Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
May 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999gecoa..63.1277r&link_type=abstract
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 63, Issue 9, pp.1277-1292
Mathematics
Logic
18
Scientific paper
This study focuses on the chemistry of the Seine river system, one of the major rivers in Europe, and constitutes the first geochemical investigation of both suspended and dissolved loads of this river. The Seine river drains a typical Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary basin: the Paris basin, constituted of limestones mixed or interbedded with terrigenous sediments derived from the paleoreliefs bordering the Mesozoic and Cenozoic seas. In the context of quantifying the global influence of carbonate and silicate weathering on atmospheric CO 2 consumption, the Seine river offers the possibility of examining weathering rates in a flat sedimentary environment, under temperate climatic conditions. One of the major problems associated with the Seine river, as with many temperate rivers, is pollution. We propose, in this paper, 2 approaches in order to correct the dissolved load of the Seine river for anthropogenic inputs and to calculate weathering rates of carbonates and silicates. The first uses the dissolved load of rivers and tries to allocate the different solutes to different sources. A mixing model, based on elemental ratios, is established and solved by an inversion technique. The second approach consists in using the suspended load geochemistry. Under steady state conditions, we show that the geochemistry of suspended sediments makes it possible to estimate the amount of solutes released during the chemical weathering of silicates, and thus to calculate weathering rates of silicates. The total dissolved load of the Seine river at Paris can be decomposed into 2% of solutes derived from natural atmospheric sources, 7% derived from anthropogenic atmospheric sources, 6% derived from agriculture, 3% derived from communal inputs, and 82% of solutes derived from rock weathering. During high floods, the contribution of atmospheric and agriculture inputs predominates. The weathering rate of carbonates is estimated to be 48 t/km 2 /yr (25 mm/1000 yr). Only 10% of carbonates are transported in a solid form, the rest being transported in solution. CO 2 consumption by carbonate weathering approaches 400 × 10 3 mol/km 2 /yr. In the Seine river at Paris, about 2-3 mg/l of dissolved cations are found to originate from the chemical weathering of silicates. By taking dissolved silica into accounts, the total dissolved load derived from silicate weathering is about 6-7 mg/l. This value is minimal because biological uptake of silica probably occur in the Seine river. The chemical weathering rate of aluminosilicates is estimated to be 2 t/km 2 /yr . The ratio of physical over chemical weathering of silicates range between 1 and 3 and the total (chemical and physical) erosion rates of sedimentary silicates are about 2-3 mm/kyr. The CO 2 consumption by silicate weathering 15-24 × 10 3 mol/km 2 /yr and is independent of dissolved silica concentration. Silicate consumption is thus 20 times less than carbonate consumption in the Paris basin. Compared to the neighboring granitic areas, the sedimentary region drained by the Seine river has 2 to 3 times lower CO 2 consumption rates. We attribute this difference to the cation-depleted nature of the Seine basin aluminosilicates, which are of sedimentary origin. At a world scale, the chemical denudation rates found for the Seine basin are very low and comparable to those given for tropical lowland rivers draining silicates, such as the rivers of the Congo and Amazon basins, in spite of huge climatic differences. We attribute this similarity to the low mechanical denudation that characterizes these two types of regions.
Allègre Claude J.
Gaillardet Jérôme
Roy Subinit
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