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Origin and cycling of riverine inorganic carbon in the Sava River watershed (Slovenia) inferred from major solutes and stable carbon isotopes

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Abstract

The Sava River and its tributaries in Slovenia represent waters strongly influenced by chemical weathering of limestone and dolomite. The carbon isotopic compositions of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and suspended organic carbon (POC) fractions as well as major solute concentrations yielded insights into the origin and fluxes of carbon in the upper Sava River system. The major solute composition was dominated by carbonic acid dissolution of calcite and dolomite. Waters were generally supersaturated with respect to calcite, and dissolved CO2 was about fivefold supersaturated relative to the atmosphere. The δ13C of DIC ranged from −13.5 to −3.3‰. Mass balances for riverine inorganic carbon suggest that carbonate dissolution contributes up to 26%, degradation of organic matter ∼17% and exchange with atmospheric CO2 up to 5%. The concentration and stable isotope diffusion models indicated that atmospheric exchange of CO2 predominates in streams draining impermeable shales and clays while in the carbonate-dominated watersheds dissolution of the Mesozoic carbonates predominates.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Mr. Stojan Žigon for technical support and assistance to Dale Austin for help with the graphic presentation in this manuscript. This research was conducted in the framework of the project L2-6458-792 funded by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) and within the EU 6th Framework Specific Targeted Research Project—SARIB (Sava River Basin: Sustainable Use, Management and Protection of Resources), Contract No. INCO-CT-2004-509160. The project was also financially supported by the National Science Foundation, USA (NSF-EAR#0208182). Special thanks are given to Stephen K. Hamilton for linguistic corrections.

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  1. Department of Environmental Science, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia

    Tjaša Kanduč & Nives Ogrinc

  2. Department of Geological Science, University of Michigan, 1018 C. C. Little Building, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1063, USA

    Kathryn Szramek & Lynn M. Walter

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  1. Tjaša Kanduč
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Correspondence to Nives Ogrinc.

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Kanduč, T., Szramek, K., Ogrinc, N. et al. Origin and cycling of riverine inorganic carbon in the Sava River watershed (Slovenia) inferred from major solutes and stable carbon isotopes. Biogeochemistry 86, 137–154 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-007-9149-4

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