We accelerate mineral weathering by spreading basalt on croplands to increase dissolved inorganic carbon with eventual storage as ocean carbonates. Our technology uses novel soil models and machine learning to maximize CO₂ removal while boosting crop growth.

Removed carbon is tracked from the farm to rivers and the oceans, monitoring for permanence and additionality.

How it Works:

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Basalt is applied to farmland with a spreader.

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Basalt reacts with rainwater, converting atmospheric CO2 to dissolved bicarbonate and releasing macro- and micronutrients to the soil. Lithos measures this empirically with our high-accuracy proprietary approach.

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Dissolved bicarbonate is transferred by rivers and streams to the coastal ocean, where it is stable for thousands of years. Lithos monitors for leakage in river networks and tracks the carbon in a cradle-to-grave lifecycle.

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Eventually, dissolved bicarbonate reacts to form calcium carbonate minerals that are permanently deposited at the ocean floor.

The Team

Photo of Mary Yap

Mary Yap

Mary is co-founder and CEO at Lithos. She studied geology and planetary science at Yale, where she conducted award-winning scientific and urban research on the climate crisis. Mary previously spent 6+ years scaling early-stage startups, and her family are generational farmers in Taiwan.

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Dr. Noah Planavsky

Noah is co-founder at Lithos. Originally from Wisconsin, Noah still co-runs the family farm in the Midwest. Associate professor of geochemistry and planetary science at Yale University, Noah co-invented our isotope dilution technology to enable cost-effective verification of carbon removal in soil.

Photo of Chris Reinhard

Dr. Chris Reinhard

Chris is co-founder at Lithos. Originally from Kansas, he's an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he focuses on carbon dioxide removal. Chris is co-inventor of our software for predictive management and pH buffering. He and Noah completed their postdoctorates at Caltech.