Abstract
Most studies of carbonate bedrock weathering have focused on the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) flux while dismissing particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) as insignificant. However, under certain flow conditions PIC flux may be an important term in carbonate weathering. In this study, the total inorganic carbon (TIC) flux was calculated in a fluviokarst basin. Water samples and in situ data loggers were used to determine suspended sediment concentration and water chemistry. The mass of PIC within suspended sediments was quantified by cation/anion analysis of dual filtered/unfiltered samples. The flux of bed load material was calculated via stream power calculations. The analysis of recorded storm events indicated that PIC flux is moderate but can be significant during peak storm discharges. A small storm with a 0.87-month return period produced a PIC flux of 14 g s−1 and a DIC flux of 150 g s−1 at 1.4 m3 s−1 discharge. The largest storm had a return period of 7.7 months, a peak discharge of 4.6 m3 s−1, and peak PIC flux of 620 g s−1 compared to a peak DIC flux of 350 g s−1. During storm events, bed load was the most significant component of the total PIC flux, exceeding the suspended load flux by an order of magnitude. When calculated on an annual basis, the data show that PIC contributes about 10 percent to total inorganic carbon removal.
Highlights
Most past research on understanding the flux of carbon in karst waters has focused on the flux of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) [1,2,3,4,5]
While chemical loads typically dominate karst waters during low to moderate flow conditions, some research has shown that the particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) in suspended and bed loads can be a major component of carbon mass flux under higher flow conditions during moderate to extreme storm events [8,9]
Particulate inorganic carbon flux was demonstrated to be a significant component of total carbon removal in the basins studied
Summary
Most past research on understanding the flux of carbon in karst waters has focused on the flux of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) [1,2,3,4,5]. While chemical loads typically dominate karst waters during low to moderate flow conditions, some research has shown that the particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) in suspended and bed loads can be a major component of carbon mass flux under higher flow conditions during moderate to extreme storm events [8,9]. Studies of karst landscape denudation that focus solely on dissolved components do not account for carbonate loss by removal of both fine-grained (62.5 μm, bed load) particulates. The objectives of this study were to quantify the total inorganic carbon flux (dissolved, suspended, and bed loads) from a karstic basin and to assess the importance of the component (dissolved, suspended, and bed) loads to the total
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