Seasonal changes of dissolved organic matter chemistry and its linkage with greenhouse gas emissions in saltmarsh surface water and porewater interactions

Wenzhao Liang; Xiaogang Chen; Chen Zhao; Ling Li; Ding He

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.120582

Seasonal changes of dissolved organic matter chemistry and its linkage with greenhouse gas emissions in saltmarsh surface water and porewater interactions

Water Res. 2023 Oct 15:245:120582. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120582. Epub 2023 Sep 5.

Authors

Wenzhao Liang¹, Xiaogang Chen², Chen Zhao¹, Ling Li³, Ding He⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ocean Science and Center for Ocean Research in Hong Kong and Macau, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: liling@westlake.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Ocean Science and Center for Ocean Research in Hong Kong and Macau, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China; State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China; State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan 430071, China. Electronic address: dinghe@ust.hk.

PMID: 37708777
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120582

Abstract

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one of the largest reactive reservoirs of carbon on earth. Saltmarshes play an essential role in shaping the fate of DOM and greenhouse gas (GHG) production in surface water and groundwater interactions in coastal areas. However, the coupling mechanism between DOM and GHG production is poorly understood. In this study, DOM in both surface water and porewater were analyzed by 3D excitation-emission-matrix spectroscopy under different seasonal and tidal conditions in a saltmarsh. Protein-like DOM was likely to produce CH₄, while humic-like DOM tended to produce CO₂. CH₄ concentration was highly enriched in porewater because increasing fresh groundwater flow introduced small-sized protein-like DOM. Based on the mass balance model, >98.5% of CH₄ was oxidated to CO₂ in sediment-water interface. The degradation of sediment-derived DOC (especially humic-like DOM) contributes ∼80% of the total amount of CO₂ in surface water. Both hydrodynamics and chemical reactions are suggested to influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Hydrodynamics (e.g., tidal pumping) are controlling factors in short timescales (hourly/weekly) while chemical reactions become crucial in influencing DOM chemistry and related degradation rate on seasonal scales. These findings emphasize the importance of the coupling mechanism at different time scales between DOM characteristics and GHG emissions in saltmarshes.

Keywords: Dissolved organic matter; Excitation-emission matrix; Greenhouse gas; Optical properties; Porewater exchange; Saltmarsh.