On the role of chemical weathering of continental arcs in long-term climate regulation: A case study of the Peninsular Ranges batholith, California (USA)

The long-term stability of atmospheric pCO2 is dominantly determined by the balance between the rate of CO2 input from magmatic/metamorphic degassing and the efficiency of CO2 uptake by silicate weathering via eventual precipitation as marine carbonate and by organic carbon burial. Silicate weathering is thought to represent a negative feedback to changes in atmospheric pCO2. The Late Cretaceous-Early Cenozoic was characterized by elevated...