<
https://theconversation.com/we-helped-fill-a-major-climate-change-knowledge-gap-thanks-to-130-000-year-old-sediment-in-sydney-lakes-187784>
"Plants capture around half the carbon we emit by burning fossil fuels, making
them a crucial part of mitigating climate change. But carbon is often released
back into the atmosphere when plants die, decompose and eventually turn into
dirt.
Carbon is only permanently removed from the atmosphere if it’s stored in
sediments that accumulate at the bottom of oceans, lakes, reservoirs, or in
peat bogs.
Our latest research on the Thirlmere Lakes near Sydney aimed to find out how
trees, shrubs and soils in Australia’s eastern tablelands responded to climate
changes over the last 130,000 years. The key question we sought to answer was
whether carbon stored in Australia’s trees, shrubs, and soils contribute to the
pool of carbon stored safely in lake sediment.
The answer, we determined, depends on a number of crucial factors, and erosion
plays an essential, previously neglected, part.
Erosion is like a conveyer belt for carbon – it transports carbon to the lake
from nearby hills where plants die. We found when the climate near Sydney was
warm and wet, then trees and shrubs flourished and erosion was reduced. So
while more carbon was stored in plants, it took longer for carbon in soil to be
safely buried in the lake.
Previous research has shown ignoring the impact of erosion on carbon burial has
caused Australia to overestimate the amount of carbon emitted into the
atmosphere over the last 50 years, by a staggering 40%."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
