From the NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, a surprising finding.
New source of global nitrogen discovered: Earth’s bedrock
Nitrogen from bedrock can result in side-by-side productive forests and barren acidic areas
For centuries, the thinking has been that all the nitrogen available for plant growth worldwide comes from the atmosphere. But a new study by National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded researchers at the University of California (UC), Davis, shows that more than a quarter of that nitrogen is derived from the weathering of Earth’s bedrock.
The results, published this week in the journal Science, demonstrate that up to 26 percent of the nitrogen in ecosystems is sourced from rocks, with the remaining amount from the atmosphere.
“This research reveals important connections among the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the rocks at Earth’s surface,” said Richard Yuretich, a program director in NSF’s Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the study.
These are sedimentary rocks…
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