The impacts of ‘05.6’ extreme flood event on riverine carbon fluxes in Xijiang River

Abstract

An extreme flood event with a frequency of nearly 200 year occurred in June of 2005 in the Xijiang River, the main trunk stream of the Zhujiang River. Samples were systematically collected during the flood event, and water quality parameters, including total suspended sediment (TSS), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and particulate organic carbon (POC) were analyzed, and riverine carbon concentrations associated with its changing pattern through the flood process were discussed. These parameters reflect the changes in basin surface flow and subsurface flow during the flood. This flood event influenced annual flux estimations of POC, DOC, and DIC to great extents. Based on carbon flux estimations for the year 2005 and the flood event (June 21–28) in the Xijiang River, it was found that DIC, DOC, and POC fluxes during ‘05.6’ flood event are 1.52×106 g.km−2.a−1, 0.24×106 g.km−2.a−1, and 0.54×106 g.km−2.a−1, and account for 14.87%, 24.75% and 44.89% of the annual fluxes in 2005, respectively. The results suggested that carbon exports during extreme flood events had great contributions to the total carbon fluxes and composition of various carbon components, being important for accurate estimates of annual carbon fluxes in rivers with frequent floods.