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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Groundwater discharge and bank overtopping drive large carbon exports from Indian Sundarban mangroves
Science of the total environment, Vol.955, 176463
10/12/2024
PMID: 39332736
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Abstract
The Sundarbans represent the largest mangrove system on earth, covering >10,000 km2. These mangroves can export a vast amount of aquatic carbon that can be potentially sequestered for millennia. However, the mechanisms that drive these processes remain poorly constrained. Here, we estimate porewater-driven carbon exchange between the Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal using high-resolution time series and a radon groundwater mass balance approach spanning a neap-spring tidal cycle. Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) increased from neap to spring tides by 352 % up to a maximum of 65.6 cm d−1 largely driven by creek bank overtopping after the mid-tide. Exports of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon and alkalinity doubled between neap and spring, likely due to the ‘first flush’ of older porewater in the mangrove flats. Groundwater discharge was a significant driver of the net carbon export, contributing up to 86.7 % of DIC and 74.0 % of alkalinity during the spring tide while contributing a lower proportion of DOC (4 %–23 %). If these results are representative of the Sundarbans more broadly, carbon fluxes from the Sundarbans would be more than an order of magnitude higher than some of the world's largest rivers on an areal basis, highlighting the importance of Sundarbans mangroves to global oceanic carbon budgets.
Details
- Title
- Groundwater discharge and bank overtopping drive large carbon exports from Indian Sundarban mangroves
- Creators
- Douglas R. Tait (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityJames Z. Sippo (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityLuke C. Jeffrey (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityDamien T. Maher (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityAbhijit Mukherjee (Author) - Indian Institute of Technology KharagpurChristopher Ralph - Southern Cross UniversityKousik Das (Author) - SRM Institute of Science and Technology
- Publication Details
- Science of the total environment, Vol.955, 176463
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Identifiers
- 991013225712602368
- Copyright
- © 2024 Published by Elsevier B.V.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article