CONSTRAINING THE PRESSURE DEPENDENCY OF CaCO3 SOLUBILITY AND DISSOLUTION KINETICS, IN ABYSSAL AND HADAL SIMULATED ENVIRONMENTS
ID:1442
Poster Presentation
2027-01-15 16:15 (China Standard Time)
Session:Session 31 - Coupled cycling of key elements/isotopes and carbon sequestration in the deep ocean
Abstract
The dissolution of marine calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is a key geochemical buffer against ocean acidification, releasing alkalinity that neutralises anthropogenic CO2 over centuries to millennia. Yet the mechanisms and rates of CaCO3 dissolution in the abyssal (3 - 6 km) and hadal (> 6 km) realms remain poorly constrained, because the extreme hydrostatic pressures involved – up to 1000 bar – make both in-situ measurement and laboratory replication technically challenging. As part of the Deep-C ERC project, we have developed a new generation of instrumented high-pressure reactors operating up to 1000 bar and 2-30°C, with optical sensors for continuous, in-chamber monitoring of pH and dissolved oxygen. We are now using this system to characterise CaCO3 dissolution under deep-sea pressure conditions along two complementary lines. First, to establish the abiotic baseline, we are constraining the pressure dependence of CaCO3 solubility: using CO2 dissociation constants consistent with modern cold-ocean data, to determine the apparent solubility product and dissolution rate of CaCO3 across the 0-1000 bar range, from which a pressure-corrected saturation state (W) can be computed. Second, to isolate the microbial signal, by tracking the characteristic shifts in total alkalinity (TA) and pH, and hence in W, as well as O2, that accompany respiration-driven dissolution; thereby separating microbially driven from purely pressure-driven dissolution. Establishing this pressure dependency is a prerequisite for improving how deep-sea CaCO3 dissolution feedbacks are represented in global ocean biogeochemical models.
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Jan 30
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Jan 12–15
2027
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