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Influence of a reservoir chain on the transport of riverine inorganic carbon in the karst area

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Abstract

The Wujiang River is an important tributary to the Changjiang River that has been intensively impounded for hydropower exploitation. To understand the potential impact of reservoir construction on the riverine inorganic carbon transport, seasonal longitudinal sampling was conducted in four reservoirs Hongjiadu (HJD), Dongfeng (DF), Suofengying (SFY) and Wujiangdu (WJD) along the Wujiang River from April 2006 to January 2007. Results indicated that damming the river induced an obvious discontinuity of water chemistry in the warmer seasons. δ 13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) ranged from −3 to −11.4 ‰, likely as the results of photosynthesis, respiration and carbonate weathering. During periods of thermal stratification, the addition of CO2 from respiration to hypolimnion and the deep water release for hydropower generation led to higher pCO2 downstream, as well as 13C depletion in DIC and undersaturated to calcite. An estimate of DIC budget indicated that only DF reservoir was the sink for DIC while reservoirs HJD, SFY and WJD were the sources for DIC. However, when the retained water was taken into account, for the reason of water storage occurring mainly in HJD and DF, all reservoirs became the sources for DIC with exporting rates of 26.68, 7.97, 6.22 and 11.80 % for HJD, DF, SFY and WJD, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Binhe Gu and two reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions on this manuscript. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41273128 and 41021062) and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (12YZ017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Fushun Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 46 Guanshui Road, Guiyang, 550002, Guizhou, China

    Cong-Qiang Liu & Baoli Wang

  3. Chongqing Appraisal Center of Environment and Engineering, Chongqing, 400021, China

    Yuanxiu Yu

  4. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Xiaolong Liu

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  1. Fushun Wang
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  2. Cong-Qiang Liu
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  3. Baoli Wang
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  4. Yuanxiu Yu
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  5. Xiaolong Liu
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Correspondence to Baoli Wang.

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Wang, F., Liu, CQ., Wang, B. et al. Influence of a reservoir chain on the transport of riverine inorganic carbon in the karst area. Environ Earth Sci 72, 1465–1477 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3051-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3051-x

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