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More than 70,000 large dams have been built worldwide. With growing water stress and demand for energy, this number will continue to increase in the foreseeable future. Damming greatly modifies the ecological functioning of river systems. In particular, dam reservoirs sequester nutrient elements and, hence, reduce downstream transfer of nutrients to floodplains, lakes, wetlands, and coastal marine environments. Here, we quantify the global impact of dams on the riverine fluxes and speciation of the limiting nutrient phosphorus (P), using a mechanistic modeling approach that accounts for the in-reservoir biogeochemical transformations of P. According to the model calculations, the mass of total P (TP) trapped in reservoirs nearly doubled between 1970 and 2000, reaching 42 Gmol y(-1), or 12% of the global river TP load in 2000. Because of the current surge in dam building, we project that by 2030, about 17% of the global river TP load will be sequestered in reservoir sediments. The largest projected increases in TP and reactive P (RP) retention by damming will take place in Asia and South America, especially in the Yangtze, Mekong, and Amazon drainage basins. Despite the large P retention capacity of reservoirs, the export of RP from watersheds will continue to grow unless additional measures are taken to curb anthropogenic P emissions.

Direct discharges of treated and untreated wastewater are important sources of nutrients to coastal marine ecosystems and contribute to their eutrophication. Here, we estimate the spatially distributed annual inputs of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) associated with direct domestic wastewater discharges from coastal cities to the Mediterranean Sea (MS). According to our best estimates, in 2003 these inputs amounted to 0.9 × 109 mol P yr-1 and 15 × 109 mol N yr-1, that is, values on the same order of magnitude as riverine inputs of P and N to the MS. By 2050, in the absence of any mitigation, population growth plus higher per capita protein intake and increased connectivity to the sewer system are projected to increase P inputs to the MS via direct wastewater discharges by 254, 163, and 32% for South, East, and North Mediterranean countries, respectively. Complete conversion to tertiary wastewater treatment would reduce the 2050 inputs to below their 2003 levels, but at an estimated additional cost of over €2 billion yr-1. Management of coastal eutrophication may be best achieved by targeting tertiary treatment upgrades to the most affected near-shore areas, while simultaneously implementing legislation limiting P in detergents and increasing wastewater reuse across the entire basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: CO2-consumption by chemical weathering of silicates and resulting silicate/carbonate weathering ratios influences long-term climate changes. However, little is known of the spatial extension of highly active weathering regions and their proportion of global CO2-consumption. As those regions may be of significant importance for global climate change, global CO2-consumption is calculated here at high resolution, to adequately represent them. In previous studies global CO2-consumption is estimated using two different approaches: i) a reverse approach based on hydrochemical fluxes from large rivers and ii) a forward approach applying spatially explicit a function for CO2-consumption. The first approach results in an estimate without providing a spatial resolution for highly active regions and the second approach applied six lithological classes while including three sediment classes (shale, sandstone and carbonate rock) based at a 1° or 2° grid resolution. It remained uncertain, if the applied lithological classification schemes represent adequately CO2-consumption from sediments on a global scale. This is due to the large variability of sediment properties, their diagenetic history and the contribution from carbonates apparent in silicate dominated lithological classes. To address these issues, a CO2-consumption model, trained at high-resolution data, is applied here to a global vector based lithological map with 15 lithological classes. The calibration data were obtained from areas representing a wide range of weathering rates. Resulting global CO2-consumption by chemical weathering is similar to earlier estimates (237 Mt C a−1) but the proportion of silicate weathering is 63%, and thus larger than previous estimates (49 to 60%). The application of the enhanced lithological classification scheme reveals that it is important to distinguish among the various types of sedimentary rocks and their diagenetic history to evaluate the spatial distribution of rock weathering. Results highlight the role of hotspots (>10 times global average weathering rates) and hyperactive areas (5 to 10 times global average rates). Only 9% of the global exorheic area is responsible for about 50% of CO2-consumption by chemical weathering (or if hotspots and hyperactive areas are considered: 3.4% of exorheic surface area corresponds to 28% of global CO2-consumption). The contribution of endorheic areas to the global CO2-consumption is with 3.7 Mt C a−1 only minor. A significant impact on the global CO2-consumption rate can be expected if identified highly active areas are affected by changes in the overall spatial patterns of the hydrological cycle due to ongoing global climate change. Specifically if comparing the Last Glacial Maximum with present conditions it is probable that also the global carbon cycle has been affected by those changes. It is expected that results will contribute to improve global carbon and global circulation models. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]