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Alkalinity export to the ocean is a major carbon sequestration mechanism in a macrotidal saltmarsh1.55 MB
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Journal article
Alkalinity export to the ocean is a major carbon sequestration mechanism in a macrotidal saltmarsh
Limnology and Oceanography, pp.1-13
13/06/2022
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Abstract
Saltmarshes are a blue carbon ecosystem accumulating large quantities of organic carbon in sediments. Some of this carbon can be transformed into dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and methane (CH4)that may eventually be exported to the ocean or atmosphere. Although extensive studies have quantified specific components of the carbon budget such as carbon burial, limited attention has been given to pore-water-derived carbon and total alkalinity (TA) exports to the ocean. Here, we quantified lateral exports to the ocean (out welling) of 202160 and7875 mmol m2d1of DIC and TA, respectively. The TA : DIC concentration ratio in the creek waters was1,implying TA production from anaerobic mineralization in sediments. The lateral TA exports were comparable to the local (9448 mmol m2d1) and national (50 mmol m2d1) organic carbon burial. High TA exports could locally increase the ocean buffering capacity and contribute bicarbonate to the coastal ocean, acting as along-term carbon storage. Pore water traced by radon contributed 28–37% and 58–69% of DIC and TA exports. Separating the two major DIC components (i.e., CO2emissions and alkalinity exports) is essential to resolve the carbon sequestration potential from saltmarshes. Here, dissolved CO2emissions to the atmosphere accounted for3–5% of total DIC out welling. CH4emissions played a minor role offsetting around 0.3 to 6% of the carbon sequestration. Overall, we demonstrate that alkalinity export into the ocean can be an overlooked carbon sequestration pathway in saltmarshes at rates comparable to carbon burial.
Details
- Title
- Alkalinity export to the ocean is a major carbon sequestration mechanism in a macrotidal saltmarsh
- Creators
- Yvonne Y.Y. Yau - Department of Marine Sciences University of Gothenburg Gothenburg SwedenPei Xin - Hohai UniversityXiaogang Chen - Westlake UniversityLucheng Zhan - Hohai UniversityMitchell Call - Southern Cross UniversityStephen R. Conrad - Southern Cross UniversityChristian J. Sanders - Faculty of Science and Engineering, National Marine Science Centre Southern Cross University Coffs Harbour New South Wales AustraliaLinwei Li - State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research East China Normal University Shanghai ChinaJinzhou Du - State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research East China Normal University Shanghai ChinaIsaac R. Santos - Department of Marine Sciences University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden, Faculty of Science and Engineering, National Marine Science Centre Southern Cross University Coffs Harbour New South Wales Australia
- Publication Details
- Limnology and Oceanography, pp.1-13
- Comment
- The authors thank Ceylena Holloway for alkalinity and carbon analysis. The authors thank the reviewers' comment to improve the manuscript.
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Grant note
- This project was partially funded by the Australian Research Council, Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20200020), and the Swedish Research Council (2020-00457).
- Identifiers
- 991013035772302368
- Copyright
- © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of theCreative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivsLicense, which permits use and dis-tribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, theuse is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; National Marine Science Centre; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article