Current CaCO 3 dissolution at the seafloor caused by anthropogenic CO 2
Open accessAbstract
Significance: The geological record contains numerous examples of “greenhouse periods” and ocean acidification episodes, where the spreading of corrosive (CO 2 -enriched) bottom waters enhances the dissolution of CaCO 3 minerals delivered to the seafloor or contained within deep-sea sediments. The dissolution of sedimentary CaCO 3 neutralizes excess CO 2 , thus preventing runaway acidification, and acts as a negative-feedback mechanism in regulating atmospheric CO 2 levels over timescales of centuries to millennia. We report an observation-based indication and quantification of significant CaCO 3 dissolution at the seafloor caused by man-made CO 2 . This dissolution is already occurring at various locations in the deep ocean, particularly in the northern Atlantic and near the Southern Ocean, where the bottom waters are young and rich in anthropogenic CO 2 .
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Benthic alkalinity flux from CaCO3 dissolution is expected to increase in the future in response to ocean acidification, in both shallow coastal and deep ocean sediments.
“Projections of OAE scalability must also consider that benthic alkalinity flux from CaCO3 dissolution is expected to increase in the future in response to ocean acidification, in both shallow coastal and deep ocean sediments. 70-72”
From A framework for understanding efficiency losses of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (2026) · cites this paper as [71]
The Discussion (page not supplied) says CaCO3 dissolution at the seafloor will intensify over coming decades and centuries, and the paper explains that this process converts CO2 to dissolved bicarbonate. This supports the expected increase in the deep ocean, but the passages do not extend that projection to shallow coastal sediments or explicitly project their benthic alkalinity flux. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene
Waters, C. N., Zalasiewicz, J., Summerhayes, C., Barnosky, A. D., Poirier, C., Gałuszka, A., Cearreta, A., Edgeworth, M., Ellis, E. C., Ellis, M., et al. (2016) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aad2622 · Cited by 2,375 · cited 6× · see citing works
“With any Anthropocene (14) rise in the CCD, r is supplemented by dissolution of previously deposited CaCO3 between the new and old CCD positions (Materials and Methods).”
MethodInfluentialDynamics of fossil fuel CO <sub>2</sub> neutralization by marine CaCO <sub>3</sub>
Archer, D., Kheshgi, H., & Maier‐Reimer, E. (1998) · Global Biogeochemical Cycles · doi:10.1029/98gb00744 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Slow release of fossil carbon during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum
Cui, Y., Kump, L. R., Ridgwell, A. J., Charles, A. J., Junium, C. K., Diefendorf, A. F., Freeman, K. H., Urban, N. M., & Harding, I. C. (2011) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/ngeo1179 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- [46]Monin AS, Yaglom AM (1971) Statistical Fluid Dynamics (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA), Vols I and II.
- [47]Armi L (1977) The dynamics of the bottom boundary layer of the deep ocean. Elsevier Oceanogr Ser 19:153 -164.
- [49]Schink D, Guinasso N (1977) Modelling the influence of bioturbation and other processes on calcium carbonate dissolution at the sea floor. The Fate of Fossil Fuel CO2 in the Oceans , eds Andersen NR, Malahoff A (Plenum Press, New York), pp 375 -400.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A framework for understanding efficiency losses of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement
Lunstrum, A., Keller, D., Hartmann, J., & Moras, C. (2026) · CDRxiv · doi:10.70212/cdrxiv.2026517.v1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Sulpis, O., Boudreau, B. P., Mucci, A., Jenkins, C., Trossman, D. S., Arbic, B. K., & Key, R. M.
- Affiliations
- Geotop (CA)
- Dalhousie University (CA)
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (US)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2018-10-29
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 46
- Pages
- 11700-11705
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC6243283
- OpenAlex
- W2898988480
- Cited by
- 160
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 10
- FWCI
- 8.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Civil War Book Review (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Archive of Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship@McGill (McGill) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Gouvernement du Canada | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-106084, 39679-2013)
- National Science Foundation (OCE-0960820, PLR-1425989)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Ocean Acidification Effects and Responses
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Calcium Carbonate Crystallization and Inhibition
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › CO2 Sequestration and Geologic Interactions
- Keywords
- anthropogenic CO2, ocean acidification, calcite compensation depth, deep-sea sediments, dissolution rate, western North Atlantic, deep ocean carbon cycle
- MeSH terms
- Calcium Carbonate, Carbon Dioxide, Human Activities, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Oceans and Seas, Pacific Ocean, Seawater, Solubility, Water, Ecosystem
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
