| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 3, 2004 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 11, 2007 |
| Award Number: | 0403960 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Enriqueta Barrera
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | September 15, 2004 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2008 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $0.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $229,650.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2007 = $4,311.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
101 COMMONWEALTH AVE AMHERST MA US 01003-9252 (413)545-0698 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
101 COMMONWEALTH AVE AMHERST MA US 01003-9252 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES, BE-UF: CARBON CYCLE |
| Primary Program Source: |
app-0107 |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
Collaborative Research: Assessing the Variability and Modification of Age, Character and Reactivity of Organic Carbon Delivered by Rivers and Estuaries to an Ocean Margin
Abstract
Riverine transport of organic carbon (OC) is a significant flux in the global C budget, representing major terms for both terrestrial losses and marine inputs. Rivers and estuaries are also dynamic systems where terrestrial OC is transformed chemically and isotopically prior to its export to the ocean margins. The global C budget currently assumes that riverine flux represents the excess of terrestrial ecosystem net primary production over decomposition. New data, however, show that rivers discharging to the NW Atlantic margin exhibit a broad range in OC ages, from modern to >5,000 yrs B.P., with particulate OC (POC) often being much older than dissolved OC (DOC). Therefore, part of the OC residing in continental reservoirs on 103-108 year timescales is being remobilized, but the extremely limited dataset precludes quantitative estimates of the transfer of different-aged OC pools from land to the oceans.
A major question to be addressed in this proposal is "How much OC of young, old, and ancient ages is mobilized in rivers, and is the processing of DOC and POC in specific rivers and estuaries prior to discharge to the ocean dependent on OC ages and source characteristics?" This will be addressed by examining a regional subset of river/estuarine systems using isotopic (D14C, d13C), organic biomarker (kerogen, microbial fatty acids, plant lignin, and hydrocarbons), and modeling approaches. The systems chosen for study will cover a spectrum of land-use, lithology, size and discharge in the northeastern U.S. Different stages of the rivers' hydrographs will be sampled to assess the key roles of runoff and residence times as controlling factors. Results from this project will be important for understanding how land-derived OC fuels the intense net heterotrophy of rivers and estuaries, for constraining the losses of soil OC via river/estuarine transport, and for interpreting the chemical and isotopic signatures of OC in ocean margins due to both OC sources and processing.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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