Tracing terrestrial organic matter by delta34S and delta13C signatures in a subarctic estuary

• A key issue to understanding the transformations of terrestrial organic carbon in the ocean is to disentangle the latter from marine-produced organic matter. We applied a multiple stable isotope approach using 34S and 13C isotope signatures from estuarine dissolved organic matter (DOM), enabling us to constrain the contribution of terrestrial-derived DOM in an estuarine gradient of the northern Baltic Sea. The stable isotope signatures for dissolved organic sulfur (34SDOS) have twice the range between terrestrial and marine end members compared to the stable isotope signatures for dissolved organic carbon (13CDOC); hence, the share of terrestrial DOM in the total estuarine DOM can be calculated more precisely. DOM samples from the water column were collected using ultrafiltration on board the German RV Maria S Merian during a winter cruise, in the Bothnian Bay, Bothnian Sea, and Baltic proper. We calculated the terrestrial fraction of the estuarine DOC (DOCter) from both 13CDOC and 34SDOS signatures and applying fixed C: S ratios for riverine and marine end members to convert S isotope signatures into DOC concentrations. The 34SDOS signature of the riverine end member was +7.02‰, and the mean signatures from Bothnian Bay, Bothnian Sea, and Baltic proper were +10.27, +12.51, and +13.67‰, respectively, showing an increasing marine signal southwards (34SDOS marine end member 5 18.1‰). These signatures indicate that 87‰, 75‰, and 67‰, respectively, of the water column DOC is of terrestrial origin (DOCter) in these basins. Comparing the fractions of DOCter in each basin—that are still based on few winter values only—with the annual river input of DOC, it appears that the turnover time for DOCter in the Gulf of Bothnia is much shorter than the hydraulic turnover time, suggesting that high-latitude estuaries might be efficient sinks for DOCter.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biokemi och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Applied Environmental Science

tillämpad miljövetenskap

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)