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- Title
Fluvial carbon export and CO<sub>2</sub> efflux in representative nested headwater catchments of the eastern La Plata River Basin.
- Authors
Sorribas, Mino Viana; Motta Marques, David; Castro, Nilza Maria dos Reis; Fan, Fernando Mainardi
- Abstract
This study involved a baseline evaluation of fluvial carbon export and degas rates in three nested rural catchments (1 to 80 km2) in Taboão, a representative experimental catchment of the Upper Uruguay River Basin. Analyses of the carbon content in stream waters and the catchment carbon yield were based on 4-year monthly in situ data and statistical modeling using the United States Geological Survey load estimator model. We also estimated pCO2 and degas fluxes using carbonate equilibrium and gas-exchange formulas. Our results indicated that the water was consistently pCO2 saturated (~90% of the cases) and that the steep terrain favors high gas evasion rates. The mean calculated fluvial export was 5.4 tC·km−2·year−1 with inorganic carbon dominating (dissolved inorganic carbon:dissolved organic carbon ratio >4), and degas rates (~40 tC km−2·year−1) were nearly sevenfold higher than the downstream export. The homogeneous land use in this nested catchment system results in similar water-quality characteristics, and therefore, export rates are expected to be closely related to the rainfall-runoff relationships at each scale. Although the sampling campaigns did not fully reproduce storm-event conditions and related effects such as flushing or dilution of in-stream carbon, our results indicated a potential link between dissolved inorganic carbon and slower hydrological pathways related to subsurface water storage and movement.
- Subjects
CARBON dioxide; EFFLUX (Microbiology); CARBON; WATER quality; WATERSHEDS; WATER storage
- Publication
Hydrological Processes, 2017, Vol 31, Issue 5, p995
- ISSN
0885-6087
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/hyp.11076