Articles | Volume 5, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-711-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-711-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
03 Nov 2017
Research article |
| 03 Nov 2017
Model predictions of long-lived storage of organic carbon in river deposits
Mark A. Torres
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Ajay B. Limaye
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Vamsi Ganti
Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, London, England
Michael P. Lamb
Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
A. Joshua West
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Woodward W. Fischer
Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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Emily I. Burt, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Roxanne M. Cruz-de Hoyos, Adan Julian Ccahuana Quispe, and A. Joshua West
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4173–4186, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4173-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4173-2023, 2023
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When it rains, water remains in the ground for variable amounts of time before it is taken up by plants or becomes streamflow. Understanding how long water stays in the ground before it is taken up by plants or becomes streamflow helps predict what will happen to the water cycle in future climates. Some studies suggest that plants take up water that has been in the ground for a long time; in contrast, we find that plants take up a significant amount of recent rain.
Emily I. Burt, Daxs Herson Coayla Rimachi, Adan Julian Ccahuana Quispe, Abra Atwood, and A. Joshua West
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2883–2898, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2883-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2883-2023, 2023
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Mountains store and release water, serving as water towers for downstream regions and affecting global sediment and carbon fluxes. We use stream and rain chemistry to calculate how much streamflow comes from recent rainfall across seven sites in the Andes mountains and the nearby Amazon lowlands. We find that the type of rock and the intensity of rainfall control water retention and release, challenging assumptions that mountain topography exerts the primary effect on watershed hydrology.
Sam Y. J. Huang, Steven Y. J. Lai, Ajay B. Limaye, Brady Z. Foreman, and Chris Paola
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 615–632, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-615-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-615-2023, 2023
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We use experiments and a model to study the effects of confinement width and the inflow-to-sediment discharge ratio on the evolution of submarine braided channels. We find that confinement width controls most of the morphological changes. These trends are consistent for submarine braided channels both with and without confinement width effects and similar to fluvial braided rivers. Furthermore, we built a model that can simulate the flow bifurcation and confluence of submarine braided channels.
Maxwell P. Dahlquist and A. Joshua West
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 705–722, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-705-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-705-2022, 2022
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Himalayan rivers are full of giant boulders that rarely move except during glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), which therefore must be important drivers of erosion in the Himalayas. GLOFs are rare, so little is known about their long-term erosional impact. We found that rivers in Nepal have channel geometry that, compared with markers of upstream glaciation, confirm GLOFs as a major control on erosion. This previously unrecognized control should be accounted for in landscape evolution studies.
Madison M. Douglas, Gen K. Li, Woodward W. Fischer, Joel C. Rowland, Preston C. Kemeny, A. Joshua West, Jon Schwenk, Anastasia P. Piliouras, Austin J. Chadwick, and Michael P. Lamb
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 421–435, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-421-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-421-2022, 2022
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Arctic rivers erode into permafrost and mobilize organic carbon, which can react to form greenhouse gasses or be re-buried in floodplain deposits. We collected samples on a permafrost floodplain in Alaska to determine if more carbon is eroded or deposited by river meandering. The floodplain contained a mixture of young carbon fixed by the biosphere and old, re-deposited carbon. Thus, sediment storage may allow Arctic river floodplains to retain aged organic carbon even when permafrost thaws.
Florian Hofmann, Emily H. G. Cooperdock, A. Joshua West, Dominic Hildebrandt, Kathrin Strößner, and Kenneth A. Farley
Geochronology, 3, 395–414, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-395-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-395-2021, 2021
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We use microCT scanning to improve the quality of 3He exposure ages measured in detrital magnetite. We show that the presence of inclusions can significantly increase the measured amount of 3He and thereby the exposure age. By prescreening magnetite with microCT and analyzing only inclusion-free grains, this problem can be avoided. We also calibrate the cosmogenic 3He production rate in magnetite relative to 10Be in quartz, which can be used for similar studies in the future.
Jan de Leeuw, Michael P. Lamb, Gary Parker, Andrew J. Moodie, Daniel Haught, Jeremy G. Venditti, and Jeffrey A. Nittrouer
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 485–504, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-485-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-485-2020, 2020
Fiona J. Clubb, Simon M. Mudd, David T. Milodowski, Declan A. Valters, Louise J. Slater, Martin D. Hurst, and Ajay B. Limaye
Earth Surf. Dynam., 5, 369–385, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-369-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-369-2017, 2017
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Floodplains and fluvial terraces can provide information about current and past river systems, helping to reveal how channels respond to changes in both climate and tectonics. We present a new method of identifying these features objectively from digital elevation models by analysing their slope and elevation compared to the modern river. We test our method in eight field sites, and find that it provides rapid and reliable extraction of floodplains and terraces across a range of landscapes.
K. E. Clark, A. J. West, R. G. Hilton, G. P. Asner, C. A. Quesada, M. R. Silman, S. S. Saatchi, W. Farfan-Rios, R. E. Martin, A. B. Horwath, K. Halladay, M. New, and Y. Malhi
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 47–70, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-47-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-47-2016, 2016
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The key findings of this paper are that landslides in the eastern Andes of Peru in the Kosñipata Valley rapidly turn over the landscape in ~1320 years, with a rate of 0.076% yr-1. Additionally, landslides were concentrated at lower elevations, due to an intense storm in 2010 accounting for ~1/4 of the total landslide area over the 25-year remote sensing study. Valley-wide carbon stocks were determined, and we estimate that 26 tC km-2 yr-1 of soil and biomass are stripped by landslides.
P. A. Baker, S. C. Fritz, C. G. Silva, C. A. Rigsby, M. L. Absy, R. P. Almeida, M. Caputo, C. M. Chiessi, F. W. Cruz, C. W. Dick, S. J. Feakins, J. Figueiredo, K. H. Freeman, C. Hoorn, C. Jaramillo, A. K. Kern, E. M. Latrubesse, M. P. Ledru, A. Marzoli, A. Myrbo, A. Noren, W. E. Piller, M. I. F. Ramos, C. C. Ribas, R. Trnadade, A. J. West, I. Wahnfried, and D. A. Willard
Sci. Dril., 20, 41–49, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-20-41-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-20-41-2015, 2015
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We report on a planned Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP) that will continuously sample Late Cretaceous to modern sediment in a transect along the equatorial Amazon of Brazil, from the Andean foreland to the Atlantic Ocean. The TADP will document the evolution of the Neotropical forest and will link biotic diversification to changes in the physical environment, including climate, tectonism, and landscape. We will also sample the ca. 200Ma basaltic sills that underlie much of the Amazon.
A. J. West, M. Arnold, G. AumaÎtre, D. L. Bourlès, K. Keddadouche, M. Bickle, and T. Ojha
Earth Surf. Dynam., 3, 363–387, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-3-363-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-3-363-2015, 2015
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Soils are vital resources put at risk by erosional loss. Evaluating agricultural effects on erosion is complicated where natural rates are high, as in central Nepal. This study infers erosion rates over thousands of years and compares these rates to those observed over the short term. Results suggest that effects of agriculture are small and that most erosion takes place through natural processes. However, present-day erosion on degraded lands is significantly faster than over the long term.
K. E. Clark, M. A. Torres, A. J. West, R. G. Hilton, M. New, A. B. Horwath, J. B. Fisher, J. M. Rapp, A. Robles Caceres, and Y. Malhi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 5377–5397, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-5377-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-5377-2014, 2014
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R. G. Hilton, A. Galy, A. J. West, N. Hovius, and G. G. Roberts
Biogeosciences, 10, 1693–1705, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-1693-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-1693-2013, 2013
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Chemical: Carbon cycling
Geomorphic regulation of floodplain soil organic carbon concentration in watersheds of the Rocky and Cascade Mountains, USA
Modelling a century of soil redistribution processes and carbon delivery from small watersheds using a multi-class sediment transport model
Preservation of terrestrial organic carbon in marine sediments offshore Taiwan: mountain building and atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration
Daniel N. Scott and Ellen E. Wohl
Earth Surf. Dynam., 6, 1101–1114, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-1101-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-1101-2018, 2018
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Mountain rivers play an important role in storing organic carbon (OC) on the landscape. We use field sampling to quantify OC concentrations in floodplain soils of two disparate mountain river basins. We find that local valley geometry and hydrology are dominant controls on OC concentration. This implies that OC concentration cannot be predicted using consistent downstream trends. Instead, geomorphology must be accounted for to understand the spatial distribution of OC in river basins.
Florian Wilken, Peter Fiener, and Kristof Van Oost
Earth Surf. Dynam., 5, 113–124, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-113-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-5-113-2017, 2017
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This study presents a model that accounts for preferential erosion and transport of sediment and soil organic carbon in agricultural landscapes. We applied the model to a small catchment in Belgium for a period of 100 years. After a thorough model evaluation, these simulations shows that sediment and carbon export are highly episodic and that the temporal variability is largely influenced by selective erosion and deposition.
S.-J. Kao, R. G. Hilton, K. Selvaraj, M. Dai, F. Zehetner, J.-C. Huang, S.-C. Hsu, R. Sparkes, J. T. Liu, T.-Y. Lee, J.-Y. T. Yang, A. Galy, X. Xu, and N. Hovius
Earth Surf. Dynam., 2, 127–139, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-127-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-127-2014, 2014
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Short summary
In this paper, we describe a new model for the storage times of sediments and organic carbon (OC) in river deposits. Comparisons between our model predictions and field data show good agreement, which suggests that our model accurately captures the relevant time and space scales. An implication of our model is that OC is stored in river deposits over geologic timescales and, as a result, we propose that fluvial storage plays a larger role in the carbon cycle than previously recognized.
In this paper, we describe a new model for the storage times of sediments and organic carbon...
