Carbon Budget for a Large Drowned River Valley Estuary Adjacent to an Emerging Megacity (Sydney Harbour)

Abstract

Annual organic and inorganic carbon budgets were constructed for the Sydney Harbour Estuary. Net ecosystem metabolism was the main control on carbon fluxes in the system. Sydney Harbour Estuary was slightly net heterotrophic, which is consistent with a small CO2 emission of 0.8 × 108 mol C yr−1. Terrestrial carbon loads were 70% dissolved inorganic carbon, 21% dissolved organic carbon, and 9% particulate organic carbon. Dissolved inorganic carbon was exported to the ocean (4.19 × 108 mol C yr−1), and an import of organic carbon (1.92 × 108 mol C yr−1) from the ocean was required to balance the budget. Sydney Harbour had high sediment organic carbon burial rates similar to other river valley estuaries including the Hudson River and Chesapeake Bay. Productivity was the main sink of inorganic carbon followed by sediment burial, emissions of CO2 to the atmosphere, and oyster sequestration. This study highlights the importance of determining the sources, sinks, and transformations of all carbon forms in constructing estuarine budgets.