Controls on Physical and Chemical Denudation in a Mixed
Carbonate-Siliciclastic Orogen
Abstract
Mixed siliciclastic and carbonate active orogens are common on Earth’s
surface, yet most studies have focused on physical erosion and chemical
weathering in silicate-rich landscapes. Relative to purely siliciclastic
landscapes, the response of erosion and weathering to uplift may differ
in mixed-lithology regions. However, our knowledge of weathering and
erosion in mixed carbonate-silicate lithologies is limited and thus our
understanding of the mechanistic coupling between uplift, chemical
weathering, and the carbon cycle. Here, we partition the denudation
fluxes into erosion and weathering fluxes of carbonates and silicates in
the Northern Apennine Mountains of Italy—a mixed
siliciclastic-carbonate active orogen—using dissolved solutes, the
fraction of carbonate sand in sediments, and existing 10Be denudation
rates. Erosion fluxes are generally an order of magnitude higher than
weathering fluxes and dominate total denudation. The contribution of
carbonate and silicate minerals to erosion varies between lithologic
units, but weathering fluxes are systematically dominated by carbonates.
Silicate weathering may be limited by reaction rates, whereas carbonate
weathering may be limited by acidity of the rivers that drain the
orogen. Precipitation of secondary calcite from super-saturated streams
leads to the loss of up to 90% of dissolved Ca2+ from carbonate-rich
catchments. Thus, in the weathering zone, [Ca2+] is exceptionally
high, likely driven by high soil pCO2; however, re-equilibration with
atmospheric pCO2 in rivers converts solutes back into solid grains that
become part of the physical denudation flux. Limits on weathering in
this landscape therefore differ between the subsurface weathering zone
and what is exported by rivers.