Dissolved and total organic and inorganic carbon in some British rivers |
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| Authors: | Andy Baker Sue Cumberland Naomi Hudson |
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| Institution: | School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT
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| Abstract: | Rivers transport both organic and inorganic carbon from their sources to the sea. Results of ~800 organic and inorganic analyses from various British rivers of contrasting size and land use are presented here: (1) the headwater River Tern, a rural river of 852 km2 catchment; (2) the Ouseburn, a small urban 55 km2 catchment; (3) the River Tyne, a larger river system of ~3000 km2 catchment; (4) a spatial survey from 205 sample sites on ~60 rivers from SW England. We found that, with the exception of peat-rich headwaters, DIC concentration is always greater than DOC. DIC is primarily in the form HCO3 ? , with DIC concentrations highest in highly urbanised catchments, typically greater than those observed in catchments with carbonate bedrock, demonstrating a significant and previously unrecognised anthropogenic inorganic carbon input to urban rivers. |
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| Keywords: | organic carbon inorganic carbon rivers land use British Isles |
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