This is a past event.

Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar

Kate Heckman, Research Biologist Scientist, Radiocarbon Collaborative Manager, Michigan Tech

Bio:
Dr. Kate Heckman is a Research Biological Scientist at theUSDA Forest Service. Dr. Heckman has served as adjunct faculty at MTU since2018, where she serves on graduate student committees and assists students withresearch. Dr. Heckman’s research covers a wide range of topics ranging fromradiocarbon dating to mineral weathering but focuses primarily on the factorsregulating the soil carbon cycle.

Abstract:

Enhanced rock weathering, or the application of finely ground silicate minerals to soils, has garnered increasing interest from the research community as a potential nature-based climate solution. In the simplest of terms, weathering of silicate minerals sequesters carbon on a geologic timescale through the production of dissolved bicarbonate which is converted to limestone rock after transport through the soil profile and into a water body. This carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy is highly attractive due to the low technological requirements and the availability of rock substrate. However, adoption of enhanced weathering comes with a large number of caveats including life cycle assessment concerns and heavy metal concentrations in potential mineral feedstock. Use of relict mining waste (a.k.a. stamp sands) for enhanced weathering forgoes many of the carbon costs associated with extraction, comminution and transport of mineral feedstocks, and thereby presents a unique opportunity for the economical implementation of enhanced weathering in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. At the same time, the broadcasting of stamp sands on fields used for agricultural production presents some obvious challenges, including the potential production of acid mine drainage and contamination from heavy metals. This seminar discusses the implementation of enhanced weathering for CDR in general, and the suitability of UP stamp sands for enhanced weathering specifically.