Significant Changes In Water Pco(2) Caused By Turbulence From Waterfalls

Inland waters are sites of intense carbon processing, stocking and transport. We examined the influence of waterfall-turbulence on CO2 partial pressures (pCO(2)) before and after waterfalls in a tropical river. The results indicated a 51.4% decrease of pCO(2) from up (1375 +/- 320 ppm) to downriver (655 +/- 58 ppm), suggesting an unaccounted degassing promoted by waterfall-turbulence. This process needs to be better understood in order to more accurately determine the role of freshwater environments in the global carbon balance. (C) 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.