A significant amount of organic carbon is transported in dissolved form from soils to coastal oceans via inland water systems, bridging land and ocean carbon reservoirs. However, it has been discovered that the presence of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon (tDOC) in oceans is relatively limited. Therefore, understanding the fates of tDOC in coastal oceans is essential to account for carbon sequestration through land ecosystems and ensure accurate regional carbon budgeting. In this study, we developed a state-of-the-art modeling approach by coupling a land-to-ocean tDOC flux simulation model and a coastal tDOC tracking model to determine the potential fates of tDOC exported from three primary drainage basins in the Gulf of Maine (GoM). According to our findings, over half a year in the GoM, 56.4% of tDOC was mineralized. Biomineralization was responsible for 90% of that amount, with the remainder attributed to photomineralization. Additionally, 37% of the tDOC remained suspended in the GoM, and 6.6% was buried in the marine sediment.
Keywords: Gulf of Maine; burial; carbon cycle; dissolved organic carbon; export; land-to-ocean; mineralization; ocean.