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Anthropogenic influences on riverine fluxes of dissolved inorganic carbon to the oceans
- Source :
- Limnology and Oceanography Letters, Vol 3, Iss 3, Pp 143-155 (2018)
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Wiley, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Abstract Bicarbonate (HCO3−), 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 of HCO3− to the oceans and subsequent reactions affect atmospheric CO2, global climate and ocean pH. This review summarizes controls on the production of HCO3− 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 control HCO3− production, and water throughput controls HCO3− transport into rivers. Human influences on HCO3− 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 but HCO3− 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‐industrial HCO3− 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.
- Subjects :
- Oceanography
GC1-1581
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 23782242
- Volume :
- 3
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Limnology and Oceanography Letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.7053088461684a05b70b170563f77e85
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10069