29 |
| Links | Online - En ligne
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| Image |  |
| Year | 2022 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20210544 |
| Publisher | Atlantic Geoscience Society |
| Meeting | 2022 Atlantic Geoscience Society Colloquim; Fredericton, NB; CA; February 11-12, 2022 |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; digital; on-line |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Nova Scotia |
| NTS | 21A; 21B; 21G; 21H |
| Lat/Long WENS | -68.0000 -64.0000 46.0000 44.0000 |
| Subjects | Science and Technology; Nature and Environment; environmental geology; carbon; basalts; carbon dioxide; climate; Fertilizers; Storage |
| Illustrations | photographs; schematic diagrams; tables; location maps |
| Program | Marine Geoscience for Marine Spatial Planning |
| Released | 2022 05 15 |
| Abstract | (unpublished)
Nova Scotia Basalt as a soil additive for CO2 capture and fertilizing crops Recent work on Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) (Beerling et al., 2020) shows that pulverised basalt
spread over croplands is both an effective crop fertiliser and a stand alone CO2 sink as airborne carbon dioxide mineralises upon contact with various minerals in powdered basalt. Compared to subsurface CO2 injection this method is both inexpensive
and simple to regulate, with the added benefit that the basalt fertiliser runoff will eventually act as a neutralising agent with respect to acidifying ocean water. Nova Scotia has an abundance of basalt deposits, both exposed and buried, that apart
from their carbon storage potential also contain significant mineral elements with properties that are attractive to agriculture. The North Mountain Basalt is known for hosting zeolite deposits which are a beneficial cation intensive agent when added
to soil for enhanced plant growth. Previous work has set the quantity of North Mountain Basalt at over 2300 km3 spread over an area of some 9400 km2. Given the relative ease of extracting and transporting this rock, much of which is exposed along the
southern coast of the Bay of Fundy, North Mountain Basalt may represent a new “green industry” working to apply ERW methods to agriculture on a regional scale to meet CO2 emission limits. Mapping the North Mountain Basalt and similar basalt
formations throughout the Maritimes region with respect to their suitability as candidates for ERW development is a necessary first step that can be done with archived data sets. An initial laboratory proof of concept test for ERW on Nova Scotian
crops in a laboratory setting could be arranged with contacts at the Centre for Sustainable Soil Management, Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University. This step would add credibility in a Canadian context towards
the application of this new method of carbon sequestration. References Beerling et al. Potential for large-scale CO2 removal via enhanced rock weathering with croplands. Nature | Vol 583 | 9 July 2020 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2448-9
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| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Carbon dioxide gas can be directly captured by using powdered basalt rocks as a fertiliser on croplands. This cheap and previously unused approach should
be studied for future implementation using the abundant basalts found in Nova Scotia. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 329438 |
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