The Influence of Allogenic Water and Sulfuric Acid to Karst Carbon Sink in Karst Subterranean River in Southern Hu’nan

Evaluating the impact of allogenic water and sulfuric acid on karst carbon sink not only helps to improve the accurate calculation of soil CO₂ uptake by rock weathering, but also obtains a complete understanding of the global carbon cycle. Groundwater samples were collected from four karst subterranean rivers watershed within different lithology strata in Wushui Basin, upstream of Beijiang Basin, Hunan Province, for revealing the important impact of silicate weathering on hydrochemistry of groundwater. To estimate the contribution of soil CO₂ uptake by silicate weathering to CO₂ uptake by rock weathering, the Galy model was employed in this article. The important impact of sulfuric acid on CO₂ uptake by carbonate weathering resulting from the substitution of carbonic acid by protons from sulfuric acid was investigated. Our results showed that the concentration of Na⁺, K⁺ and SiO₂ in L01,L02 subterranean river with silicate strata in watershed were higher than that in L03,L04 subterranean river without silicate strata in watershed, which implied that the contribution of silicate weathering to Na⁺,K⁺ and SiO₂ was very important in watershed within silicate strata . The changeable equivalent ratio between (Ca²⁺+Mg²⁺) and HCO₃^- was 1.05 to 1.15, and the value of Ca²⁺+Mg²⁺]/HCO₃^-+SO₄^2-] was 0.99 to 1.08. The concentrations of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ exceeded the equivalent concentrations of HC₃^-, and the excess of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺cations were compensated by SO₄^2-, which suggested that sulfuric acid has an important influence on carbonate dissolution. The contribution of soil CO₂uptake by silicate weathering to CO₂ consumption in L01 and L02 subterranean river were 3.36% and 2.22%, respectively, whereas the contribution in L03, L04 subterranean river were less than 0.50%, indicating that the contribution of soil CO₂ uptake by silicate weathering was important in the subterranean river basin within silicate strata. Due to the contributions made by sulfuric acid, the CO₂ consumption in four subterranean rivers decreased by 4.84%, 4.52%, 6.20%, 9.36%, respectively.