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Spatial and Seasonal Variation in Surface Water pCO2 in the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers on the Indian Subcontinent

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Abstract

Recent studies have remarked on the importance of direct CO2 release from river water into the atmosphere on the global carbon cycle over a short timescale. In this study, we investigated carbonate systems, including spatial and seasonal variations of pCO2, in three major Himalayan rivers in Bangladesh: the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers, and their potential importance. Although pCO2 is known to be low in the upper reaches of these rivers, owing to active chemical weathering, we observed pCO2 values higher than the atmospheric pCO2 level along their lower reaches, where deep soils have developed and where high air temperatures promote active soil respiration. By a simple mixing calculation, we found that seasonal variations in these river water carbonate systems are controlled by subsurface water flows. In the rainy season, most of the lowlands are inundated, and the contribution of subsurface flow to river water carbonate systems increases, resulting in higher pCO2 values. In future research, more detailed spatial and seasonal investigations are required to clarify the role of terrestrial ecosystems, including rivers and the CO2 flux to the atmosphere, in the global carbon cycle and to examine how that role will change under global warming.

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Acknowledgments

We express our appreciation to Dr. Hiroshi Ogawa, Ms. Yoko Fujimoto, Ms. Megumi Shinozuka (the University of Tokyo), and Dr. Masaya Yasuhara (AIST) for their support in analyses. We also thank Dr. Toshihiro Yoshimura (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology), Mr. Kengo Higashi and Mr. Daisaku Ishikawa (the University of Tokyo), Mr. Md. Nahid Nowsher, Mr. Sabbir Ahamed, and Mr. Mostafa Tarek (JUST) for their support in our sampling surveys. Dr. Harue Masuda (Osaka City University) provided constructive comments and advice. This study was partly supported by JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) to H. Kawahata (22224009) and Research Fellowships to T. Manaka, H. Ushie, and D. Araoka, and by a Sasagawa Scientific Research Grant to T. Manaka and H. Ushie.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute (AORI), the University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha 5-1-5, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8564, Japan

    Takuya Manaka, Hiroyuki Ushie, Souya Otani & Hodaka Kawahata

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, the University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Takuya Manaka, Hiroyuki Ushie, Souya Otani & Hodaka Kawahata

  3. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Geological Survey of Japan, Higashi 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8567, Japan

    Daisuke Araoka, Akihiko Inamura, Atsushi Suzuki & Hodaka Kawahata

  4. Department of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Jessore University of Science and Technology (JUST), Jessore, 7408, Bangladesh

    H. M. Zakir Hossain

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  1. Takuya Manaka
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Manaka, T., Ushie, H., Araoka, D. et al. Spatial and Seasonal Variation in Surface Water pCO2 in the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers on the Indian Subcontinent. Aquat Geochem 21, 437–458 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-015-9262-2

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