Understanding the environmental drivers of summer dissolved carbon in lakes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

How environmental factors affecting dissolved carbon remains unclear in lakes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), which limits the understanding of the lake carbon cycle. In this study, 60 lakes on the QTP in summer were investigated to clarify the variation in dissolved carbon, estimate dissolved carbon storage, and reveal how environmental factors affect the variation in dissolved carbon. The average dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) contents of 60 lakes on the QTP in summer were 12.78 mg/L and 103.66 mg/L, respectively. Salinity and total nitrogen were the important drivers of variations in DIC and DOC, respectively. Lake salinity and temperature were reduced only when precipitation was >50 mm, thus affecting the variations in lake dissolved carbon. Importantly, the elevation and area of the lake also significantly affected the variation in lake dissolved carbon. The total storage amounts of DOC and DIC in the 60 lakes on the QTP in summer were 58.94 Tg and 6.22 Tg, respectively. Lake area was the most direct factor influencing dissolved carbon storage in lakes on the QTP. Moreover, the TN and pH of the lake water also affected the DOC and DIC storage in the lakes, respectively. Interestingly, the lake pH at 9.1 was an important turning point that caused variations in lake DIC storage. Surprisingly, we found that rivers were able to transport 30 % of the DIC into QTP lakes and were the main source of DIC in the lakes in summer. The findings of this study clarify the sources of dissolved carbon and its drivers and improve our understanding of the carbon cycling processes in the lake system on the QTP.