The capacity for coastal river networks to transport and transform dissolved organic matter (DOM) is widely accepted. However, climate‐induced shifts in stormwater runoff and tidal extension alter fresh and marine water source contributions, associated DOM, and processing rates of nutrients entering coastal canals. We investigate how time‐variable interactions among coastal water source contributions influence the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nutrients, and DOM composition in urban canals. We quantified the spatiotemporal variability of DOM quality and nutrient concentrations to determine contributions of tidal marine water, rainwater, stormwater runoff, and groundwater to three coastal urban canals of Miami, Florida (USA). We created a Bayesian Monte Carlo mixing model using measurements of fluorescent DOM (fDOM), DOC concentrations, δ18O and δ2H isotopic signatures, and chloride (Cl−). Fractional contributions of groundwater averaged 17% in the dry season and 26% at peak high tide during the subtropical wet season (September–November). The canal‐to‐marine head difference (CMHD) was a primary driver of groundwater contributions to coastal urban canals and monthly patterns of fDOM/DOC. High tide (>1 m) and discharge events were found to connect canals to upstream sources of terrestrial DOM. Loading of terrestrially sourced DOC and DOM is pulsed to urban canals, shunted downstream and supplemented by microbially sourced DOM during the wet season at high tide. Overall, we demonstrate that a combined tracer approach with isotopes and fDOM can help identify groundwater contributions to coastal waterways and that autochthonous fDOM may prime the degradation of carbon or nutrients as the CMHD pushes inland.
Coastal drainages contain multiple sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) that influence OM transformation and fate along inland‐to‐marine gradients. Anthropogenic activities have altered DOM composition in urban drainages, thereby influencing in‐stream breakdown rates, primary productivity, and downstream export. Yet, it is uncertain how hydrologic conditions (i.e., rainfall, tides, shallow groundwater) interact with different sources of DOM to regulate the transformation and export of DOM through urban coastal drainages. We characterized how seasonal changes in hydrologic conditions influence DOM composition and bioavailability in tidally influenced drainages in Miami, FL, USA. We estimated the quality and bioavailability of DOM using compositional proxies based on fluorescence spectroscopy, including parallel‐factor analysis, and measured dissolved organic carbon degradation during laboratory incubations containing a local bacterial community. Interactions between stormwater runoff and tidal amplitude increased the bioavailability of DOM and were positively correlated with predominantly humic‐like components in the wet season and protein‐like components in the dry season. Further, increases in tryptophan fluorescence intensity corresponded with elevated concentrations of
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10450124
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
- Volume:
- 126
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 2169-8953
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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