Open AccessAnthropogenic influences on riverine fluxes of dissolved inorganic carbon to the oceans
Author(s) -
Raymond Peter A.,
Hamilton Stephen K.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2378-2242
DOI - 10.1002/lol2.10069
Subject(s) - weathering , ocean acidification , environmental science , acid rain , precipitation , carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere , watershed , carbon cycle , dissolved organic carbon , carbonic acid , climate change , environmental chemistry , oceanography , ecosystem , geology , chemistry , ecology , geochemistry , geography , organic chemistry , machine learning , meteorology , computer science , biology
Bicarbonate ( HCO 3 − ), the predominant form of dissolved inorganic carbon in natural waters, originates mostly from watershed mineral weathering. On time scales of decades to centuries, riverine fluxes ofHCO 3 −to the oceans and subsequent reactions affect atmospheric CO 2 , global climate and ocean pH. This review summarizes controls on the production ofHCO 3 −from chemical weathering and its transport into river systems. The availability of minerals and weathering agents (carbonic, sulfuric, and nitric acids) in the weathering zone interact to controlHCO 3 −production, and water throughput controlsHCO 3 −transport into rivers. Human influences onHCO 3 −fluxes include climate warming, acid precipitation, mining, concrete use, and agricultural fertilization and liming. We currently cannot evaluate the net result of human influences on a global scale butHCO 3 −fluxes are clearly increasing in some major rivers as shown here for much of the United States. This increase could be partly a return to pre‐industrialHCO 3 −fluxes as anthropogenic acidification has been mitigated in the United States, but elsewhere around the world anthropogenic acidification could be leading to decreased concentrations and fluxes.