『Abstract
The Narmada River in India is the largest west-flowing river
into the Arabian Sea, draining through the Deccan Traps, one of
the largest flood basalt provinces in the world. The fluvial geochemical
characteristics and chemical weathering rates (CWR) for the mainstream
and its major tributaries were determined using a composite dataset,
which includes four phases of seasonal field (spot) samples (during
2003 and 2004) and a decade-long (1880-2000) fornight time series
(multiannual) data. Here, we demonstrate the influence of minor
lithologies (carbonates and saline-alkaline soils) on basaltic
signature, as reflected in sudden increases of Ca2+-Mg2+
and Na+ contents at many locations along the mainstream
and in tributaries. Both spot and multiannual data corrected for
non-geological contributions were used to calculate the CWR. The
CWR for spot samples (CEWRspot) vary between
25 and 63 ton km-2 year-1, showing a reasonable
correspondence with the CWR estimated for multiannual data (CWRmulti) at most study locations. The weathering
rates of silicate (SilWR), carbonate (CarbWR) and evaporite (Sal-AlkWR)
have contributed 〜38-58, 28-45 and 8-23%, respectively to the
CWRspot at different locations. The estimated
SilWR (11-36 ton km-2 year-1) for the Narmada
basin indicates that the previous studies on the North Deccan
Rivers (Narmada-Tapti-Godavari) overestimated the silicate weathering
rates and associated CO2 consumption rates.
The average annual CO2 drawdown via silicate
weathering calculated for the Narmada basin is 〜0.032×1012
moles year-1, suggesting that chemical weathering of
the entire Deccan Trap basalts consumes approximately 2% (〜0.24×1012
moles) of the annual global CO2 drawdown.
The present study also evaluates the influence of meteorological
parameters (runoff and temperature) and physical weathering rates
(PWR) in controlling the CWR at annual scale across the basin.
The CWR and the SilWR show significant correlation with runoff
and PWR. On the basis of observed wide temporal variations in
the CWR and their close association with runoff, temperature and
physical erosion, we propose that the CWR in the Narmada basin
strongly depend on meteorological variability. at most locations,
the total denudation rates (TDR) are dominated by physical erosion,
whereas chemical weathering constitutes only a small part (<10%).
Thus, the CWR to PWR ratio for the Narmada basin can be compared
with high relief small river watersheds of Taiwan and New Zealand
(1-5%) and large Himalayan Rivers such as the Brahmaputra and
the Ganges (8-9%).』
1. Introduction
2. Study area and sampling locations
3. Sampling and methodology
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Major ion chemistry
4.2. Spatial and interannual variability
4.3. Downstream evolution and source of major ions
4.4. Estimation of chemical weathering rates (CWR)
4.4.1. Silicate weathering rates (SilWE)
4.4.2. Carbonate weathering rates (CarbWR)
4.4.3. Saline-alkaline weathering rates (Sal-AlkWR)
4.4.4. Uncertainties in CWR, SilWR, CarbWR and Sal-AlkWR estimations
4.4.5. CO2 consumption rates
4.5. Controlling parameters
4.5.1. Role of climatic parameters
4.5.1.1. Runoff
4.5.1.2. Temperature (T)
4.5.2. Physical weathering
4.6. Total denudation rate and dominance of physical weathering
5. Concluding remarks
Acknowledgements
Appendix A. Supplementary data
References