A novel soil porewater extraction technique for enhanced rock weathering products: SATuration–Centrifugation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Soil porewater chemistry underpins the quantification of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in enhanced rock weathering (ERW), where alkalinity and dissolved ion measurements are used within monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) frameworks. The reliability of these measurements depends on the extraction method, with many in-field techniques constrained by soil moisture availability. This dependence can limit data continuity, reduce comparability across sites and seasons and introduce uncertainty into CDR-relevant interpretations. Here, we present and evaluate a new soil porewater extraction method, SATuration–Centrifugation (SAT-C), designed to obtain porewater from a defined soil volume independent of moisture conditions. The method combines saturation of intact soil cores using deionized water with centrifugation to recover porewater for chemical analysis. We compare SAT-C with conventional sampling using soils collected from grassland field sites, including sites amended with crushed basalt as part of ERW field trials. Across sites, SAT-C porewater chemistry shows strong agreement with rhizon samples for major ions, and bicarbonate concentrations inferred from charge balance are consistent with measured alkalinity. These initial results show that SAT-C provides a robust and reproducible approach for soil porewater extraction, with the potential to improve sampling reliability across variable conditions and thereby support more reliable carbon accounting in ERW.
Authors: Kirstine Skov, Anežka Radková, Kitty Agace, Talal Albahri, Matt Aitkenhead, Tzara Bierowiec, David Boldrin, Giulia Cazzagon, Chieh-Jhen Chen, Malcolm Coull, Declan DeJordy, Millie Dobson, Amy Frew, Sophie Harrity, Matthew Healey, Lucy Jones, Mike Kelland, Kenneth Loades, Jim Mann, David Manning, Amy L. McBride, Jason Owen, Callum Mitchell, Roy Sanderson, Amanda Stubbs, Yit Arn Teh, Rosalie Tostevin, Will Turner, Peter Wade, Morven Wilkie, XinRan Liu
Institutions: James Hutton Institute, Newcastle University
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,893
OpenAlex ID: W7142993039