Preferential Groundwater Discharges Along Stream Corridors Are Disregarded Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Abstract

Groundwater delivery of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to stream banks and riparian areas, before mixing with surface waters, has not been well quantified. We measured preferential groundwater delivery of GHGs to stream banks within three stream reaches, and found that stream banks with discharging groundwater emitted more CO₂ and were sources of N₂O compared to stream banks without actively discharging groundwater, which emitted less CO₂ and were N₂O sinks. At one of our stream reaches, groundwater CO₂ and N₂O concentrations were 1.4–19.2 and 1.1–40.6 times higher than those in surface water, respectively, and groundwater delivery rates of CO₂ and N₂O were 1.5 and 1.6 times higher than surface water emissions per unit area. On average, 21% (range 0%–100%) of CO₂ and N₂O were emitted at the stream bank before mixing with surface waters. Preferential groundwater GHG emissions may contribute substantially to stream corridor emissions and may be underestimated when using a channel-centric approach to estimate riverine GHG budgets.