scholarly journals Linking the lithogenic, atmospheric, and biogenic cycles of silicate, carbonate, and organic carbon in the ocean

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 6579-6599
Author(s):  
S. V. Smith ◽  
J.-P. Gattuso

Abstract. Geochemical theory describes long term cycling of atmospheric CO2 between the atmosphere and rocks at the Earth surface in terms of rock weathering and precipitation of sedimentary minerals. Chemical weathering of silicate rocks takes up atmospheric CO2, releases cations and HCO3− to water, and precipitates SiO2, while CaCO3 precipitation consumes Ca2+ and HCO3− and releases one mole of CO2 to the atmosphere for each mole of CaCO3 precipitated. At steady state, according to this theory, the CO2 uptake and release should equal one another. In contradiction to this theory, carbonate precipitation in the present surface ocean releases only about 0.6 mol of CO2 per mole of carbonate precipitated. This is a result of the buffer effect described by Ψ, the molar ratio of net CO2 gas evasion to net CaCO3 precipitation from seawater in pCO2 equilibrium with the atmosphere. This asymmetry in CO2 flux between weathering and precipitation would quickly exhaust atmospheric CO2, posing a conundrum in the classical weathering and precipitation cycle. While often treated as a constant, Ψ actually varies as a function of salinity, pCO2, and temperature. Introduction of organic C reactions into the weathering-precipitation couplet largely reconciles the relationship. ψ in the North Pacific Ocean central gyre rises from 0.6 to 0.9, as a consequence of organic matter oxidation in the water column. ψ records the combined effect of CaCO3 and organic reactions and storage of dissolved inorganic carbon in the ocean, as well as CO2 gas exchange between the ocean and atmosphere. Further, in the absence of CaCO3 reactions, Ψ would rise to 1.0. Similarly, increasing atmospheric pCO2 over time, which leads to ocean acidification, alters the relationship between organic and inorganic C reactions and carbon storage in the ocean. Thus, the carbon reactions and ψ can cause large variations in oceanic carbon storage with little exchange with the atmosphere.

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 8283-8311 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Wakita ◽  
S. Watanabe ◽  
M. Honda ◽  
A. Nagano ◽  
K. Kimoto ◽  
...  

Abstract. Rising atmospheric CO2 contents have led to greater CO2 uptake by the oceans, lowering both pH due to increasing hydrogen ions and CaCO3 saturation states due to declining carbonate ion (CO32−). Here, we used previously compiled data sets and new data collected in 2010 and 2011 to investigate ocean acidification of the North Pacific western subarctic gyre. In winter, the western subarctic gyre is a source of CO2 to the atmosphere because of convective mixing of deep waters rich in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). We calculated pH in winter mixed layer from DIC and total alkalinity (TA), and found that it decreased at the rate of −0.001 ± 0.0004 yr−1 from 1997 to 2011. This decrease rate is slower than that expected under condition of seawater/atmosphere equilibration, and it is also slower than the rate in the subtropical regions (−0.002 yr−1). The slow rate is caused by a reduction of CO2 emission in winter due to an increase in TA. Below the mixed layer, the calcite saturation horizon (~185 m depth) shoaled at the rate of 2.9 ± 0.9 m yr−1 as the result of the declining CO32− concentration (−0.03 ± 0.01 μmol k−1yr−1). Between 200 m and 300 m depth, pH decline during the study period (−0.0051 ± 0.0010 yr−1) was larger than ever reported in the open North Pacific. This enhanced acidification rate below the calcite saturation horizon reflected not only the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 but also the increase in the decomposition of organic matter evaluated from the increase in AOU, which suggests that the dissolution of CaCO3 particles increased.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 2425-2440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenta Watanabe ◽  
Goro Yoshida ◽  
Masakazu Hori ◽  
Yu Umezawa ◽  
Hirotada Moki ◽  
...  

Abstract. Macroalgal beds have drawn attention as one of the vegetated coastal ecosystems that act as atmospheric CO2 sinks. Although macroalgal metabolism as well as inorganic and organic carbon flows are important pathways for CO2 uptake by macroalgal beds, the relationships between macroalgal metabolism and associated carbon flows are still poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated carbon flows, including air–water CO2 exchange and budgets of dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), in a temperate macroalgal bed during the productive months of the year. To assess the key mechanisms responsible for atmospheric CO2 uptake by the macroalgal bed, we estimated macroalgal metabolism and lateral carbon flows (i.e., carbon exchanges between the macroalgal bed and the offshore area) by using field measurements of carbon species, a field-bag method, a degradation experiment, and mass-balance modeling in a temperate Sargassum bed over a diurnal cycle. Our results showed that macroalgal metabolism and lateral carbon flows driven by water exchange affected air–water CO2 exchange in the macroalgal bed and the surrounding waters. Macroalgal metabolism caused overlying waters to contain low concentrations of CO2 and high concentrations of DOC that were efficiently exported offshore from the macroalgal bed. These results indicate that the exported water can potentially lower CO2 concentrations in the offshore surface water and enhance atmospheric CO2 uptake. Furthermore, the Sargassum bed exported 6 %–35 % of the macroalgal net community production (NCP; 302–1378 mmol C m−2 d−1) as DOC to the offshore area. The results of degradation experiments showed that 56 %–78 % of macroalgal DOC was refractory DOC (RDOC) that persisted for 150 d; thus, the Sargassum bed exported 5 %–20 % of the macroalgal NCP as RDOC. Our findings suggest that macroalgal beds in habitats associated with high water exchange rates can create significant CO2 sinks around them and export a substantial amount of DOC to offshore areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 2004-2022
Author(s):  
Marco Donnini ◽  
Ivan Marchesini ◽  
Azzurra Zucchini

Abstract The chemical composition of river waters gives a measure of the atmospheric CO2 fixed by chemical weathering processes. Since the dominating factors controlling these processes are lithology and runoff, as well as uplift and erosion, we introduce a new simplified geo-lithological map of the Alps (Alpine-Geo-LiM) that adopted a lithological classification compliant with the methods most used in literature for estimating the consumption of atmospheric CO2 by chemical weathering. The map was used together with published alkalinity data of the 33 main Alpine rivers (1) to investigate the relationship between bicarbonate concentration in the sampled waters and the lithologies of the corresponding drained basins, and (2) to quantify the atmospheric CO2 consumed by chemical weathering. The analyses confirm (as known by the literature) that carbonates are lithologies highly prone to consuming atmospheric CO2. Moreover, the analyses show that sandstone (which could have a nonnegligible carbonate component) plays an important role in consuming atmospheric CO2. Another result is that in multilithological basins containing lithologies more prone to consuming atmospheric CO2, the contribution of igneous rocks to the atmospheric CO2 consumption is negligible. Alpine-Geo-LiM has several novel features when compared with published global lithological maps. One novel feature is due to the attention paid in discriminating metamorphic rocks, which were classified according to the chemistry of protoliths. The second novel feature is that the procedure used for the definition of the map was made available on the Web to allow the replicability and reproducibility of the product.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenta Watanabe ◽  
Goro Yoshida ◽  
Masakazu Hori ◽  
Yu Umezawa ◽  
Hirotada Moki ◽  
...  

Abstract. Macroalgal beds have drawn attention as one of the vegetated coastal ecosystems that act as atmospheric CO2 sinks. Although macroalgal metabolism as well as inorganic and organic carbon flows are important pathways for CO2 sequestration by macroalgal beds, the relationships between macroalgal metabolism and associated carbon flows are still poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated carbon flows, including air–water CO2 exchange and budgets of dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in a temperate macroalgal bed during productive months of the year. To assess the key mechanisms of CO2 sequestration by the macroalgal bed, we estimated macroalgal metabolism and lateral carbon flows using a field-bag method, a degradation experiment, and mass balance modelling over a diurnal cycle. Our results showed that macroalgal metabolism and lateral carbon flows driven by water exchange affected air–water CO2 exchange in the macroalgal bed and the surrounding waters. Macroalgal metabolism caused overlying waters to contain low concentrations of CO2 and high concentrations of DOC that were efficiently exported offshore from the macroalgal bed. The exported water lowered CO2 concentrations in the offsite surface water and enhanced atmospheric CO2 uptake. Our findings suggest that macroalgal beds in habitats associated with high water exchange rates can create extensive CO2-sinks around them.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 7817-7827 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Wakita ◽  
S. Watanabe ◽  
M. Honda ◽  
A. Nagano ◽  
K. Kimoto ◽  
...  

Abstract. Rising atmospheric CO2 contents have led to greater CO2 uptake by the oceans, lowering both pH due to increasing hydrogen ions and CaCO3 saturation states due to declining carbonate ion (CO32−). Here we used previously compiled data sets and new data collected in 2010 and 2011 to investigate ocean acidification of the North Pacific western subarctic gyre. In winter, the western subarctic gyre is a source of CO2 to the atmosphere because of convective mixing of deep waters rich in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). We calculated pH in winter mixed layer from DIC and total alkalinity (TA), and found that it decreased at the rate of −0.0011 ± 0.0004 yr−1 from 1997 to 2011. This decrease rate is slower than that expected under the condition of seawater/atmosphere equilibration, and it is also slower than the rate in the subtropical regions (−0.002 yr−1). The slow rate is caused by a reduction of CO2 emission in winter due to an increase in TA. Below the mixed layer, the calcite saturation horizon (~ 185 m depth) shoaled at the rate of 2.9 ± 0.9 m yr−1 as the result of the declining CO32− concentration (−0.03 ± 0.01 μmol kg−1 yr−1). Between 200 m and 300 m depth, pH decline during the study period (−0.0051 ± 0.0010 yr−1) was larger than ever reported in the open North Pacific. This enhanced acidification rate below the calcite saturation horizon reflected not only the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 but also the increase in the decomposition of organic matter evaluated from the increase in AOU, which suggests that the dissolution of CaCO3 particles increased.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kewat Sanjay Kumar ◽  

Mechanisms governing carbon stabilization in soils have received a great deal of attention in recent years due to their relevance in the global carbon cycle. Two thirds of the global terrestrial organic C stocks in ecosystems are stored in below ground components as terrestrial carbon pools in soils. Furthermore, mean residence time of soil organic carbon pools have slowest turnover rates in terrestrial ecosystems and thus there is vast potential to sequester atmospheric CO2 in soil ecosystems. Depending upon soil management practices it can be served as source or sink for atmospheric CO2. Sustainable management systems and practices such as conservation agriculture, agroforestry and application of biochar are emerging and promising tools for soil carbon sequestration. Increasing soil carbon storage in a system simultaneously improves the soil health by increase in infiltration rate, soil biota and fertility, nutrient cycling and decrease in soil erosion process, soil compaction and C emissions. Henceforth, it is vital to scientifically explore the mechanisms governing C flux in soils which is poorly understood in different ecosystems under anthropogenic interventions making soil as a potential sink for atmospheric CO2 to mitigate climate change. Henceforth, present paper aims to review basic mechanism governing carbon stabilization in soils and new practices and technological developments in agricultural and forest sciences for C sequestration in terrestrial soil ecosystems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Zhao ◽  
Victor H. Rivera-Monroy ◽  
Luis M. Farfán ◽  
Henry Briceño ◽  
Edward Castañeda-Moya ◽  
...  

AbstractMangroves are the most blue-carbon rich coastal wetlands contributing to the reduction of atmospheric CO2 through photosynthesis (sequestration) and high soil organic carbon (C) storage. Globally, mangroves are increasingly impacted by human and natural disturbances under climate warming, including pervasive pulsing tropical cyclones. However, there is limited information assessing cyclone’s functional role in regulating wetlands carbon cycling from annual to decadal scales. Here we show how cyclones with a wide range of integrated kinetic energy (IKE) impact C fluxes in the Everglades, a neotropical region with high cyclone landing frequency. Using long-term mangrove Net Primary Productivity (Litterfall, NPPL) data (2001–2018), we estimated cyclone-induced litterfall particulate organic C (litter-POC) export from mangroves to estuarine waters. Our analysis revealed that this lateral litter-POC flux (71–205 g C m−2 year−1)—currently unaccounted in global C budgets—is similar to C burial rates (69–157 g C m−2 year−1) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC, 61–229 g C m−2 year−1) export. We proposed a statistical model (PULITER) between IKE-based pulse index and NPPL to determine cyclone’s impact on mangrove role as C sink or source. Including the cyclone’s functional role in regulating mangrove C fluxes is critical to developing local and regional climate change mitigation plans.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 827-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. de Boer ◽  
A. J. Watson ◽  
N. R. Edwards ◽  
K. I. C. Oliver

Abstract. The canonical question of which physical, chemical or biological mechanisms were responsible for oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2 during the last glacial is yet unanswered. Insight from paleo-proxies has led to a multitude of hypotheses but none so far have been convincingly supported in three dimensional numerical modelling experiments. The processes that influence the CO2 uptake and export production are inter-related and too complex to solve conceptually while complex numerical models are time consuming and expensive to run which severely limits the combinations of mechanisms that can be explored. Instead, an intermediate inverse box model approach of the soft tissue pump is used here in which the whole parameter space is explored. The glacial circulation and biological production states are derived from these using proxies of glacial export production and the need to draw down CO2 into the ocean. We find that circulation patterns which explain glacial observations include reduced Antarctic Bottom Water formation and high latitude upwelling and mixing of deep water and to a lesser extent reduced equatorial upwelling. The proposed mechanism of CO2 uptake by an increase of eddies in the Southern Ocean, leading to a reduced residual circulation, is not supported. Regarding biological mechanisms, an increase in the nutrient utilization in either the equatorial regions or the northern polar latitudes can reduce atmospheric CO2 and satisfy proxies of glacial export production. Consistent with previous studies, CO2 is drawn down more easily through increased productivity in the Antarctic region than the sub-Antarctic, but that violates observations of lower export production there. The glacial states are more sensitive to changes in the circulation and less sensitive to changes in nutrient utilization rates than the interglacial states.


Heliyon ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. e06420
Author(s):  
Caroline Azevedo Martins ◽  
Maria Conceição B dos Santos ◽  
Cassiano Felippe Gonçalves-de-Albuquerque ◽  
Hugo Caire Castro-Faria-Neto ◽  
Mauro Velho Castro-Faria ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 983-988 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Poberžnik ◽  
A. Leis ◽  
A. Lobnik

CO2 gas with a special isotopic signature (δ13C = −35.2‰ vs. VPDB) was used as a marker to evaluate the efficiency of a drinking water treatment method and the effect of an ultrasonic (US) stirrer. This treatment was developed to prevent precipitation and corrosion effects in water–supply systems. The research work was performed using a laboratory-scale pilot plant that was filled with tap water. The stable isotope analyses of δ13C-DIC (Dissolved Inorganic Carbon) in the water samples indicated that the maximum content of added CO2 gas in DIC was in the range of 35 to 45%. The use of the US stirrer during the entire experiment decreased the method's overall efficiency by 10%, due to degassing at a late stage of the experiment but accelerated the dissolution process in the early experimental stage.


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