ENVIRONMENTAL DRIVERS OF GLOBAL RIVERINE ORGANIC CARBON AGE

Abstract:

The transport of terrestrial organic carbon (OC) to downstream systems via the fluvial network represents a “leakage” of terrestrial net primary production. The age of OC exported ranges from modern OC, derived from surficial soils and leaf litter, to ancient OC that had been stored for millennia on land. The age and ultimately the fate of this OC has ramifications for both the terrestrial carbon balance and the anthropogenic CO₂ budget. Consequently, it is critical to understand the environmental and landscape associated factors that influence the age of OC laterally transferred to aquatic systems. We compiled radiocarbon data for both dissolved OC (DOC) (n = 670) and particulate OC (POC) (n = 722) for both rivers and streams. Sampling locations (n = 382) and their associated watersheds (1x10^-2 km² to 4.7x10⁶ km²) encompassed a range from 38.7 ^oS to 74.9 ^oN. These radiocarbon values were paired with associated ancillary data, when available (OC concentration, δ¹³C), and subsequently combined with a spatial dataset developed in ArcGIS for corresponding watersheds. The spatial dataset contained a range of landscape parameters including mean elevation, relief, mean slope, and stream order as well as soil typology and land use. Δ¹⁴C_DOC ranged from -974 ‰ to +383 ‰ (mean = 3 ‰, standard deviation (s.d.) = 150 ‰) and Δ¹⁴C_POC ranged from -992 ‰ to +227 ‰ (mean = -234 ‰, s.d. = 253 ‰) demonstrating a trend of younger DOC relative to its particulate counterpart. Landscape characteristics were first analyzed for their influence on radiocarbon ages of DOC and POC at a global scale. The data were then aggregated by biome (n = 14) to assess the role of regional environmental characteristics (i.e. precipitation, temperature, soil organic carbon) on DOC and POC age. Models were derived to determine the principle drivers of the radiocarbon age of OC in streams and rivers, among the landscape and environmental characteristics, for each biome.