Hydrological and biogeochemical controls on temporal variations of dissolved carbon and solutes in a karst river, South China

Background Understanding the responses of riverine dissolved carbon dynamics and chemical weathering processes to short-term climatic variabilities is important to understand the Surface-Earth processes under ongoing climate change. Temporal variations of solutes and stable carbon isotope of dissolved inorganic carbon (delta C-13(DIC)) were analysed during a hydrological year in the Guijiang River, South China. We aimed to unravel the chemical weathering processes and carbon dynamics in karst areas under ongoing climate changes. Results Significant positive relationships were found between weathering rates and climatic factors (i.e. temperature and discharge) over the hydrological year. The total flux of CO2 consumption (760.4 x 10(3) mol/km(2)/year) in the Guijiang River was much higher than the global mean flux, with a higher CO2 consumption capacity in the Guijiang River relative to most other global rivers. Chemical weathering fluxes in this karst area showed high sensitivity to global climate change. CO2 evasion during the warm-wet seasons was much lower than those during cold-dry seasons. Light delta C-13(DIC) values occurred under high-flow conditions, corresponding with the high temperatures in high-flow seasons. IsoSource modelling revealed that biological carbon could account for 53% of all dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), controlling the temporal carbon variabilities. Conclusion This study quantitatively evaluated the temporal variations in CO2 fluxes and carbon cycling of karstic river systems and demonstrated that riverine carbon cycling will have a higher sensibility to ongoing global climate change. High discharges accelerate solutes transport, with relatively large quantities of C-13-depleted carbon being flushed into rivers. Meanwhile, high temperatures also accelerate organic carbon mineralisation, producing high content of soil CO2, whose influx can shift the C-13-depleted values in the high-flow seasons. Taken together, biological carbon influx should be responsible for the temporal carbon dynamics.

Automated summary

This study found significant positive relationships between weathering rates and climatic factors over the hydrological year in the Guijiang River, South China. The total flux of CO2 consumption in the river was much higher than the global mean flux, and was highly sensitive to global climate change.