Catchment-scale carbon fluxes and processes in major rivers of northern Québec, Canada

Boreal rivers transport and process large amounts of organic and inorganic materials derived from their catchments, yet quantitative estimates and patterns of carbon (C) transport and emissions in these large rivers are scarce relative to those of high-latitude lakes and headwater streams. Here, we present the results of a large-scale survey of 23 major rivers in northern Québec sampled during the summer period of 2010, which aimed to determine the magnitude and spatial variability of different C species (carbon dioxide - CO₂, methane - CH₄, total carbon - TC, dissolved organic carbon - DOC and inorganic carbon - DIC), as well as to identify their main drivers. In addition, we constructed a first order mass balance of total riverine C emissions to the atmosphere (outgassing from the main river channel) and export to the ocean over summer. All rivers were supersaturated in pCO₂ and pCH₄ (partial pressure of CO₂ and CH₄), and the resulting fluxes varied widely among rivers, especially the CH₄. There was a positive relationship between DOC and gas concentrations, suggesting a common watershed source of these C species. DOC concentrations declined as a function of % land surface covered by water (lentic + lotic systems) in the watershed, suggesting that lentic systems may act as a net sink of organic matter in the landscape. The C balance suggests that the export component is higher than atmospheric C emissions in the river channel. However, for heavily dammed rivers, C emissions to the atmosphere approaches the C export component. Such studies are highly important for the overall efforts to effectively quantify and incorporate major boreal rivers into whole-landscape C budgets, to determine the net role of these ecosystems as C sinks or sources, and to predict how these might shift under anthropogenic pressures and dynamic climate conditions.