We invite contributions to a session focused on the regulation of climate on Earth-like planets through the carbon cycle. Submission deadline: August 3, 2016.

Session Title: What processes regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide, and stabilize climate, on Earth and other planets (Session ID#: PP038)

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm16/preliminaryview.cgi/Session12973.html

Submit an abstract to this session.

Description: It is generally thought that a negative feedback mechanism involving silicate mineral dissolution and carbonate precipitation regulates atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on Earth to maintain a habitable climate over geologic time. The same is likely to be true on rocky exoplanets. However, despite decades of research, there is still debate about how this feedback mechanism works. For example, the relative importance for carbon dioxide consumption of the dissolution of silicate minerals on the continents versus at the seafloor is debated, as is the importance of organic carbon burial.

Similarly, the processes that modify global weathering feedbacks, such as changes in lithology at the planet’s surface, are poorly constrained. This session invites contributions that address our understanding of the long-term carbon cycle and climate on Earth and other planetary bodies from a diverse range of approaches and time periods. Contributions from laboratory, field or modeling studies are welcome.

Convenors: Laurence Coogan (University of Victoria), David Catling (University of Washington, Seattle), John Higgins (Princeton University), A. Joshua West (Univ. of Southern California)