If glacial runoff increases and rock flour is carried to the oceans, will this provide alkalinity to the oceans and offset OA somewhat?
The weathering of continental rocks does increase the alkalinity of seawater and increases its ability to counteract pH decreases, but neutralizing all of the CO2 from human activity that is entering the oceans with this process alone would take hundreds of thousands of years. Therefore, on the time scales of importance to humankind (decades to centuries), these processes are not fast enough to significantly buffer ocean acidification. — Richard A.
