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Title: Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter in Pore Waters of Anoxic Marine Sediments Analyzed by 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Journal Article · · Frontiers in Marine Science

Marine sediments are globally significant sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) to the oceans, but the biogeochemical role of pore-water DOM in the benthic and marine carbon cycles remains unclear due to a lack of understanding about the molecular composition of DOM. To help fill this knowledge gap, we used 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to examine depth variability in the composition of pore-water DOM in anoxic sediments of Santa Barbara Basin, California Borderland. Proton detected spectra were acquired on whole samples without pre-concentration to avoid preclusion of any DOM components from the analytical window. Broad unresolved resonance (operationally assigned to carboxyl-rich alicyclic molecules, or CRAM) dominated all spectra. Most of the relatively well-resolved peaks (attributed to biomolecules or their derivatives) appeared at chemical shifts similar to those previously reported for marine DOM in the literature, but at different relative intensities. DOM composition changed significantly within the top 50 cm of the sediment column, where the relative intensity of CRAM increased, and the relative intensity of resolved resonances decreased. The composition of CRAM itself also changed throughout the entire length of the 4.5-m profile, as CRAM protons became increasingly aliphatic at the expense of functionalized protons. Given that pore-water DOM is generated from sedimentary organic matter that includes pre-aged and degraded material, and that DOM is theoretically subject to microbial reworking in the pore waters for centuries to millennia, these data suggest that marine sediments may be sources of CRAM that are compositionally unique from CRAM generated in the upper ocean.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; OCE-1155562; OCE-1155320; OCE-1155764
OSTI ID:
1439111
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1518565
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-751233; 172
Journal Information:
Frontiers in Marine Science, Journal Name: Frontiers in Marine Science Vol. 5; ISSN 2296-7745
Publisher:
Frontiers Media SACopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Switzerland
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 30 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Microbial Processing of Sediment‐Derived Dissolved Organic Matter: Implications for Its Subsequent Biogeochemical Cycling in Overlying Seawater journal November 2019
Molecular Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter in Sediment Porewater of the Arctic Deep-Sea Observatory HAUSGARTEN (Fram Strait) journal June 2020
Direct noninvasive 1 H NMR analysis of stream water DOM: Insights into the effects of lyophilization compared with whole water journal September 2019

Figures / Tables (10)


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