Articles | Volume 19, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2881-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2881-2022
Research article
 | 
13 Jun 2022
Research article |  | 13 Jun 2022

Origin, transport, and retention of fluvial sedimentary organic matter in South Africa's largest freshwater wetland, Mkhuze Wetland System

Julia Gensel, Marc Steven Humphries, Matthias Zabel, David Sebag, Annette Hahn, and Enno Schefuß

Related authors

Evidence for preferential protein depolymerization in wetland soils in response to external nitrogen availability provided by a novel FTIR routine
Hendrik Reuter, Julia Gensel, Marcus Elvert, and Dominik Zak
Biogeosciences, 17, 499–514, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020, 2020
Short summary

Related subject area

Biogeochemistry: Wetlands
Simulating ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes and their associated influencing factors for a restored peatland
Hongxing He, Ian B. Strachan, and Nigel T. Roulet
Biogeosciences, 22, 1355–1368, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1355-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1355-2025, 2025
Short summary
Reviews and syntheses: Variable inundation across Earth's terrestrial ecosystems
James Stegen, Amy J. Burgin, Michelle H. Busch, Joshua B. Fisher, Joshua Ladau, Jenna Abrahamson, Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Li Li, Xingyuan Chen, Thibault Datry, Nate McDowell, Corianne Tatariw, Anna Braswell, Jillian M. Deines, Julia A. Guimond, Peter Regier, Kenton Rod, Edward K. P. Bam, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Inke Forbrich, Kristin L. Jaeger, Teri O'Meara, Tim Scheibe, Erin Seybold, Jon N. Sweetman, Jianqiu Zheng, Daniel C. Allen, Elizabeth Herndon, Beth A. Middleton, Scott Painter, Kevin Roche, Julianne Scamardo, Ross Vander Vorste, Kristin Boye, Ellen Wohl, Margaret Zimmer, Kelly Hondula, Maggi Laan, Anna Marshall, and Kaizad F. Patel
Biogeosciences, 22, 995–1034, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-995-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-995-2025, 2025
Short summary
Decomposing the Tea Bag Index and finding slower organic matter loss rates at higher elevations and deeper soil horizons in a minerogenic salt marsh
Satyatejas G. Reddy, W. Reilly Farrell, Fengrun Wu, Steven C. Pennings, Jonathan Sanderman, Meagan Eagle, Christopher Craft, and Amanda C. Spivak
Biogeosciences, 22, 435–453, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-435-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-435-2025, 2025
Short summary
Aquatic and Soil CO2 Emissions from forested wetlands of Congo's Cuvette Centrale
Antoine de Clippele, Astrid C. H. Jaeger, Simon Baumgartner, Marijn Bauters, Pascal Boeckx, Clement Botefa, Glenn Bush, Jessica Carilli, Travis W. Drake, Christian Ekamba, Gode Lompoko, Nivens Bey Mukwiele, Kristof Van Oost, Roland A. Werner, Joseph Zambo, Johan Six, and Matti Barthel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3313,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3313, 2024
Short summary
Assessing root–soil interactions in wetland plants: root exudation and radial oxygen loss
Katherine A. Haviland and Genevieve L. Noyce
Biogeosciences, 21, 5185–5198, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5185-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5185-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Albrecht, R., Sebag, D., and Verrecchia, E.: Organic matter decomposition: bridging the gap between Rock–Eval pyrolysis and chemical characterization (CPMAS13C NMR), Biogeochemistry, 122, 101–111, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-014-0033-8, 2015.  a, b, c, d
Alexander, W. J. R.: Some comment on the diversion of the Mkuze river in Lake St. Lucia, Tech. rep., https://saeis.saeon.ac.za/Document/2051 (last access: 24 May 2022), 1973. a, b, c, d
Alexander, W. J. R., Stormanns, C., and Breen, C.: Some aspects of the hydrology of the Mkuze Swamp system, in: Proceedings of the Greater Mkuze Swamp System Symposium and Workshop, Institute of Natural Resources, Pietermaritzburg, pp. 4–7, https://saeis.saeon.ac.za/Document/2093 (last access: 02 June 2022), 1986. a
Ardón, M., Helton, A. M., and Bernhardt, E. S.: Drought and saltwater incursion synergistically reduce dissolved organic carbon export from coastal freshwater wetlands, Biogeochemistry, 127, 411–426, 2016. a
Baas, M., Pancost, R., Van Geel, B., and Sinninghe Damsté, J. S.: A comparative study of lipids in Sphagnum species, Org. Geochem., 31, 535–541, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0146-6380(00)00037-1, 2000. a, b
Download
Short summary
We investigated organic matter (OM) and plant-wax-derived biomarkers in sediments and plants along the Mkhuze River to constrain OM's origin and transport pathways within South Africa's largest freshwater wetland. Presently, it efficiently captures OM, so neither transport from upstream areas nor export from the swamp occurs. Thus, we emphasize that such geomorphological features can alter OM provenance, questioning the assumption of watershed-integrated information in downstream sediments.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint