Lave Jerome

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Lave
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Jerome
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  • Preprint
    Predominant floodplain over mountain weathering of Himalayan sediments (Ganga basin)
    ( 2011-12-01) Lupker, Maarten ; France-Lanord, Christian ; Galy, Valier ; Lave, Jerome ; Gaillardet, Jerome ; Gajurel, Ananta Prasad ; Guilmette, Caroline ; Rahman, Mustafizur ; Singh, Sunil Kumar ; Sinha, Rajiv
    We present an extensive river sediment dataset covering the Ganga basin from the Himalayan front downstream to the Ganga mainstream in Bangladesh. These sediments were mainly collected over several monsoon seasons and include depth profiles of suspended particles in the river water column. Mineral sorting is the first order control on the chemical composition of river sediments. Taking into account this variability we show that sediments become significantly depleted in mobile elements during their transit through the floodplain. By comparing sediments sampled at the Himalayan front with sediments from the Ganga mainstream in Bangladesh it is possible to budget weathering in the floodplain. Assuming a steady state weathering regime in the floodplain, the weathering of Himalayan sediments in the Gangetic floodplain releases ca. (189 ± 92)109 and (69 ± 22)109 moles/yr of carbonate bound Ca and Mg to the dissolved load, respectively. Silicate weathering releases (53 ± 18)109 and (42 ± 13)109 moles/yr of Na and K while the release of silicate Mg and Ca is substantially lower, between ca. 0 and 20109 moles/yr. Additionally, we show that sediment hydration, [H2O+], is a sensitive tracer of silicate weathering that can be used in continental detrital environments, such as the Ganga basin. Both [H2O+] content and the D/H isotopic composition of sediments increases during floodplain transfer in response to mineral hydrolysis and neoformations associated to weathering reactions. By comparing the chemical composition of river sediments across the floodplain with the composition of the eroded Himalayan source rocks, we suggest that the floodplain is the dominant location of silicate weathering for Na, K and [H2O+]. Overall this work emphasizes the role of the Gangetic floodplain in weathering Himalayan sediments. It also demonstrates how detrital sediments can be used as weathering tracers if mineralogical and chemical sorting effects are properly taken into account.
  • Article
    A Rouse-based method to integrate the chemical composition of river sediments : application to the Ganga basin
    (American Geophysical Union, 2011-11-01) Lupker, Maarten ; France-Lanord, Christian ; Lave, Jerome ; Bouchez, Julien ; Galy, Valier ; Metivier, Francois ; Gaillardet, Jerome ; Lartiges, Bruno ; Mugnier, Jean-Louis
    The Ganga River is one of the main conveyors of sediments produced by Himalayan erosion. Determining the flux of elements transported through the system is essential to understand the dynamics of the basin. This is hampered by the chemical heterogeneity of sediments observed both in the water column and under variable hydrodynamic conditions. Using Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) acquisitions with sediment depth profile sampling of the Ganga in Bangladesh we build a simple model to derive the annual flux and grain size distributions of the sediments. The model shows that ca. 390 (±30) Mt of sediments are transported on average each year through the Ganga at Haring Bridge (Bangladesh). Modeled average sediment grain size parameters D50 and D84 are 27 (±4) and 123 (±9) μm, respectively. Grain size parameters are used to infer average chemical compositions of the sediments owing to a strong grain size chemical composition relation. The integrated sediment flux is characterized by low Al/Si and Fe/Si ratios that are close to those inferred for the Himalayan crust. This implies that only limited sequestration occurs in the Gangetic floodplain. The stored sediment flux is estimated to c.a. 10% of the initial Himalayan sediment flux by geochemical mass balance. The associated, globally averaged sedimentation rates in the floodplain are found to be ca. 0.08 mm/yr and yield average Himalayan erosion rate of ca. 0.9 mm/yr. This study stresses the need to carefully address the average composition of river sediments before solving large-scale geochemical budgets.