Contribution of carbonate-derived dissolved inorganic carbon into autochthonous particulate organic carbon in two small temperate Korean rivers (Geum and Seomjin)

Abstract

In this study, we estimated the contributions of carbonate mineral weathering to dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and carbonate-derived DIC to autochthonous particulate organic carbon (POC) in two temperate Korean rivers. We combined stoichiometric and stable carbon isotopic approaches to calculate the contribution of autochthonous POC, considering diverse riverine DIC sources. We collected surface water samples from May 2016 to May 2018 and analyzed the major ion composition of rivers along with the concentrations and stable carbon isotopes of DIC. Our estimates showed that the relative abundances of carbonate mineral weathering (0.41±0.11 in the Geum River and 0.43±0.07 in the Seomjin River) were only slightly lower than those of silicate mineral weathering (0.59±0.1 in the Geum River and 0.57±0.07 in the Seomjin River). The resulting percentage contributions of DIC derived from the carbonate mineral weathering to riverine autochthonous POC, if we consider the additional DIC sources of atmospheric and soil-derived CO2, were 10±3% in the Geum River and 2±1% in the Seomjin River. The calculated annual fluxes of carbonate-derived DIC for 2016–2018 were 23.2±0.3 Gg C yr–1 in the Geum River and 1.1±0.4 Gg C yr–1 in the Seomjin River. Moreover, the calculated annual fluxes of carbonate-derived POC were 3.6±0.5 Gg C yr–1 in the Geum River and 0.1±0.7 Gg C yr–1 in the Seomjin River. Accordingly, our study provides the first insight into the contribution of carbonate-derived DIC to riverine autochthonous POC in small temperate Korean river systems, dominated by silicate rocks.