Shift in the chemical composition of dissolved organic matter in the Congo
River network

Lambert, Thibault; Bouillon, Steven; Darchambeau, François; Massicotte, Philippe; Borges, Alberto V.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5405-2016

Articles | Volume 13, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5405-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5405-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 18

Research article

|

28 Sep 2016

Research article |

| 28 Sep 2016

Shift in the chemical composition of dissolved organic matter in the Congo River network

Thibault Lambert, Steven Bouillon, François Darchambeau, Philippe Massicotte, and Alberto V. Borges

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5405-2016-supplement

Data sets

New global hydrography derived from space borne elevation data B. Lehner, K. Verdin, and A. Jarvis https://doi.org/10.1029/2008EO100001

Development and validation of a global database of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands B. Lehner and P. Döll https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2004.03.028

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Short summary

This paper aims to investigate the spatial variability in dissolved organic matter (DOM) in terms of both concentration and composition in the Congo River network. Stable carbon isotopes and absorption and fluorescent properties of DOM were used as proxies for DOM composition. This study shows that DOM degradation within the Congo Basin results in the transition from aromatic to aliphatic DOM as well as the role of landscape and water residence time on this transition.