Carbon uptake by karsts in the Houzhai Basin, southwest China

Abstract

Using an estimated bicarbonate concentration ([HCO(3)(-)]) in water and discharge rates of surface water and underground water from the Houzhai Basin, southwest China, from 1986 to 2007, we estimate that the mean carbon uptake rate was 20.7 g C m(-2) yr(-1). The surface water and underground water contribute about equally to the total carbon uptake from 1986 to 2007. About 97% of the interannual variation of annual carbon uptake can be explained by the discharge rate. Within a year, the net carbon uptake rate by karst during the wet season (May-October) was found to be about 2.4 times that during the dry season (November-April). If the seasonal variations of discharge rate and bicarbonate concentrations are not accounted for, estimates of annual net carbon uptake by karst can be biased by >25%, but that bias becomes very small (<5%) when averaged from 1986 to 2007 for the Houzhai Basin. We also found that one of the empirical models as used in global modeling overestimated the net carbon uptake by karst at Houzhai Basin by 29%. Carbon uptake from chemical weathering of all karsts in China is estimated to be about 12 Tg C yr(-1) at present (1 Tg = 10(12) g), or about 57% of the rate of net carbon accumulated in the forest biomass from 1981 to 1998 in China; we therefore recommend the inclusion of carbon uptake from chemical weathering in the regional carbon budget of China.