Carbon cycling in carbonate karst terrains

Link: https://carbonatecriticalzone.research.ufl.edu/

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Carbonate mineral dissolution in carbonate karst landscapes is largely driven by the remineralization of organic carbon (OC) to CO2, and both processes impact landscape-scale carbon budgets. In coastal karst terrains, conduits and fractures transmit saltwater tens of kilometers from the coast inland under freshwater lenses and form a biogeochemically active freshwater-saltwater mixing zone known as a karst subterranean estuary (KSEs). We are testing the hypothesis that organic carbon (OC) remineralization drives KSE biogeochemical processes and carbonate mineral dissolution, but variations in quantity and quality of OC sources (terrestrial, marine, and in situ) affect dissolution in KSEs and more broadly within the carbonate critical zone.