Carbonate weathering dominates magnesium isotopes in large rivers: Clues from the Yangtze River

International audienceCarbonate weathering regulates the short-term carbon (C) cycle and global climate due to its fast response tohydrological processes. The carbonate weathering flux needs to be well constrained to better understand theclimate change at short time scale. Riverine magnesium (Mg) isotopes are sensitive to primary mineral disso-lution and so have great potential to trace carbonate weathering. Global large rivers draining continental crustdominate weathering flux to the oceans, but how riverine Mg isotopes respond to carbonate weathering remainsunclear. The Yangtze River drainage basin (YRDB) was selected to test the robustness of riverine Mg isotopes(δ26Mg) in tracing continental carbonate weathering because it spans a wide range in lithology, geomorphologyand climate. The riverine δ26Mg values within the YRDB show a decreasing trend from the headwater to themainstream ranging from -1.36‰ to -0.59‰. The dissolved δ26Mg have strong negative correlations withcarbonate weathering rate and intensity within the YRDB, indicating a sensitive response of riverine δ26Mg to thecarbonate weathering flux. In a compilation of Mg fluxes and δ26Mg in the world’s largest rivers, there is similardominance of carbonate weathering on riverine Mg fluxes and isotopes. Therefore, we propose that riverineδ26Mg in large rivers are a robust tracer of carbonate weathering intensity. Intensifying carbonate weatheringunder global warming tends to increase riverine Mg and C fluxes to the oceans and thus the atmospheric CO2 sinkat the millennial time scale