Chemical weathering in the Upper Huang He (Yellow River) draining the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Hydrochemistry of the middle and upper reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River system: weathering processes and CO2 consumption

“…Compared with other world rivers, the TDS of study rivers are relatively higher, averaging 269 mg/l, which is 2 times higher than that of the Brahmaputra (110 mg/l) (Singh et al 2005) and *1.5 times of the Indus Rivers (164 mg/l) (Karim and Veizer 2000) and the Ganges (130 mg/l) (Galy and France-Lanord 1999). While it is very similar to that of the Upper Huang He (274 mg/l) (Wu et al 2005), it is lower than that of the rivers originating in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Wu et al 2008a). The water chemistry and TDS are strongly influenced by the lithology, hydroclimate, geography, and human activities, etc.…”

Chemical weathering under mid- to cool temperate and monsoon-controlled climate: A study on water geochemistry of the Songhuajiang River system, northeast China

“…With the addition of H 2 SO 4 in the weathering of carbonate rocks, CO 2 consumption reduced to 48.6 Â 10 3 mol km À2 a À1 . Compared with the rivers originating in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, CO 2 consumption flux by the weathering of silicate rocks within the 2nd Songhuajiang Basin (128 Â 10 3 mol km À2 a À1 ) is comparable with that of the Huanghe (120 Â 10 3 mol km À2 a À1 , Wu et al, 2005), Brahmaputra (150 Â 10 3 mol km À2 a À1 , Gaillardet et al, 1999b) and Dadu He (180 Â 10 3 mol km À2 a À1 , Wu et al, 2008). The CO 2 consumption from the weathering of silicate rocks within the whole Songhuajiang Basin (66.6 Â 10 3 mol km À2 a À1 ) is on the same order of magnitude with that of the MeKong (70 Â 10 3 mol km À2 a À1 , Wu et al, 2008).…”

“…However, strong tectonic and weak climatic control could be observed under temperate climate (Riebe et al, 2001) and temperature may have a negative action on silicate weathering for river basins in a cold climate . In China, chemical weathering has been studied for river basins under subtropical climate, warm temperate climate and also a plateau climate (Han and Liu, 2004;Wu et al, 2005;Liu, 2007, 2010;Chetelat et al, 2008), but information on chemical weathering under mid-or cool temperate climate is still insufficient. So, more work should be carried out to understand the controlling mechanisms under different climatic regimes.…”

Comparison of surface water chemistry and weathering effects of two lake basins in the Changtang Nature Reserve, China

“…In particular, the water chemistry of many of the plateau's lakes is affected by changes in the surrounding basin hydrology (Mitamura et al, 2003). In recent decades, research on the surface water chemistry of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has mostly focused on areas with convenient access and significant impacts of human activities, such as the Qaidam Basin (Tan et al, 2011), Qinghai Lake (Xiao et al, 2012;Xu et al, 2010), and river source regions (Noh et al, 2009;Qin et al, 2006;Wu et al, 2005Wu et al, , 2008 in the Qinghai Province, China. Investigations and analyses of large lakes and rivers located in central and southern Tibet are equally abundant, such as studies of Lake Nam Co Zhang et al, 2008), Lake Yamzhog Yumco (Sun et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2012), Lake Mapam Yumco (Wang et al, 2013), and the Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin (Guilmette et al, 2009;Hren et al, 2007).…”