Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
influence their own growth. Plants increase oxygen through photosynthesis and organ-
ic carbon burial, and by weathering rocks rich in phosphorus; and they decrease carbon
dioxide by amplifying the weathering of granite and basalt. Plants also remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. In so doing, a new self-referential
network has spontaneously emerged that acts to regulate oxygen much more tightly with
land plants than without.
