Assessment of dissolved organic carbon and iron effects on water color between a forest and pasture-dominated fine-scale catchment in a Central Appalachian region, West Virginia.

Assessment of dissolved organic carbon and iron effects on water color between a forest and pasture-dominated fine-scale catchment in a Central Appalachian region, West Virginia. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020 May 22;: Authors: Lei L, Thompson JA, McDonald LM Abstract Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and iron (Fe) have been observed to be the important contributors to surface water brownification. Additionally, the DOC quality influences water color by forming Fe-DOC complexes that provide additive effects and is influenced by dominant land use type within watersheds. However, the influence of quantity and quality of DOC on Fe and water color is poorly understood in headwater streams. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of DOC and Fe on water color in forest (FC) and pasture (GFC) fine-scale watersheds to remove the confounding effects of climate and soil parent material. Significant differences of DOC, Fe, and water absorbance at 420 nm (a420) between FC and GFC were found (p < 0.05). A dominant contribution to water color was from DOC (95.5 - 63.7%) with a decreasing trend when Fe increased from 0.011 to 0.258 mg L-1. There were no significant interactions between FC and GFC and Fe on either a420/DOC (p = 0.06) or specific ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (SUVA254) (p = 0.30). Increasing values of a420/DOC and SUVA254 were significantly associated with increasing Fe concentration (p < 0.01). Significant inter...
Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research International - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Environ Sci Pollut Res Int Source Type: research