Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments
High elevation alpine ecosystems—the ‘water towers of the world’—provide water for human populations around the globe. Active geomorphic features such as glaciers and permafrost leave alpine ecosystems susceptible to changes in climate which could also lead to changing biogeochemistry and water qual...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c https://doaj.org/article/865d87417ca345169eb100e36819b406 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:865d87417ca345169eb100e36819b406 2023-09-05T13:22:34+02:00 Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments John T Crawford Eve-Lyn S Hinckley M Iggy Litaor Janice Brahney Jason C Neff 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c https://doaj.org/article/865d87417ca345169eb100e36819b406 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/865d87417ca345169eb100e36819b406 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 14, Iss 12, p 124092 (2019) sulfur cations calcium weathering climate mountains Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c 2023-08-13T00:37:11Z High elevation alpine ecosystems—the ‘water towers of the world’—provide water for human populations around the globe. Active geomorphic features such as glaciers and permafrost leave alpine ecosystems susceptible to changes in climate which could also lead to changing biogeochemistry and water quality. Here, we synthesize recent changes in high-elevation stream chemistry from multiple sites that demonstrate a consistent and widespread pattern of increasing sulfate and base cation concentrations or fluxes. This trend has occurred over the past 30 years and is consistent across multiple sites in the Rocky Mountains of the United States, western Canada, the European Alps, the Icelandic Shield, and the Himalayas in Asia. To better understand these recent changes and to examine the potential causes of increased sulfur and base cation concentrations in surface waters, we present a synthesis of global records as well as a high resolution 33 year record of atmospheric deposition and river export data from a long-term ecological research site in Colorado, USA. We evaluate which factors may be driving global shifts in stream chemistry including atmospheric deposition trends and broad climatic patterns. Our analysis suggests that recent changes in climate may be stimulating changes to hydrology and/or geomorphic processes, which in turn lead to accelerated weathering of bedrock. This cascade of effects has broad implications for the chemistry and quality of important surface water resources. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Environmental Research Letters 14 12 124092 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
sulfur cations calcium weathering climate mountains Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
sulfur cations calcium weathering climate mountains Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 John T Crawford Eve-Lyn S Hinckley M Iggy Litaor Janice Brahney Jason C Neff Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments |
topic_facet |
sulfur cations calcium weathering climate mountains Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
High elevation alpine ecosystems—the ‘water towers of the world’—provide water for human populations around the globe. Active geomorphic features such as glaciers and permafrost leave alpine ecosystems susceptible to changes in climate which could also lead to changing biogeochemistry and water quality. Here, we synthesize recent changes in high-elevation stream chemistry from multiple sites that demonstrate a consistent and widespread pattern of increasing sulfate and base cation concentrations or fluxes. This trend has occurred over the past 30 years and is consistent across multiple sites in the Rocky Mountains of the United States, western Canada, the European Alps, the Icelandic Shield, and the Himalayas in Asia. To better understand these recent changes and to examine the potential causes of increased sulfur and base cation concentrations in surface waters, we present a synthesis of global records as well as a high resolution 33 year record of atmospheric deposition and river export data from a long-term ecological research site in Colorado, USA. We evaluate which factors may be driving global shifts in stream chemistry including atmospheric deposition trends and broad climatic patterns. Our analysis suggests that recent changes in climate may be stimulating changes to hydrology and/or geomorphic processes, which in turn lead to accelerated weathering of bedrock. This cascade of effects has broad implications for the chemistry and quality of important surface water resources. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
John T Crawford Eve-Lyn S Hinckley M Iggy Litaor Janice Brahney Jason C Neff |
author_facet |
John T Crawford Eve-Lyn S Hinckley M Iggy Litaor Janice Brahney Jason C Neff |
author_sort |
John T Crawford |
title |
Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments |
title_short |
Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments |
title_full |
Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments |
title_fullStr |
Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments |
title_sort |
evidence for accelerated weathering and sulfate export in high alpine environments |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c https://doaj.org/article/865d87417ca345169eb100e36819b406 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 14, Iss 12, p 124092 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/865d87417ca345169eb100e36819b406 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5d9c |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
124092 |
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1776203071724978176 |