4.7 Article

papers Tracing terrestrial groundwater discharge and porewater exchange derived dissolved carbon export in a tropical estuary using multiple isotopes

Journal

JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
Volume 622, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129648

Keywords

Submarine groundwater discharge; Stable water isotopes; Radioactive isotopes; 224Ra; 228Th disequilibria; Dissolved carbon export

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This study investigated the contribution of coastal terrestrial groundwater discharge and porewater exchange to dissolved carbon export in a tropical estuary in China. It was found that terrestrial groundwater discharge had a significant impact on DIC export, while porewater exchange played a crucial role in delivering DOC to the ocean. Both pathways contributed a large amount of dissolved carbon export to the coastal water, highlighting the importance of assessing different SGD pathways in understanding terrestrial solute fluxes.
Coastal terrestrial groundwater discharge and porewater exchange are two different submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) pathways. The contribution of both pathways in dissolved carbon export to the coastal water remains almost unknown. Here, we investigated terrestrial groundwater discharge, porewater exchange, and dissolved carbon export in a tropical estuary (Moyangjiang, China) using stable water (& delta;2H and & delta;18O) and radioactive (222Rn, 224Ra, and 228Th) isotopes. The average terrestrial groundwater discharge was estimated to be (3.2 & PLUSMN;0.2) x 106 m3 d-1 by a three end-member mixing model of & delta;18O and salinity. The porewater exchange was estimated to be 11.3 & PLUSMN;0.14 cm d-1 by the 224Ra/228Th disequilibrium method. Accordingly, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fluxes from terrestrial groundwater discharge were estimated to be (1.19 & PLUSMN;0.10) x 107 and (3.23 & PLUSMN;0.25) x 105 mol d-1, respectively. In comparison, when upscaling to the whole estuary, DIC and DOC export fluxes from porewater exchange were estimated to be (1.56 & PLUSMN;0.21) x 105 and (2.12 & PLUSMN;0.29) x 105 mol d-1, respectively. Terrestrial groundwater discharge derived DIC flux was two orders of magnitude greater than that from porewater exchange, and was three times greater than that from river discharge. Terrestrial groundwater discharge was recognized as a significant contributor to DIC export. Pore -water exchange played a disproportionately important role in the delivery of DOC to the ocean, and its contribution to DOC needed to be emphasized. Overall, both pathways contributed a large amount of dissolved carbon export to the coastal water, and play an important role in delivering terrestrial carbon across land-ocean interface. Evaluating the contributions of different pathways of SGD to terrestrial solutes will help to improve the accuracy of SGD associated terrestrial solute fluxes.

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