Cited by 621Soil erosion and sediment transportGeochemistry and Elemental AnalysisMarine and coastal ecosystems

Global carbon export from the terrestrial biosphere controlled by erosion

Galy, Valier, Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard, Eglinton, Timothy·2015·Nature

Abstract

Riverine export of particulate organic carbon (POC) to the ocean affects the atmospheric carbon inventory over a broad range of timescales. On geological timescales, the balance between sequestration of POC from the terrestrial biosphere and oxidation of rock-derived (petrogenic) organic carbon sets the magnitude of the atmospheric carbon and oxygen reservoirs. Over shorter timescales, variations in the rate of exchange between carbon reservoirs, such as soils and marine sediments, also modulate atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The respective fluxes of biospheric and petrogenic organic carbon are poorly constrained, however, and mechanisms controlling POC export have remained elusive, limiting our ability to predict POC fluxes quantitatively as a result of climatic or tectonic changes. Here we estimate biospheric and petrogenic POC fluxes for a suite of river systems representative of the natural variability in catchment properties. We show that export yields of both biospheric and petrogenic POC are positively related to the yield of suspended sediment, revealing that POC export is mostly controlled by physical erosion. Using a global compilation of gauged suspended sediment flux, we derive separate estimates of global biospheric and petrogenic POC fluxes of 157(+74)(-50) and 43(+61)(-25) megatonnes of carbon per year, respectively. We find that biospheric POC export is primarily controlled by the capacity of rivers to mobilize and transport POC, and is largely insensitive to the magnitude of terrestrial primary production. Globally, physical erosion rates affect the rate of biospheric POC burial in marine sediments more strongly than carbon sequestration through silicate weathering. We conclude that burial of biospheric POC in marine sediments becomes the dominant long-term atmospheric carbon dioxide sink under enhanced physical erosion.

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Crossref · 10.1038/nature14400

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Authors
Galy, V., Peucker-Ehrenbrink, B., & Eglinton, T.
Affiliations
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US)
  • ETH Zurich (CH)
Corresponding author
Galy, Valier
Venue
Nature
Published
2015-05
Volume
521
Issue
7551
Pages
204-207
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W1603770066
Cited by
621
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 62 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 76 · 2023: 68 · 2022: 75 · 2021: 68 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 14
FWCI
58.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
  • Division of Materials Research
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
Keywords
particulate organic carbon export, physical erosion, terrestrial biosphere, petrogenic organic carbon, suspended sediment flux, riverine carbon flux, silicate weathering, tectonic forcing, radiative forcing, global carbon budget, catchment characteristics, river systems, carbon sequestration, oxygen reservoir
MeSH terms
Atmosphere, Carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen, Soil, Ecosystem, Geologic Sediments, Rivers, Particulate Matter, Carbon Cycle, Carbon Sequestration

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