Journal article
Groundwater Carbon Exports Exceed Sediment Carbon Burial in a Salt Marsh
Estuaries and Coasts, pp.1-17
02/12/2021
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Salt marshes can sequester large amounts of carbon in sediments, but the relation between carbon storage and exportation remains poorly understood. Groundwater exchange can flush sediment carbon to surface waters and potentially reduce storage. In this study, we estimated groundwater fluxes and associated carbon fluxes using a radon (222Rn) mass balance and sediment carbon burial rates using lead (210Pb) in a pristine salt marsh (North Inlet, SC, USA). We used δ13C to trace carbon origins. We found that groundwater releases large amounts of carbon to the open ocean. These groundwater fluxes have the potential to export 7.2 ± 5.5 g m−2 of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), 0.2 ± 0.2 g m−2 of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and 0.7 ± 0.5 g m−2 of carbon dioxide (CO2) per day. The fluxes exceed the average surface water CO2 emissions (0.6 ± 0.2 g m−2 day−1) and the average sediment carbon burial rates (0.17 ± 0.09 g m−2 day−1). The δ13C results suggest that groundwater carbon originated from salt marsh soils, while the sediment carbon source is derived from salt marsh vegetation. We propose that the impact of salt marshes in carbon cycling depends not only on their capacity to bury carbon in sediments, but also on their high potential to export carbon to the ocean via groundwater pathways.
Details
- Title
- Groundwater Carbon Exports Exceed Sediment Carbon Burial in a Salt Marsh
- Creators
- Rogger E Correa - Southern Cross UniversityKai Xiao - Southern University of Science and TechnologyStephen R Conrad - Southern Cross UniversityPraktan D Wadnerkar - Southern Cross UniversityAlicia M Wilson - University of South CarolinaChristian J Sanders - Southern Cross UniversityIsaac R Santos - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Estuaries and Coasts, pp.1-17
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Grant note
- The Australian Research Council (FT170100327), Swedish Research Council (2020-00457) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41907162) provided funding for this project.
- Identifiers
- 991012988298102368
- Copyright
- © Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation 2021
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; National Marine Science Centre; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article