Abstract
The contributions of cation exchange and mineral weathering to the neutralization of acidity in the Jingahata watershed in central Japan were estimated through a laboratory weathering experiment and runoff chemistry measurements. The laboratory experiment was conducted in a stirred-flow reactor for a whole soil sample collected from the C horizon in the watershed. The concentration ratios of base cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and Na+) to Si (BC/Si) released during the steady-state stage of the laboratory experiment were in good agreement with the ratios of the net flux of base cations to the flux of Si in the streamwater (BC N ET/Si L).This result suggests that the acidity in the watershed is neutralized primarily by mineral weathering without causing a net loss of base cations from exchange sites.
The alkalinity/acidity balance estimated for the watershed shows that the total weathering rate of base cations is approximately 3.26 keq ha−1 yr−1. Weathering of plagioclase (An41) contributes 83% of the total weathering rate. The dominant acidity source is CO2 released within the soil horizons, accounting for roughly 85% of the total acidity flux (3.20 keq ha−1 yr−1). This high internal production of acidity suppresses the relative importance of atmospheric acidity inputs (0.3 keq ha−1 yr−1).
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Sato, K., Takahashi, A. Acidity neutralization mechanism in a forested watershed in Central Japan. Water Air Soil Pollut 88, 313–329 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00294108
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00294108