Specially-designed soils could help combat climate change

*A carbon ‘sink’ is any natural or human activity or mechanism that absorbs carbon dioxide and removes it from the atmosphere. Soils are the most significant sink for terrestrial carbon, containing twice as much as in the atmosphere and three times as much as is held in land plants. Soils can act as ‘sinks’ for carbon in more than one way – carbon is held as organic matter derived from plants, and held as inorganic carbonate minerals whose carbon is derived from what are called plant root exudates. These exudates are the juices that plants ooze from their roots to corrode minerals and mobilise the nutrients they need – and it is this process which the current project aims to exploit.

The potential use of soil to remove atmospheric carbon is analogous in many ways to the use of reed beds to clean up contaminated water.

CO₂ is the main greenhouse gas generally believed to be contributing to manmade global warming.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. The EPSRC invests around £740 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture. EPSRC also actively promotes public awareness of science and engineering. EPSRC works alongside other Research Councils with responsibility for other areas of research. The Research Councils work collectively on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK. Website address for more information on EPSRC: www.epsrc.ac.uk/

For more information, contact:

Professor David Manning, School of Civil Engineering & Geosciences, Newcastle University, tel: 0191 222 7893, e-mail:

Two images (Soil1.jpg and Soil2.jpg) are available from the EPSRC Press Office. Contact: Natasha Richardson, e-mail: , tel: 01793 444404.

Suggested captions:

Soil1.jpg: "Answers beneath our feet" In this Canadian prairie soil, a brown organic layer overlies gravel containing natural calcium-bearing carbonates, which could aid the fight against global warming." Soil2.jpg: "Natural calcium carbonate crusts on pebbles in gravel from a Canadian prairie soil."