Project Team and Abstract
Project Leader: Mukul Sharma, Professor of Earth Sciences; Annie Kandel, Project Manager (Sharma Lab); Brin Jaffe, UG Intern (Sharma Lab)
Soil degradation — the loss of critical nutrients and organic matter from poor land management practices like monoculture and overgrazing — poses significant challenges for agricultural productivity and human nutrition across the globe. It also robs soils of the ability to effectively sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Research shows that in addition to implementing more sustainable land management practices, the application of large-scale, sustainable soil amendments such as biochar – a charcoal-like substance made from burning organic matter in a low-oxygen environment — will not only increase fertility, but maximize the soil's ability to store carbon.
Earth Science Professor Mukul Sharma and his team have been studying the potential of basalt-fortified biochar to both improve soil health and unlock long-term carbon storage in soil. He projects that each ton of this fortified biochar could store up to 2.2 tons of CO2. In the lab, Professor Sharma has seen extremely promising results on soil health and fertility with the application of fortified biochar. With his Irving Institute award, he will generate larger quantities of biochar on campus and apply it on experimental plots of land at the Dartmouth Organic Farm to determine the effectiveness of this strategy in the field.