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Chemical composition of dissolved organic matter from various sources as characterized by solid-state NMR

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Abstract

This study used solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to characterize the chemical compositions of DOM from various sources and thereby explore the linkages of river DOM to its potential point and nonpoint sources. DOM samples were isolated from two streams draining watersheds of different land uses, landfill leachates of two ages, sequential (raw, facility- and wetland-treated) wastewaters in a wastewater treatment plant. Two sampling sites along the Missouri River were located upstream and downstream of the outlet of a tributary, to which the stream waters, landfill leachates, and wastewater effluents were discharged. Compared with the chemical composition of the stream DOM from a cropland-dominated watershed, the stream DOM from a grass/forestland-dominated watershed comprised 14 % more alkyl carbons (C), but ~5 % less O-alkyl C. The two leachate DOM samples from landfill cells of two ages showed similar area fractions of the carbon types, and their spectra exhibited a characteristic alkyl C peak at 37 ppm, potentially a molecular signature of the DOM of landfill leachate source. The DOM from the treated wastewater had slightly (~4 %) less alkyl C than that from the raw wastewater, and the DOM from the wetland-treated wastewater displayed decreased O-alkyl C but increased alkyl C, both to a small degree (by ~4 %), compared to the DOM in the facility-treated wastewater. The chemical composition of DOM in the Missouri River was affected by the local organic inputs, with the DOM from downstream the outlet displaying ~11 % higher alkyl C.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Klaus Schmidt-Rohr at Brandeis University for his advice on NMR analysis and the manuscript. This project was funded by the USDA-NIFA Capacity Building Grant Program through the Grant No. 2010-38821-21558 to Lincoln University of Missouri, University of Missouri, and Old Dominion University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA

    Zhigao Zhou, Xiaoyan Cao, Renying Li & Jingdong Mao

  2. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Lincoln University of Missouri, Jefferson City, MO, 65102, USA

    Bin Hua, John Yang & Fengjing Liu

  3. USDA-ARS, National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, 2110 University Boulevard, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Dan C. Olk

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Baolin Deng

  5. Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Science, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210008, China

    Zhigao Zhou

  6. College of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210044, China

    Renying Li

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  1. Zhigao Zhou
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Correspondence to Jingdong Mao.

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Zhou, Z., Hua, B., Cao, X. et al. Chemical composition of dissolved organic matter from various sources as characterized by solid-state NMR. Aquat Sci 77, 595–607 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0405-8

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