Denudation Rates of the Hawaiian Islands by Rivers and Groundwaters1

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Denudation Rates of the Hawaiian Islands by Rivers and Groundwaters1 Pacific Science (1988), vol. 42, nos. 3-4 © 1988 by the Universityof Hawaii Press. All rights reserved Denudation Rates of the Hawaiian Islands by Rivers and Groundwaters1 YUAN-HUI LIZ ABSTRACT: The carbonic acid produced by the microbial oxidation oforganic matter is the most important chemical weathering agent ofthe Hawaiian basaltic rocks. The total denudation rate of the Hawaiian Islands ranges from 11 to 50 mg/cmz /yr (or 0.04-0.19 mm /yr), The island of Hawaii has the lowest denuda­ tion rate among the Hawaiian Islands. BASED ON THE REMOVAL RATE of dissolved River at Hilo on the island of Hawaii (USGS calcium by rivers, Moberly (1963) estimated Station No. 16213000, monthly data from the total denudation rate (including both October 1979 to September 1981). One excep­ chemical and physical) of the Kaneohe Bay tion is sulfate concentration data, which are watershed on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, to quite variable and show no direct correlation be about 34 mg/cm"/yr or 0.13 mm /yr (based with runoff. Another interesting observation on a density ofbasaltic rocks in the area of2.6 is the near constancy or only slight decrease 3 g/cm ). Since the denudation rate ofany river of chloride ion concentration as the run­ drainage area is a complex function ofrainfall off increases. The chloride ion in rain and rate, river runoff, vegetation coverage, tex­ river waters is supplied mainly by the sea-salt ture and composition of parental rocks, etc. aerosols from the ocean. The [SOi-]/[Cn (Garrels and Mackenzie 1971, Sherman and weight ratio in rainwater along Saddle Road, Ikawa 1968), this paper addresses the ques­ which is almost parallel to Wailuku River, tion of how comparable Moberly's estimated ranges from 0.20 near seashore to 0.86 inland value is to other areas in the Hawaiian island at an elevation of1625 m (Eriksson 1957). The . chain. The specific purposes of the present average is about 0.4 as compared to 0.14 paperare to demonstrate (1) what factors con­ for seawater, probably indicating an excess trol the chemical compositions of rivers and source ofdimethylsulfide (DMS), which is re­ groundwaters in the Hawaiian Islands, and leased to the atmosphere at the air-sea inter­ (2) how the chemical and physical denudation face and oxidized to SOz and sulfate (Bates rates in the Hawaiian Islands vary as func­ and Cline 1985). Other possible sources ofthe tions of various environmental factors. The excess sulfate are the anthropogenic inputs extensive water resources data base collected from the continents and local volcanic gases. by the U.S. Geological Survey annual report The volcanic input is, however, relatively from 1975 to 1984 is the basis for this work. small (Harding and Miller 1982). With an average chloride concentration of about 5-6 mg/liter in the Wailuku River water, the sulfate CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF RIVERS AND contribution from rainwater should be about GROUNDWATERS 2-2.4 mg/liter in river water. The observed In general, the dissolved concentrations of [SOi-] of most samples of Wailuku River major ions, [M], in rivers decrease and the water are, however, much less than 2-2.4 mg/ suspended particle concentrations increase liter, indicating a high degree of sorption of when the river runoff (Fw , in cubic feet per sulfate by soils (Hasan et al. 1970). second) increases. Figure 1 shows these rela­ The concentrations of dissolved organic tionships for water samples from the Wailuku carbon, organic nitrogen, inorganic nitrogen, and phosphate in the same water samples are also quite variable, and again show no rela­ 1 Manuscript accepted 23 July 1987. 2 Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, University of Hawaii, tionship to the runoff (Figure 2). Apparently, Department ofOceanography, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. the direct source of these dissolved nutrients 253 254 PACIFIC SCIENCE, Volume 42, July/October 1988 Ill. I Ll. Suspended tr:.Ll.tA Ll. Ll.Ll.Ll. )( matter Ll. Ll.Ll. 2 - A 10 • Ll. If" - x A • ~ • x! .., • x Ll. Si 02 • 0 • o 000 • • A Q) ~o ~ • 0 • • 0 0 • x J( 00 • 0 0 T. • • Ca++ 0 00 0 ++ 10 x x lO( >c 0 Mg - ... Jt. • • ~. • .. • A M A !::All. • K+ · A • • • <, Ll.A AA. O'l A ~A E A Na+xO,l 1 I I I C ...0 • ...,.,.0 • • • c .. .' Q) --. • u • • c • • 0 0 u 10 HCO- - .. • 3 0 • 0 ~ 0 0 • a 0 0 0 0 0 0 o dJ 0 CI- 0 0 o 0 0 .9.. • • • ~ • l- • •• • • • • • • • 50=4 • I I 10 102 103 104 Runoff (ft3/ sec) FIGURE 3. The concentrations (after subtracting sea-salt contributions) of major cations and dissolved Si02 plotted against bicarbonate ion concentration in rivers and groundwaters of Hawaii and Kauai islands. Denudation Rates in Hawaii-e-Li 255 is main ly the organic matter accumulated in sea-salt contributions were estimated by the soils and some from fertilizers used on the ([M]/[Cn)seaw ater x [Cn sample, where [M] is sugarcane in the watershed, rather than the the concentration of any particular ion. The weathering of basaltic rocks. concentrations of Mg?", Ca2+, Na", and K + The relationships between the concentra­ are more or less linearly related to that of tions of bicarbonate and major cations as bicarbonate (slope of near 1 in Figure 3; the well as dissolved Si02 after subtracting the greater scatter for Na+ and K + is in part sea-salt contributions are shown in Figure 3 caused by large sea-salt corrections), even for water samples from the Wailuku River at though river and groundwater samples were Hilo (USGS Station No. 16213000), Waimea taken in different years and localities. The River at Waimea on the island of Kauai Si02 concentration does not increase as fast (USGS Station No. 16031000, October 1979­ as [HC03"] (slope of less than 1 in Figure 3). September 1981), and groundwater samples Also, [Si02 ] in groundwaters tends to be around the islands of Hawaii and Kauai higher than in rivers of similar [HC03"] (October I972-September 1975). The lo­ (Figure 3). This difference may be partly ex­ cations where these water samples were plained by the uptake ofsilicon by the surface taken are shown in Figures 4 and 8. The vegetation (Fox et al. 1967). r----~-----,.----_r_------, 10 I I 1 ++ + T C org. <, t 0> 1 0 0 E 0 + 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 c 0 0 0 0 0 °i • 0 0 Norg. 0 0 •• • • -~ •• •• ••• -c 1()' • •N inorg. Q) - .. • u C • 0 A A U A • A P AA A A A A A A -2 10 10 102 103 104 Runoff ( ft3/ sec) FIGURE 2. The concentrations of dissolved nutrients in the Wailuku River at Hilo as a function of runoff (October I979-September 1981). 256 PACIFIC SCIENCE, Volume 42, July/October 1988 100 I I I o Wailuku River at Hilo ~ l:;. Ground water in Hawaii / Waimea River near / ~ Ground water in Kauai /' • / .../ Waimea in Kauai / ~... / ... .../ A A /~ ... .../ /~ / / .z/£/ ... 10 - A Ao' ... ... ~j+.'" ~/.1'"A • .II. A.JY ~~ ...... \~~. ... ./ 0 0 0/:· A .~~~ o 0,0· A A 9- /,~ A 8 ,. (a++ /~o A Mg++ / • o / / 00 E o / o/QP Q. / d" Q. , r :~1Jf ~?O I I p. .--£~A ... '" c A ... 0 "AfSA ~ ... ~ A 0 ~;;t: A -~ Si02 -c .,J" • A ... Q) 10 - ,,;:s .0 t u 9-a- ... c A .-- 0 rt 0 "" A .. U ... 0 A ... A ... AA 0'1 ~A • 0/./e• " AA ~ ...... oC\:)~ /• .. ~ ~o . ... •• <- ... ... ... 0 o •• 1 - 0/• - 0 • 0 0 0 0 / . 00. .. 10 80Qlo 0 / 0 .~'eo 0/ • 0 - o. • A ... e 0 • 'It.: /0 • 0 0 / 0 • 0• + K+ Na 0.1 I I I I 10 100 ... 10 100 HC03 (ppm) FIGURE 3. The concentrations (after subtracting sea-salt contri but ions) ofmajor cations and dissolved Si02 plotted against bicarbona te ion concentration in rivers and groundwaters of Hawaii and Ka uai islands. 137, Oahu AVE . 74,1JB. Hawaii AVE, 63.'16. Kaual AvE. 128,!Cl FIGURE 4 . The concentrations of bicarbonate and silica (underlined) in the groundwaters of Hawaii, Oahu , and Kauai islands. 258 PACIFIC SCIENCE, Volume 42, July/October 1988 Except for coral reefs and cap rocks along The relative mobility ofelements during the the shorelines, carbonate rocks are rare on weathering ofparental rocks can be expressed the Hawaiian Islands. Therefore, the main by the partition ratio K d = concentration of source of bicarbonate in Hawaiian rivers an element in solid divided by that in solution and groundwaters must be carbonic acid after sea-salt correction. The higher the Kd , produced by microbial oxidation of organic the lower the mobility of an element. One matter in the soil columns and root respira­ example is shown in Table 1 for the average tion. The high partial pressure of CO 2 , and alkaline series basalts on the island of Hawaii thus carbonic acid, in soils is well docu­ (Basaltic Volcanism Study Project 1981) and mented (Buyanovsky and Wagner 1983, long the sea-salt corrected chemical composition of and Schappert 1972, Keller 1986, Yamaguchi Wailuku River water at Hilo (USGS Station et al. 1967). The direct incorporation ofatmo­ No . 16713000, March 1981, when the run­ spheric CO 2 into soil via rainfall at pH less off rate is similar to the long-term average). than 5 is negligible. The abundance oforganic According to the relative magnitude of Kd's matter, root system, and microbial activities in Table 1, the sequence of relative mobil­ in soils are, in turn, closely related to vegeta­ ity is Ca> K > Na ~ Mg > Ba ~ Si ~ P .» tion coverage and rainfall rate. The high Mn ~ Fe, which is similar to that given by [Mg2+] and the linear correlation between Colman (1982) based on the composition [Mg2+] and [HC03"] (Figure 3) also do not changes in weathering rings of basalts and indicate the dissolution of carbonate rocks andesites.
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