News Climate

A thousands-year-old log demonstrates how burying wood can fight climate change

Just two meters of clay soil helped preserve the log for about 3,775 years

3,000-plus year-old wood on grass

Scientists unearthed this 3,775 year-old piece of wood that retained at least 95 percent of its carbon, thanks to being covered by a layer of clay soil.

Ning Zeng

By Jonathan Lambert

In 2013, Ning Zeng came across a very old, and ultimately very important, log.

He and his colleagues were digging a trench in the Canadian province of Quebec, one that they planned to fill with 35 metric tons of wood, cover with clay soil, and let sit for nine years.