Global-scale evidence for the refractory nature of riverine black carbon

Coppola, Alysha I.; Wiedemeier, Daniel B.; Galy, Valier; Haghipour, Negar; Hanke, Ulrich M.; Nascimento, Gabriela S.; Usman, Muhammed; Blattmann, Thomas M.; Reisser, Moritz; Freymond, Chantal V.; Zhao, Meixun; Voß, Britta; Wacker, Lukas; Schefuß, Enno; Abiven, Samuel; Schmidt, Michael W. I.; Eglinton, Timothy I.

doi:10.1038/s41561-018-0159-8

Cited by 134 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(89 reference statements)

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“…The storage of terrigenous DOC in the global oceans regulates atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 (Bauer et al, 2013;Bianchi, 2011), and DBC is a particularly pertinent fraction of this DOC because its chemical properties make it intrinsically resistant to degradation (Tranvik, 2018;Wagner et al, 2018). As part of this agenda it will be pivotal to develop a mechanistic understanding of the environmental factors that control the export of DBC across the land-to-ocean aquatic continuum (Coppola et al, 2018;Dittmar & Stubbins, 2014;Wagner et al, 2018). As part of this agenda it will be pivotal to develop a mechanistic understanding of the environmental factors that control the export of DBC across the land-to-ocean aquatic continuum (Coppola et al, 2018;Dittmar & Stubbins, 2014;Wagner et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recent realization that ignoring lateral fluxes of carbon from terrestrial to marine environments results in nontrivial errors in terrestrial carbon accounting, combined with evidence for the anthropogenic perturbation of the DOC export, has triggered a renewed focus on identifying the environmental factors that control its export, character, and fate (Battin et al, 2009;Cole et al, 2007;Raymond et al, 2016;Regnier et al, 2013). As part of this agenda it will be pivotal to develop a mechanistic understanding of the environmental factors that control the export of DBC across the land-to-ocean aquatic continuum (Coppola et al, 2018;Dittmar & Stubbins, 2014;Wagner et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental Controls on the Riverine Export of Dissolved Black Carbon

Jones

Aragão

Dittmar

et al. 2019

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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Each year, tropical rivers export a dissolved organic carbon (DOC) flux to the global oceans that is equivalent to ~4% of the global land sink for atmospheric CO2. Among the most refractory fractions of terrigenous DOC is dissolved black carbon (DBC), which constitutes ~10% of the total DOC flux and derives from the charcoal and soot (aerosol) produced during biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion. Black carbon (BC) has disproportionate storage potential in oceanic pools and so its export has implications for the fate and residence time of terrigenous organic carbon (OC). In contrast to bulk DOC, there is limited knowledge of the environmental factors that control riverine fluxes of DBC. We thus completed a comprehensive assessment of the factors controlling DBC export in tropical rivers with catchments distributed across environmental gradients of hydrology, topography, climate, and soil properties. Generalized linear models explained 70 and 64% of the observed variance in DOC and DBC concentrations, respectively. DOC and DBC concentrations displayed coupled responses to the dominant factors controlling their riverine export (soil moisture, catchment slope, and catchment stocks of OC or BC, respectively) but varied divergently across gradients of temperature and soil properties. DBC concentrations also varied strongly with aerosol BC deposition rate, indicating further potential for deviation of DBC fluxes from those of DOC due to secondary inputs of DBC from this unmatched source. Overall, this study identifies the specific drivers of BC dynamics in river catchments and fundamentally enhances our understanding of refractory DOC export to the global oceans.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Controls on the Riverine Export of Dissolved Black Carbon

Jones

Aragão

Dittmar

et al. 2019

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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“…However, surprisingly, there appears to be no clear link between recent fire activity and DBC export among watersheds in various climatic regions and of differing sizes (Ding et al, ; Myers‐Pigg et al, ; Wagner et al, ). On the contrary, mobilization of PBC is enhanced in fire‐impacted watersheds (Moody & Martin, ; Pyle et al, ; Wagner et al, ), and rivers may be a significant contributor of PBC to coastal environments (Coppola et al, ; Leorri et al, ; Santín et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological Controls on the Seasonal Variability of Dissolved and Particulate Black Carbon in the Altamaha River, GA

et al. 2018

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Rivers play an important role in the transport of organic carbon from terrestrial to marine environments. A significant portion of this material is black carbon (BC), a residue of incomplete biomass and fossil fuel combustion. BC is mobilized in fluvial systems as both particulate BC (PBC) and dissolved BC (DBC), and the export of BC to coastal environments may have significant implications for carbon cycling in marine environments. However, while little is known regarding the potential connectivity between riverine export of PBC and DBC or the potential importance of such a relationship in constraining future BC budgets, current knowledge suggests that fluvial export of PBC and DBC are decoupled in small fire-impacted watersheds. This study aims to further address this subject on a larger watershed scale. For this study, 13 monthly samples were collected (September 2015 to September 2016) near the mouth of the Altamaha River, Georgia. PBC and DBC were characterized using the benzenze polycarboxylic acid method. Seasonal hydrology and regional shifts in storm events play an important role for both PBC and DBC export during high flow months. The DBC concentrations were comparable among wet and dry seasons, whereas evidence of seasonal salt water intrusions suggests an additional estuarine contribution of PBC at the sampling location. The DBC and PBC fluxes were generally coupled, although this pattern was disrupted during initial storm pulses. While this is the first report of potential coupling between DBC and PBC export, environmental drivers controlling this behavior between DBC and PBC remain to be constrained.

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“…While the fluvial input from large rivers may be the dominant source of BC particles in the coastal zone (Mitra et al, 2002(Mitra et al, , 2014Mannino and Harvey, 2004;Coppola et al, 2018), atmospheric deposition is the most important source of openocean BC particles (Suman et al, 1997;Masiello and Druffel, 1998). On the global scale, it is estimated that the annual fluxes of BC particles to the ocean via the atmospheric and the river routes are 12 Tg BC yr −1 (Jurado et al, 2008) and 17-37 Tg BC yr −1 (Coppola et al, 2018), respectively. Therefore, the total annual flux of BC particles to the ocean may be on the order of 29-49 Tg BC yr −1 , with the major fraction entering in the coastal zone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeochemical Impacts of a Black Carbon Wet Deposition Event in Halong Bay, Vietnam

et al. 2019

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Black carbon (BC) is emitted to the atmosphere during biomass, biofuel, and fossil fuel combustion, and leaves the atmosphere via dry or wet deposition on land and on the ocean. On a global scale, wet deposition accounts for about 80% of the total atmospheric BC inputs to the ocean. The input of BC particles to the ocean can enrich surface waters with carbon and associated elements, and owing to high porosity and surface-active properties, BC can alter biogeochemical cycles by sorbing dissolved compounds and promoting aggregation. The rain-mediated input of BC to the ocean and its consequences on nutrient concentrations and particle dynamics were studied in Halong Bay, Vietnam, during a 24-h cycle impacted by short and heavy rainfall events. This study suggests that once introduced in the surface ocean via wet deposition, BC sorbs dissolved organic matter (DOM) and stimulates aggregation processes. The observed wet deposition events were characterized by sudden and pulsed inputs of BC particles that created a thin layer of sinking surface-active aggregates, acting as a net-like scavenger for DOM, nutrients (especially phosphate), and small particles. In addition, the wet deposition events coincided with an enrichment of nutrients in the surface microlayer, with an excess input of nitrogen relative to phosphorus leading to an increase of the molar N:P ratio from 24:1 to 37:1. In the underlying water, the molar N:P ratio also increased (i.e., from 39:1 to 64:1), and this can be attributed to the preferential scavenging of dissolved P-compounds on sinking BC-aggregates.

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Global-scale evidence for the refractory nature of riverine black carbon

Cited by 134 publications

References 56 publications

Environmental Controls on the Riverine Export of Dissolved Black Carbon

Environmental Controls on the Riverine Export of Dissolved Black Carbon

Hydrological Controls on the Seasonal Variability of Dissolved and Particulate Black Carbon in the Altamaha River, GA

Biogeochemical Impacts of a Black Carbon Wet Deposition Event in Halong Bay, Vietnam

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