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Carbon Sequestration in a Large Hydroelectric Reservoir: An Integrative Seismic Approach

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Abstract

Artificial reservoirs likely accumulate more carbon than natural lakes due to their unusually high sedimentation rates. Nevertheless, the actual magnitude of carbon accumulating in reservoirs is poorly known due to a lack of whole-system studies of carbon burial. We determined the organic carbon (OC) burial rate and the total OC stock in the sediments of a tropical hydroelectric reservoir by combining a seismic survey with sediment core sampling. Our data suggest that no sediment accumulation occurs along the margins of the reservoir and that irregular bottom morphology leads to irregular sediment deposition. Such heterogeneous sedimentation resulted in high spatial variation in OC burial—from 0 to 209 g C m−2 y−1. Based on a regression between sediment accumulation and OC burial rates (R 2 = 0.94), and on the mean reservoir sediment accumulation rate (0.51 cm y−1, from the seismic survey), the whole-reservoir OC burial rate was estimated at 42.2 g C m−2 y−1. This rate was equivalent to 70% of the reported carbon emissions from the reservoir surface to the atmosphere and corresponded to a total sediment OC accumulation of 0.62 Tg C since the reservoir was created. The approach we propose here allows an inexpensive and integrative assessment of OC burial in reservoirs by taking into account the high degree of spatial variability and based on a single assessment. Because burial can be assessed shortly after the survey, the approach combining a seismic survey and coring could, if applied on a larger scale, contribute to a more complete estimate of carbon stocks in freshwater systems in a relatively short period of time.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Marten Scheffer for the insights and critical discussions, to Carlos Henrique Estrada and Anderson Freitas for the support in the field and laboratory analysis, and to Marcio Malafaia for hel** with the maps. The authors acknowledge support from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES (Raquel Mendonça), NWO-VENI grant 86312012 (Sarian Kosten), The Swedish Research Council Formas (Sebastian Sobek), and Conselho Nacional de Investigação Científica e Tecnológica—CNPq (Fábio Roland). This research was also supported by Grants from Furnas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n, Campus Universitário, Juiz de Fora, MG, 36036-900, Brazil

    Raquel Mendonça, Simone J. Cardoso & Fábio Roland

  2. Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Raquel Mendonça & Sarian Kosten

  3. Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin/Neuglobsow, Germany

    Sarian Kosten

  4. Department of Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Sarian Kosten

  5. Department of Ecology and Genetics, Limnology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Sebastian Sobek

  6. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, USA

    Jonathan J. Cole

  7. Department of Oceanography and Ecology, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil

    Alex C. Bastos

  8. Departamento de Geoquímica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ, Brazil

    Ana Luiza Albuquerque

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  1. Raquel Mendonça
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Correspondence to Raquel Mendonça.

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Author Contributions

RM, FR, SK, ACB, and ALA designed the study; RM, SK, SJC, and ACB performed the field work; RM, SK, SS, and JJC wrote the manuscript; all authors participated in the data analysis and reviewed the paper.

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Mendonça, R., Kosten, S., Sobek, S. et al. Carbon Sequestration in a Large Hydroelectric Reservoir: An Integrative Seismic Approach. Ecosystems 17, 430–441 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9735-3

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