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Characterizing Soil Dissolved Organic Matter in Typical Soils from China Using Fluorescence EEM–PARAFAC and UV–Visible Absorption

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Abstract

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) strongly participates in a variety of critical environmental and ecological processes and has a large impact on environmental quality. In this study, ultraviolet–visible absorbance spectroscopy and excitation–emission matrices of fluorescence spectroscopy in combination with parallel factor analysis (EEMs–PARAFAC) were applied to characterize a total of 92 DOM samples extracted from four typical soil types under three different land-use regimes across China. DOC concentrations ranged from 6.52 ± 1.09 to 25.62 ± 4.83 mg L−1 and were generally higher in red soil from Guangdong and Guangxi, especially in paddy soil. Three fluorescence components were identified in soil DOM by EEMs–PARAFAC, including high molecular weight UVA humic-like substances (C1), low molecular weight autochthonous humic-like substances (C2), and protein-like substances (C3). DOM from black soil in Heilongjiang, purple soil from Sichuan, and red soil from Zhejiang had more humic-like substances, whereas DOM from yellow soil in Guizhou and red soil from Guangdong and Guangxi had lower degree of aromaticity and higher proportion of microbial-derived protein-like components (C3). Moreover, DOM from paddy soil tended to be more of protein-like components (C3) than that from other land uses and DOM from dryland soil generally had more autochthonous humic-like substances (C2). Our results demonstrated that soil DOM characteristics both varied significantly by soil type and land use, and EEMs–PARAFAC could be a useful approach to characterize the components and sources of heterogeneous DOM in soils.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (41601227, 41811530277, 41701262) and National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0800300).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Joint Institute for Environmental Research and Education, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Xiao-quan Qin, Bo Yao, Yongtao Li & Zong-ling Ren

  2. Institute of Plant Nutrition and Resources, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, 100097, China

    Liang Jin

  3. Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, 350013, China

    Xiang-zhou Zheng

  4. Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tianjin, 300191, China

    Jie Ma

  5. Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université de Paris, UMR 7154 CNRS, 1 Rue Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    Marc F. Benedetti

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  1. Xiao-quan Qin
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Correspondence to Yongtao Li or Zong-ling Ren.

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Qin, Xq., Yao, B., Jin, L. et al. Characterizing Soil Dissolved Organic Matter in Typical Soils from China Using Fluorescence EEM–PARAFAC and UV–Visible Absorption. Aquat Geochem 26, 71–88 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-019-09366-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-019-09366-7

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