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Runoff-driven export of terrigenous particulate organic matter from a small mountainous river: sources, fluxes and comparisons among different rivers

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Abstract

The land-to-ocean export and subsequent preservation of terrestrial particulate organic carbon (POC) in oceans represents a major carbon sink in the global carbon cycle. Small mountainous rivers (SMRs) are hotspots of this process; however, how the sources and fluxes of POC change during rain events in low-gradient SMRs and how they compare with those in steep SMRs are unknown. Here, we combined the bulk properties and lignin phenols to trace changes in POC sources and fluxes in a low-gradient SMR (stream gradient: 0.6%) in southeastern China. Our results were further compared with other SMRs to understand the geomorphological influences on the POC export from SMRs. The results indicated that POC sources changed from aquatic organisms and deep soils during low-flow periods to surface soils and plant debris during high-flow periods. The lignin concentration showed a significant positive relationship with the runoff, suggesting that hydrology played an important role in exporting terrigenous POC in low-gradient SMRs. We further estimated that approximately 22%, 56% and 79% of annual water, POC and particulate lignin were exported during high-flow periods, respectively. Furthermore, we found that with increasing water discharge, the magnitude of the lignin increase was greater in SMRs with smaller stream gradients. Our results suggest that the export of terrigenous POC from low-gradient SMRs is driven by hydrology and is more sensitive to rain events than that in steep SMRs.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41706078, 91851209 and 41306073), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0900702), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 20720170075). Special thanks are given to Li Tian, Wenbin Zou, and Zhen Zhang for their help with the sampling and laboratory work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Jing Qiao, Hongyan Bao & Shuh-Ji Kao

  2. Laboratory of Marine Isotopic Technology and Environmental Risk Assessment, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resource, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Dekun Huang

  3. Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ocean University of China, Ministry of Education, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Da-Wei Li

  4. Department of Geography, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Tsung-Yu Lee

  5. Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jr-Chuan Huang

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  1. Jing Qiao
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Qiao, J., Bao, H., Huang, D. et al. Runoff-driven export of terrigenous particulate organic matter from a small mountainous river: sources, fluxes and comparisons among different rivers. Biogeochemistry 147, 71–86 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-019-00629-7

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