Longitudinal patterns of organic carbon storage in mountainous river networks

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

Rivers play an important role in the global carbon cycle that is not fully understood. This project will collect measurements of a form of carbon found in rivers to better understand how its storage varies across diverse biomes and geographic settings, river networks, and land-use histories. This information may improve predictions of the contribution of rivers to CO2 emissions and large scale carbon budgets. The project team will engage resource managers of the USDA Forest Service to inform their decision making, participate in the science learning network and seminar series of Olympic National Park, develop a website to disseminate research outcomes, train a graduate student, develop online, in-class, and public lectures on rivers, and develop educational materials in collaboration with a local 5th grade teacher that address the State of Colorado's common core standards for geomorphology and climate change. This project aims to quantify hypothesized differences in riverine organic carbon (OC) storage as functions of position within the river drainage network, climate and biome, and land-use. It will develop a geomorphic context for understanding watershed-scale OC dynamics that could inform future estimates of OC budgets and CO2 emissions from land. The primary objectives are to quantitatively assess (1) downstream patterns of OC storage in floodplain sediment and downed wood within mountainous river networks draining up to about 400 km2, (2) compare the OC dynamics of disparate mountain river basins to assess the sensitivity of mountain river basins to potential changes in OC storage that could affect global climate, and (3) compare magnitudes of OC storage between otherwise similar mountainous river networks that differ with respect to land use. A fourth objective is to estimate age of OC in river corridors.