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X-WR-CALNAME:ESS Oral Defense - Brian Rogers - June 9 - Green 365 @ 9:30 AM
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific Time (US & Canada)
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DTSTAMP:20260722T135346Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_52995114428659
DTSTART:20260609T163000Z
DTEND:20260609T173000Z
DESCRIPTION:Stanford University\n\n*** Ph.D. Thesis/ Oral Defense ***\n\n \
 n\nMechanistic and Measurement Constraints on Soil Alkalinity Enhancement 
 for Carbon Dioxide Removal\n\n \n\nBrian Rogers\n\nTuesday\, June 9\, 2026
 \, 9:30 AM\n\nGreen 365\n\nDepartment of Earth System Science\n\nAdvisor: 
 Dr. Kate Maher\n\nAmending soils with alkaline minerals is a carbon dioxid
 e removal (CDR) strategy that has received considerable scientific\, comme
 rcial\, and policy attention in recent years. Scaling this approach to atm
 ospherically relevant levels\, however\, has been impeded by limited confi
 dence in its measurability and durability. In this dissertation\, I develo
 p quantitative frameworks to evaluate whether soil alkalinity enhancement 
 can produce measurable and durable CDR. First\, I develop a probabilistic 
 framework that represents spatial\, analytical\, and sampling uncertainty 
 for a given measurement approach. Applied to solid-phase mass balance meth
 ods commonly proposed for CDR verification\, this framework shows that spa
 tial heterogeneity can make direct solid-phase verification prohibitively 
 expensive at operational scales. Given these challenges in directly verify
 ing feedstock dissolution\, I then shift to mechanistically inferring the 
 fate of alkalinity during transport through the soil column. I develop a t
 hermodynamic framework that adapts classical agronomic concepts of soil bu
 ffering to the problem of enhanced alkalinity export. Because the framewor
 k is constrained by routine agronomic measurements\, it enables standardiz
 ed inference of soil buffering capacity across large areas and depth profi
 les. I use this approach to estimate depth-integrated soil alkalinity dema
 nd and show that substantial alkalinity is likely consumed before export o
 ccurs in acidic soils. I then embed this thermodynamic framework within a 
 reactive transport model to evaluate the coupled effects of transport and 
 buffering processes on alkalinity export. These simulations show that alka
 linity is likely to be fully attenuated before reaching export depths over
  near-term project timescales in many acidic soils\, and that a significan
 t fraction of this attenuation can be attributed to secondary mineral prec
 ipitation in soils with even modest exchangeable aluminum. This finding co
 mplicates recent accounting frameworks that treat some forms of alkalinity
  loss as reversible\, with important implications for CDR durability and c
 rediting. Finally\, I present global\, mechanistically partitioned estimat
 es of depth-integrated soil alkalinity demand and discuss the implications
  of these results for the future of carbon dioxide removal through soil al
 kalinity enhancement.
GEO:37.426823;-122.174006
LOCATION:Green Earth Sciences Building\, 365
SUMMARY:ESS Oral Defense - Brian Rogers - June 9 - Green 365 @ 9:30 AM
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.stanford.edu/event/ess-oral-defense-brian-roge
 rs-june-9-green-365-930-am
CATEGORIES:PhD Defense
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