Source to sink analysis of weathering fluxes in Lake Baikal and its watershed based on riverine fluxes, elemental lake budgets, REE patterns, and radiogenic (Nd, Sr) and 10Be/9Be isotopes

• Main Authors: Suhrhoff, Tim Jesper, Rickli, Jörg, Christl, Marcus, Vologina, Elena G., Pham, Viet, Belhadj, Moustafa, Sklyarov, Eugene V., Jeandel, Catherine, Vance, Derek
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2022
• Subjects: Lake Baikal; Weathering; Erosion; Denudation; Meteoric beryllium; Radiogenic isotopes; REE; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/533345; https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000533345

We present a detailed analysis of weathering fluxes at Lake Baikal, the largest lake in the world, using the major element, trace element and isotope geochemistry of major inflowing rivers, the lake itself, and its sediments. Our objective is to assess how lake records could be used to understand river-catchment-scale denudation and weathering processes. Total denudation rates at Lake Baikal, as obtained from meteoric 10Be/9Be, are an order of magnitude lower than the global average, at 16–35 t km−2 yr−1. Chemical weathering rates obtained from the riverine dissolved load and discharge are, on the other hand, in the same range as global values, at 6–29 t km−2 yr−1. Chemical weathering rates are higher in the north of the catchment than in the south, consistent with higher runoff in the north. In contrast, 10Be/9Be-derived denudation rates are higher in the south. We hypothesize that this pattern of variation may be due to the stabilizing effect of permafrost soils preventing erosion in the north. An inverse model shows that the Selenga River, Lake Baikal's major tributary, has a silicate weathering contribution to riverine dissolved cation fluxes of 42 mol%; this and other characteristics are representative of large rivers globally. Many trace elements have much lower concentrations in the lake than in inflowing rivers (Be (5%), Mn (3%), Fe (0.4%) and REE (1–2%)). We suggest, based on REE patterns and Mn, Fe-depth profiles in the lake, that this removal is the result of pH induced changes in dissolved-adsorbed partitioning at the river-lake interface, and the incorporation of trace elements into authigenic Fe-Mn (oxyhydr)oxide phases forming within the lake. Strontium is isotopically uniform within the lake, demonstrating that the whole lake mixes on a timescale shorter than its residence time (<330 years). Neodymium and Be, in contrast, show isotopic variability between the basins. While the Sr isotope budget of the lake is largely consistent with observed riverine Sr fluxes, an unradiogenic Nd source is ...