Chemical weathering in the Hong (Red) River basin: Rates of silicate weathering and their controlling factors

Abstract

The Hong (Red) River drains the prominent Red River Fault Zone that has experienced various tectonic activities—intrusion of magma, exhumation of basement rocks, and influx of thermal waters—associated with the Cenozoic collision of India and Eurasia. We report dissolved major element and Sr isotope compositions of 43 samples from its three tributary systems (Da, Thao/Hong main channel, and Lo) encompassing summer and winter seasons. Carbonic acid ultimately derived from the atmosphere is the main weathering agent, and sulfuric acid from pyrite oxidation plays a minor role. Seasonality is manifested in higher calcite saturation index and Mg/TZ + and lower Ca/Mg in summer, suggesting calcite precipitation, and in higher Si/(Na ∗ + K) ratios in summer suggesting more intensive silicate weathering. We quantified the input from rain, evaporite, carbonate, and silicate reservoirs using forward and inverse models and examined the robustness of the results. Carbonate dissolution accounts for a significant fraction of total dissolved cations (55–97%), and weathering of silicates makes a minor contribution (1–40%). Our best estimate of the spatially averaged silicate weathering rate in the Hong basin is 170 × 10 3 mol/km 2/yr in summer and 51 × 10 3 mol/km 2/yr in winter. We tested for correlations between the rate of CO 2 consumption by silicate weathering and various climatic (air temperature, precipitation, runoff, and potential evapotranspiration) and geologic (relief, elevation, slope, and lithology) parameters calculated using GIS. Clear correlations do not emerge (except for ϕCO 2 and runoff in winter) which we attribute to the complex geologic setting of the area, the seasonal regime change from physical-dominant in summer to chemical-dominant in winter, and the incoherent timescales involved for the different parameters tested.