Dissolved load

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Dissolved load is the portion of a stream's total sediment load that is carried in solution, especially ions from chemical weathering. It is a major contributor to the total amount of material removed from a river's drainage basin, along with suspended load and bed load. The amount of material carried as dissolved load is typically much smaller than the suspended load,[1] though this is not always the case, particularly when the available river flow is mostly harnessed for purposes such as irrigation or industrial uses. Dissolved load comprises a significant portion of the total material flux out of a landscape, and its composition is important in regulating the chemistry and biology of the stream water.

Dissolved load is one of three types of stream load, along with suspended load and bed load.

The dissolved load is primarily controlled by the rate of chemical weathering, which depends on climate and weather conditions such as moisture and temperature.[2] Dissolved load has many useful applications within the field of geology, including erosion, denudation, and reconstructing climate in the past.

Measurement techniques

Dissolved load is typically measured by taking samples of water from a river and running various scientific tests on them. First, the

flame photometry, while the calcium and magnesium ion concentrations can be determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.[3]

Applications

Reconstructing climate

Dissolved load can provide valuable information about the rate of

silicate rocks is the primary sink for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, because atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted into carbonate rocks in the carbonate–silicate cycle. Carbon dioxide concentrations are the primary control of the greenhouse effect, which determines the temperature of the Earth.[4]

Denudation

sediment load of the streams that drain the area in question. This is possible because any material that passes through a certain point on a stream is guaranteed to have come from somewhere in the stream's drainage basin upstream of that point. As topographic relief increases, the dissolved load's contribution to the total stream load decreases due to the fact that on steeper surfaces, rain is less likely to infiltrate the rocks, leading to less chemical weathering, which decreases the dissolved load.[5]

Salt export

The process of carrying salts by water to the sea or a land-locked lake from a river basin is called salt export. When adequate salt export is not occurring, the river basin area gradually converts into saline soils and/or alkali soils, particularly in lower reaches.[6]

Dissolved loads of selected major rivers

Dissolved loads of selected major world rivers [7][8]
River Drainage area, 106 km2 Discharge, 109 m3/yr Total dissolved solids (TDS), 106 tonnes/yr
Xijiang 0.35 30 10.14
Changjiang 1.95 1063 226
Huanghe 0.745 48 84
Ganges-Brahmaputra
 1.48 1071 129.5
Lena
 2.44 532 50.6
Amazon 4.69 6930 324.6
Orinoco 1.00 1100 51.3
Krishna 0.251 30 10.4
Godavari 0.31 92 17
Kaveri
 0.09 21 3.5
Ganges 0.75 493 84
World total 101 37000[9] 3843.0

See also

References

  1. S2CID 129669714
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  2. ISSN 0009-2541
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  3. ISSN 0022-1694
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  4. ISSN 0016-7037
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  5. ISSN 0148-0227
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  6. ^ "Hydronomic Zones for Developing Basin Water Conservation Strategies" (PDF). Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  7. ISSN 0148-0227
    .
  8. ^ "Mass transport in krishna river basin (Table-5)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  9. ^ "Ground Water-Making the invisible visible (page 13), The United Nations World Water Development Report 2022" (PDF). Retrieved 5 April 2022.

USGS CMG InfoBank: Suspended and Dissolved Loads

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