An assessment of excess carbon dioxide partial pressures in natural waters based on pH and alkalinity measurements

Neal, Colin; House, William A.; Down, K.

doi:10.1016/s0048-9697(98)00011-4

Cited by 110 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Carbon dioxide saturation of stream waters in our study exceeded the levels of saturation reported from larger rivers, such as the Amazon (Stallard & Edmond, 1987), Lena (Huh et al, 1998), Thames (Neal, Harrow, & Williams, 1998), Hudson (Raymond, Caraco, & Cole, 1997), St. Lawrence (Hélie, Hillaire-Marcel, & Rondeau, 2002), and Niger Rivers (Martins & Probst, 1991) and from smaller rivers in the United Kingdom (Neal, House et al, 1998) and Spain (Pinol & Avila, 1992). In those studies, river water usually was no more than 5-20 times supersaturated, although some of the small rivers in Spain were as much as 55 times supersaturated (Pinol & Avila, 1992).…”

Section: Urban Land Cover and Stream Chemistrycontrasting

confidence: 57%

“…To estimate CO 2(aq) , we calculated the carbonate species distribution (CO 2(aq) , HCO À 3 , CO 2À 3 ) for each sample using a thermodynamic method (Andersen, 2002). The equation for the calculation of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO 2 ), which uses measurements of water temperature, pH, and HCO À 3 , did not need to be modified to account for the dissolution of calcite (Neal, House, & Down, 1998) because the Big Brushy Creek watershed lacks carbonate rocks. Equilibrium constants were calculated using the equations of Plummer and Busenburg (1982), and activity coefficients were calculated using the extended Debye-Huckel equation.…”

Section: Chemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Urban Influences on Stream Chemistry and Biology in the Big Brushy Creek Watershed, South Carolina

Lewis

Mitchell

Andersen

et al. 2007

Water Air Soil Pollut

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Naturally high total dissolved solids and upstream agricultural runoff often mask the influence of urban land cover on stream chemistry and biology. We examined the influence of headwater urbanization on the water chemistry, microbiology, and fish communities of the Big Brushy Creek watershed, a 96 km 2 drainage basin in the piedmont of South Carolina, USA. Concentrations of most major anions and cations (especially nitrate, sulfate, chloride, sodium, potassium, and calcium) were highest in the urban headwaters and decreased downstream. Generally, the highest concentrations of suspended coliform bacteria occurred in the urban headwaters. In contrast, stream habitat quality and the abundance, species richness, and species diversity of fishes did not differ significantly between urban and rural sites. Discharge of wastewater treatment plant effluent at one rural location caused an increase in concentrations of many solutes and possibly the abundance of benthic algae. We hypothesize that atmospheric dry deposition and domestic animal wastes are important sources of stream solutes and of coliform bacteria, respectively, in the urban headwaters. The lack of significant differences in fish abundance and diversity between urban and rural sites may indicate that urban development in the Big Brushy Creek watershed has not yet degraded habitat conditions greatly for stream fishes. Alternatively, agriculture or other land uses may have degraded stream habitat quality throughout the watershed prior to urbanization.

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Section: Urban Land Cover and Stream Chemistrycontrasting

confidence: 57%

Section: Chemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Influences on Stream Chemistry and Biology in the Big Brushy Creek Watershed, South Carolina

Lewis

Mitchell

Andersen

et al. 2007

Water Air Soil Pollut

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“…kalinity, adjusting for the buffering effects of aluminum and organic acids typically found in acidic organic-rich stream waters and omitting a few outlying values obtained during high stream flows (Neal et al 1998(Neal et al , 1999.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon dioxide and methane evasion from a temperate peatland stream

Hope

Palmer

Billett

et al. 2001

Limnology & Oceanography

218

247

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Peatland streams potentially represent important conduits for the exchange of gaseous carbon between the terrestrial ecosystem and the atmosphere. We investigated how gaseous evasion of carbon from the stream surface compared with downstream carbon transport at three locations on a Scottish headwater stream. Carbon dioxide was consistently above atmospheric saturation in the stream, with mean concentrations of 159.1, 81.8, and 29.5 mol L Ϫ1 at the lower, middle, and upper sites, respectively (i.e., 7.6, 3.9, and 1.2 times in excess of atmospheric equilibrium concentrations). Methane concentrations in stream water were much lower but showed a similar pattern. Rates of gaseous evasion from the stream surface to the atmosphere, determined experimentally using direct measurement of dissolved gas concentrations in conjunction with coinjection of conservative solute and volatile gas tracers, also declined downstream. Combined stream losses of all forms of carbon from the entire catchment (i.e., degassing from the stream surface and exports downstream) totaled 54,140 kg C yr Ϫ1. Evasion of carbon dioxide from the stream surface accounted for 34% of this total, compared to 57% lost as dissolved organic carbon via export downstream. When expressed per unit area of watershed, the gaseous C evasion from the stream represents a loss of 14.1 g C m Ϫ2 yr Ϫ1, which equals 28-70% of the estimated net carbon accumulation rate for such peatlands. This study shows that gaseous carbon loss from the surface of temperate headwater streams can be both spatially variable and significant in terms of rates of net annual land surface-atmosphere exchange at the catchment scale.Although there is an extensive literature on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in streams, much less attention has been given to gaseous forms of carbon (e.g., carbon dioxide and methane) in stream water (Hope et al. 1994). Typically, both carbon dioxide and methane are supersaturated in surface waters, with both streams and lakes frequently exhibiting gaseous partial pressures many times in excess of atmospheric equilibrium (Kling et al. 1991;Cole et al. 1994;Hamilton et al. 1994;Dawson et al. 1995; Jones and Mulholland 1998a,b). By evasion of this excess gaseous carbon, surface waters can act as conduits for a significant flux of carbon from terrestrial pools to the atmosphere (Kling et al. 1991;Cole et al. 1994;Hamilton et al. 1994). Most of the published evasion flux estimates are for lakes (e.g., Cole et al. 1994) and large rivers (e.g., DeAngelis and Scranton 1993;Raymond et al. 1997). However, small streams are where much groundwater initially enters surface drainage systems carrying a large load of dissolved gases, yet there are few published studies where gaseous carbon efflux rates have actually been measured for such streams (Jones and Mulholland 1998a,b).Using measurements of carbon dioxide and methane content of stream water in conjunction with tracer experiments involving the coinjection of a conservation solute and a volatile gas tracer, we quan...

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“…Excess dissolved CO 2 is defined as the amount of dissolved CO 2 found in the water above that which would be expected to be present if the water were equilibrium with the atmosphere. The excess dissolved CO 2 concentration was calculated using the method of Neal et al (1998). The excess dissolved CO 2 can be estimated given only the alkalinity and the pH of the water, but a better estimation can be made if the temperature and Ca concentration of the water are available as well so a complete speciation of the inorganic carbon can be achieved.…”

Section: Dissolved Comentioning

confidence: 99%

The multi-annual carbon budget of a peat-covered catchment

Worrall

Burt

Rowson

et al. 2009

Science of The Total Environment

107

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This study estimates the complete carbon budget of an 11.4 km 2 peat-covered catchment in Northern England. The budget considers both fluvial and gaseous carbon fluxes and includes estimates of particulate organic carbon (POC); dissolved organic carbon (DOC); excess dissolved CO 2 ; release of methane (CH 4 ); net ecosystem respiration of CO 2 ; and uptake of CO 2 by primary productivity. All components except CH 4 were measured directly in the catchment and annual carbon budgets were calculated for the catchment between 1993 and 2005 using both extrapolation and interpolation methods. The study shows that: Over the 13 year study period the total carbon balance varied between a net sink of − 20 to − 91 Mg C/km 2 /yr. The biggest component of this budget is the uptake of carbon by primary productivity (− 178 Mg C/km 2 /yr) and in most years the second largest component is the loss of DOC from the peat profile (+39 Mg C/km 2 /yr). Direct exchanges of C with the atmosphere average − 89 Mg C/km 2 /yr in the catchment. Extrapolating the general findings of the carbon budget across all UK peatlands results in an approximate carbon balance of − 1.2 Tg C/ yr (±0.4 Pg C/yr) which is larger than previously reported values. Carbon budgets should always be reported with a clear statement of the techniques used and errors involved as this is significant when comparing results across studies.

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An assessment of excess carbon dioxide partial pressures in natural waters based on pH and alkalinity measurements

Cited by 110 publications

References 33 publications

Urban Influences on Stream Chemistry and Biology in the Big Brushy Creek Watershed, South Carolina

Urban Influences on Stream Chemistry and Biology in the Big Brushy Creek Watershed, South Carolina

Carbon dioxide and methane evasion from a temperate peatland stream

The multi-annual carbon budget of a peat-covered catchment

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