Dissolved Major Elements Exported by the Congo and the Ubangui Rivers
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Journal of Hydrology, 135 (1992) 237-257 237 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam [21 Dissolved major elements exported by the Congo and the Ubangi rivers during the period 1987-1989 Jean-Luc Probst a, Renard-Roger NKounkou ~', G6rard Krempp ~, Jean-Pierre Bricquet b, Jean-Pierre Thi6baux c and Jean-Claude Olivry d ~Centre de G~ochimie de ia Surface (CNRS), I. rue Blessig, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France bCentre ORSTOM, B.P. 181, Brazzaville, Congo ~Centre ORSTOM. B.P. 893, Bangui. Central dfrican Republic OCentre ORSTOM, B.P. 2528. Bamako. Mali (Received 20 September 1991; accepted 6 October 1991) ABSTRACT Probst, J.-L., NKounkou, R.-R., Krempp, G., Bricquet, J.-P., Thi6baux, J.-P. and Olivry, J.-C., 1992. Dissolved major elements exported by the Congo and the Ubangi rivers during the period 1987-1989. J. Hydrol., 135: 237-257. On the basis of monthly sampling during the period 1987-1989, the geochemis:ry of ~he Congo and the Ubangi (second largest tributary of the Congo) rivers was studied in order (I) to understand the seasonal variations of the physico-chemical parameters of the waters and (2) to estimate the annual dissolved fluxes exported by the two rivers. The results presented here correspond to the first three years of measurements carried out for a scientific programme (Interdisciplinary Research Programme on Geodynamics of Peri- Atlantic lntertropical Environments, Operation 'Large River Basins' (PIRAT-GBF) undertaken jointly by lnstitut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU) and Institut Fran~ais de Recherche Scientifique pour ie D6veloppement en Coop6ration (ORSTOM)) planned to run for at least ten years. The Congo River is more dPuted than the Ubangi (34mgl -I vs. 42mgl-I). For both rivers, the inorganic dissolved load is composed mainly of HCOf and SiO,. The chemical composition of the water does not change with time. in the Ubangi River, because of the presence of Precambrian carbonate rocks in its catchment, the proportions of HCOf and Ca2÷ are higher. On a seasonal scale, the concentration of dissolved cations and anions varies inversely with discharge, except silica. The comparison of the discharge-concentration relationship with a theoretical "zero dilution' shows that the evolution of the concentration of dissolved substances is a simple dilution by the surface waters, with, in the case of the Ubangi, a small supply of dissolved substances by the surface waters. Using three different methods of calculation, the estimated annual inorganic dissolved flux of the Congo ranges from 39 x 106 to 44 × l0t` tons (according to lhe year), with about 10% of this coming from the Ubangi drainage basin. Correspondence to: J.-L. Probst, Centre de G~ochimie de la Surface (CNRS), 1, rue Blessig, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France. 0022-1694/92/$05.00 © 1992 -- Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved 238 J.-L. PROBST ET AL. INTRODUCTION Until recently, the geochemistry of the Congo River has been poorly documented. Most of the data on dissolved solids quoted by different authors are based on one or few measurements, not taking into account seasonal variations. Clerfayt (1955) was probably the first to sample the Congo River water in January 1949 and to measure its chemical composition. Since then, some other data have been published by various authors (Symoens, 1968; Meybeck, 1978; Figu~res et al., 1978; Van Bennekom et al., 1978; Molinier, 1979). A longer series of measurements was carried out by Deronde and Symoens (1980) from December 1976 to November 1977 and allowed them to calculate an annual flux of dissolved solids of about 35.5 x 106tons. NKounkou and Probst (1987) have reviewed the available data on the Congo basin in a synthesis presenting hydrological features, dissolved and suspended materials transported by rivers, the carbon cycle, rock weathering and the erosion balance of the Congo basin. Since 1987, a scientific programme (Interdisciplinary Research Programme on Geodynamics of Peri-Atlantic Intertropical Environments, Operation 'Large River Basins' (PIRAT-GBF) undertaken jointly by Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU) and Institut Fran~ais de Recherche Scientifique pour le D6veloppement en Cooperation (ORSTOM)), has been carried out in the Congo River and its second largest tributary, the Ubangi River. The main scientific objective of this programme is to determine the interannual fluctuations of dissolved and suspended material carried by the river into the ocean, in relation to the hydroclimatic fluctuations (Olivry et al., 1988; NKounkou, 1989; Bricquet, 1990; Probst, 1990a,b: Giresse et al., 1990; Jouanneau et al., 1990; Moukolo et al., 1990; NKounkou et al., 1990; Mariotti et al., 1991). The project also aims to estimate the interannual fluxes of atmospheric CO2 consumed by rock weathering, which are drained into the ocean in bicarbonate form or in all other dissolved and particulate carbon forms (NKounkou and Probst, 1987; Probst, 1990b; Probst et al., 1992). The purpose of this paper is to present the initial results obtained concerning the water chemistry and the dissolved mineral fluxes exported by the Congo and the Ubangi rivers during the first three years (1987-1989) of the PIRAT programme. SAMPLING PROCEDURES AND ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES River water samples were collected at Bangui for the Ubangi and 40 km upstream from Brazzaville for the Congo (Fig. 1). At Brazzaville, the drainage area of the Congo is 3.475 x 106knl2 (the total drainage area of the Congo is 3.073 x 106 km 2), with an interannual water discharge of 41 000 m 3s- ~. The DISSOLVED MAJOR ELEMENT EXPORT: CONGO AND UBANGI RIVERS 239 , i | u 15"' IZ 210° 25 ° liT' tllg ,°-1 . 5 ° . 0 o 0 ° ., ~,) 13l't.A 7+7_J, V I l .L I". KINSIIASA / ..... )~ Io ° H 0 o * Sampling station 15 ° E1u % mR 0 5GO km Scale Limits of the Ubang| basin 20 ° E 250 30 ° E mn ,,,, ! t Fig. 1. General map of the Congo and Ubangi river basins. 240 J.-L. PROBST ET AL. drainage area and the water discharge of the Ubangi river at Bangui are 0.5 x 106km2 and 4300m3s -~ respectively. Water samples were collected monthly by the ORSTOM teams, taken from the river surface with a 101 tin, decanted into 200ml polyethylene bottles and then dispatched to the laboratory for analysis. Filtration through a 0.45/~m millipore filter was made before analysis and the following techniques were used to analyse the different physico-chemical parameters (Krempp, 1988). (1) pH was measured only in the laboratory with the Mettler DL 40 RC, with an accuracy of + 0.02 pH units. This equipment was also used for alkalinity (HCOF) measurement, by titration with HCI, with an accuracy of 0.001 mmol l -~ . (2) Water conductivity was measured with the Hanna HI 8633 conduc- timeter and expressed at 20°C. (3) The colorimetric method was used for the analysis of NH~ and H4SiO4 on an automatic Technicon colorimeter. The method is based on the photo- spectroscopy of the NH~-sodium salicylate-chloride and H4SiO4-ammonium molybdate complexes. The sensitivity of the equipment is 0.001 mmol 1- (4) The major cations (Ca 2~, Mg 2+, Na + and K + ) were analysed by atomic absorption, with an air-C2H2 gaseous mixture. La was added (0.5%) to the sample for Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ analysis, and Cs20 (0.2%) for K +. The measure- ment is made with an accuracy of 0.001 mmol 1-~. (5) For the major anions (CI-, SO42- and NO;), liquid chromatography was used on a Dionex chromatograph. The detection limit is 0.001 mmoll -~. WATER CHEMICAL COMPOSITION In spite of its high discharge, the Congo River is relatively diluted, if compared, for example, to the Amazon River (Stallard and Edmond, 1983). The total inorganic dissolved solids load averaged 34 mg 1-I for the period 1987-1989 (Table 1). The previous study of Deronde and Symoens (1980) based on monthly sampling during a full year gave a lower value of 28 mg 1- t. The Ubangi waters are more concentrated than the Congo, with an average dissolved load of 42 mg 1-t The ionic composition of the Congo and Ubangi waters is shown in Fig. 2. For both rivers, Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ are the dominant cations whereas HCOf represents the dominant anion. The Ubangi shows a greater proportion of Ca 2+ and HCO3. This can be related to a greater dissolution of calcium carbonate in its basin, in which the geological substratum is mainly composed of crystalline and metamorphic rocks which have been weathered in a thick ferricrete mantle. Furthermore, the presence of paleocryptokarsts in the Precambrian carbonate formations has been pointed out by Boulvert and TABLE I Mean annual values of the physico-chemical parameters for the Congo and the Ubangi rivers 2+ Rivers Year Qa pH Cond Si02 NUt Na+ K+ Ca Mg2+ HCO; SO~- NO; Cl- TDS Congo 1987 38708 6.61 36.15 11.19 0.12 2.08 1.54 2.40 1.38 12.64 1.44 1.59 1.63 36.05 1988 39116 6.92 31.24 9.67 0.01 1.86 1.26 2.31 1.33 12.97 1.07 0.12 1.34 31.97 1989 37741 7.11 31.61 10.21 0.00 2.03 1.40 2.40 1.45 14.70 1.01 0.07 1.23 34.54 Mean 38522 6.87 33.00 10.36 0.04 1.99 1.40 2.37 1.38 13.43 1.17 0.59 1.40 34.18 Ubangi" 1988 3152 7.22 39.02 13.21 0.00 2.57 1.78 3.23 1.42 19.47 0.80 0.66 0.86 44.02 1989 2528 7.36 36.94 13.18 0.00 1.58 1.38 3.38 1.47 18.58 0.78 1.27 0.76 42.41 Mean 2840 7.29 37.99 13.19 0.00 2.08 1.58 3.30 1.44 19.03 0.79 0.96 0.81 43.22 a For the Ubangi, the samples of September 1988 and March 1989 are lacking.