You are here:
DISTRIBUTION AND COMPOSITION OF DISSOLVED AND PARTICULATE ORGANIC CARBON IN NORTHERN SAN FRANCISCO BAY DURING LOW FRESHWATER FLOW CONDITIONS
Citation:
Murrell, M C. AND J. T. Hollibaugh. DISTRIBUTION AND COMPOSITION OF DISSOLVED AND PARTICULATE ORGANIC CARBON IN NORTHERN SAN FRANCISCO BAY DURING LOW FRESHWATER FLOW CONDITIONS. Presented at 15th Biennial International Estuarine Research Federation Conference, New Orleans, LA, Sept. 25-30, 1999.
Description:
The distribution of organic matter was studied in northern San Francisco Bay monthly through spring and summer 1996 along the salinity gradient from the Sacramento River to Central Bay. Dissolved constituents included monosaccharides (MONO), total carbohydrates (TCHO), dissolved primary amines (DPA), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and fluorescence as a proxy for humic substances (HS). Particulate constituents included suspended particulate matter (SPM), chlorophyll (CHL), particulate carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PON). April was distinct from subsequent months due to very high DOC and MONO and somewhat elevated TCHO, DPA, and HS. In later months, DOC, MONO, TCHO, and HS were conservatively distributed suggesting a freshwater source; DPA were bimodally distrubuted suggesting both freshwater and seawater sources. Small but consistent peaks in DOC and HS mixing curves suggested an additional organic matter source in the oligohaline zone (2-8 PSU). This alternate source may originate from: 1)the San Joaquin River, 2)exchange with the shoals and marshes of Suisun Bay, and/or 3)flux of DOC from suspended and deposited sediments. The particulate organic constituents POC and PON, strongly correlated with SPM, but not with CHL, suggesting that sediments were relatively important, and phytoplankton were relatively unimportant, contributors to POM pools.