Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
39
One study, for example, suggests that the efficiency of the ocean sink has been declining at
least since 2000; see Josep G. Canadell et al., ―Contributions to Accelerating Atmospheric
CO
2
Growth from Economic Activity, Carbon Intensity, and Efficiency of Natural Sinks,‖
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 104, no. 47 (Nov. 20, 2007), pp.
18866-18870.
40
For more information on ocean acidification, see CRS Report R40143, Ocean Acidification, by
Eugene H. Buck and Peter Folger.
41
IPCC Special Report, p. 285.
42
A CO
2
hydrate is a crystalline compound formed at high pressures and low temperatures by
trapping CO
2
molecules in a cage of water molecules.
43
K. Z. House, et al., ―Permanent Carbon Dioxide Storage in Deep-Sea Sediments,‖ Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 103, no. 33 (Aug. 15, 2006): pp. 12291-12295.
44
P. G. Brewer, et al., ―Deep Ocean Experiments with Fossil Fuel Carbon Dioxide: Creation and
Sensing of a Controlled Plume at 4 km Depth,‖ Journal of Marine Research, vol. 63, no. 1
(2005): p. 9-33.
45
IPCC Special Report, p. 279.
46
Ibid., p. 298.
47
Virginia Gewin, ―Ocean Carbon Study to Quit Hawaii,‖ Nature, vol. 417 (June 27, 2002): p.
888.
48
Jim Giles, ―Norway Sinks Ocean Carbon Study,‖ Nature, vol. 419 (Sept. 5, 2002): p. 6.
49
Serpentine and olivine are silicate oxide minerals—combinations of the silica, oxygen, and
magnesium—that react with CO
2
to form magnesium carbonates. Wollastonite, a silica
oxide mineral containing calcium, reacts with CO
2
to form calcium carbonate (limestone).
Magnesium and calcium carbonates are stable minerals over long time scales.
50
Calera, a company based in Los Gatos, CA, has developed a process for mineral carbonation
that it claims will sequester CO
2
and produce solid carbonate minerals that can be used in
the manufacture of building materials. The Calera process is discussed in a CRS
congressional distribution (CD) memorandum, available from Peter Folger at 7- 1517.
51
IPCC Special Report, p. 40.
52
Flood basalts are vast expanses of solidified lava, commonly containing olivine, that erupted
over large regions in several locations around the globe. In addition to the Columbia River
Plateau flood basalts, other well-known flood basalts include the Deccan Traps in India and
the Siberian Traps in Russia.
53
2010 Carbon Sequestration Atlas, p. 30.
