New Zealand's Southern Alps are transforming rock into soil more than twice as fast as previously thought possible, with implications for climate change, according to new research.
Scientists had previously argued that there were limits to soil production levels, but no measurements had been done, said Isaac Larsen, who conducted the research as part of his doctoral research at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The findings, published on Friday in the Science journal, have implications for the earth's entire carbon cycle as soil acts as a carbon sink, locking in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and countering global warming.
Dr Larsen and fellow student Andre Eger collected soil samples after being dropped into rugged mountain sites by helicopter.
Mr Eger was a post-graduate student at Lincoln University at the time.
They measured the amount of Beryllium-10, an isotope which forms at the earth's surface, to find that soil was being produced on the ridge tops at rates of up to 2.5 millimetres a year.
The researchers believe dense vegetation on the Southern Alps may be the reason for the fast rate of soil production, with plant roots reaching into cracks in the rocks, exposing them to rainwater and chemical weathering.
The Southern Alps are among the fastest uplifting mountains in the world, with the uplift driven by an alpine fault line.
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