Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Chemistry 124 (2011): 14-22, doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2010.11.003.
Description:
The lower Hudson River is a highly urbanized estuary that receives large inputs of treated
wastewater. To determine how organic matter from wastewater influences carbon cycling in this
type of system, we measured chlorophyll a, pCO2, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), δ13C-DOC,
and Δ14C-DOC along the salinity gradient and at wastewater treatment plants. Isotopic mixing
curves indicate a net removal of DOC that is 13C enriched and 14C depleted. The amount of DOC
removed was consistent with CO2 evasion from the estuary. During two transects at average to
low flow, the lower Hudson River Estuary was a heterotrophic system with CO2 evasion
balanced by the utilization of aged DOC derived from wastewater and marine phytoplankton that
enter the estuary at the seaward end-member. DOC removals were largest during a period of high
river flow, when isotopic mixing curves also suggest large contributions from labile terrestrial
OC sources. Overall, our results suggest that net heterotrophy in the lower Hudson River Estuary
is fueled by aged labile DOC derived from a combination of sources, which are influenced by
seasonal phytoplankton blooms, hydrological conditions, and the nature of wastewater inputs.
Description:
This research was funded by the Hudson River
Foundation’s Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship, the Carpenter-Sperry Fund at Yale University, and the
NSF-Arizona AMS Facility’s Student Internship program.
Keywords:
Dissolved organic carbon
;
Wastewater
;
Sewage
;
Heterotrophy
;
C-13
;
C-14
;
Isotope mixing curves
;
Carbon dioxide
;
Chlorophyll
;
Carbon cycle
;
USA
;
Hudson River Estuary
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
Format:
application/pdf
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