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Dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentration and quality in a forested mid-Atlantic watershed, USA

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Abstract

Understanding the quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in potential watershed sources is critical for explaining and quantifying the exports of DOM in stream runoff. Here, we examined the concentration and quality of DOM for ten watershed sources in a 12 ha forested catchment over a two-year period. DOM composition was evaluated for: throughfall, litter leachate, soil water (zero and tension), shallow and deep groundwater, stream water, hyporheic zone, and groundwater seeps. DOM quality was measured using a suite of optical indices including UV–visible absorbance and PARAFAC modeling of fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (EEMs). DOM concentrations and quality displayed a pronounced trend across watershed sources. Surficial watershed sources had higher DOM concentrations and more humic-like DOM with higher molecular weight whereas deeper groundwater sources were rich in % protein-like fluorescence. The greater % contribution of protein-like fluorescence in groundwater suggested that a larger fraction of groundwater DOM may be bioavailable. DOM for wetland groundwater was more aromatic and humic-like than that at the well-drained riparian location. Principal component analyses (PCA) revealed that the differences in surficial watershed compartments were dictated by humic-like components while groundwater sources separated out by % protein-like fluorescence. Observations from optical indices did not provide any conclusive evidence for preferential association of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) or dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) with any particular DOM quality pools.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF, Hydrologic Sciences Program, EAR-0809205). We would like to thank the Fair Hill NRMA staff for providing access to the study site. We express our deep gratitude to Drs. Mathew Miller, Kaelin Cawley and Diane McKnight with initial guidance on EEMs analyses. We also thank Sudarshan Dutta, Suneil Seetharam, John Van Stan, Ethan Frost, Rachael Vaicunas and Dr. Kyungsoo Yoo for sampling and installation of equipment in the watershed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioresources Engineering, University of Delaware, 264 Townsend Hall, 531 S College Avenue, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    Shreeram Inamdar, Nina Finger, Shatrughan Singh, Delphis Levia & Harsh Bais

  2. SUNY-ESF, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY, 14210, USA

    Myron Mitchell & Patrick McHale

  3. Virginia Tech, Seitz Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Durelle Scott

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  1. Shreeram Inamdar
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  2. Nina Finger
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  3. Shatrughan Singh
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  4. Myron Mitchell
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  5. Delphis Levia
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  7. Durelle Scott
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  8. Patrick McHale
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Correspondence to Shreeram Inamdar.

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Inamdar, S., Finger, N., Singh, S. et al. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentration and quality in a forested mid-Atlantic watershed, USA. Biogeochemistry 108, 55–76 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-011-9572-4

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