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In this study, the researchers used a zeolite called iron-modified aluminum silicate, paired with an enzyme called alcohol oxidase.

One such approach, called enhanced rock weathering, involves spreading finely ground silicate rocks, like basalt, on the ground or the ocean, which absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they weather in the rain.

After pouring hot aluminum into one of her stick-shaped molds and letting it cool in a pile of dirt, a participant took a ball-peen hammer and cracked open the rough silicate mold, like a geode.

"On this basis, we were able to calculate the quantities of CO2 released by weathering or from carbonates at depths, and the quantities of CO2 bound by weathered silicates," explains Erlanger.

They show that the silicate shells of diatoms – the most important phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean – were deposited on the seafloor farther north in ice ages than in warm periods.