Significant changes in water pCO2 caused by turbulence from waterfalls.

Abstract

tInland waters are sites of intense carbon processing, stocking and transport. We examined the influenceof waterfall-turbulence on CO2partial pressures (pCO2) before and after waterfalls in a tropical river.The results indicated a 51.4% decrease of pCO2from up (1375 ± 320 ppm) to downriver (655 ± 58 ppm),suggesting an unaccounted degassing promoted by waterfall-turbulence. This process needs to be betterunderstood in order to more accurately determine the role of freshwater environments in the globalcarbon balance.