Dissolved organic matter (DOM) and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) have a significant effect on natural bodies of water. CDOM absorbs radiation emitted from the sun which is beneficial, because it helps prevent the organisms present from being affected by harmful rays of radiation. CDOM can also react with contaminants found in natural waters to prevent them from harming organisms living in the water. DOM and CDOM content in ponds, rivers, and other bodies of water can be determined through absorbance spectroscopy. This is because they absorb short wavelength light in the ultraviolet-visible spectrum. It is beneficial to know what type of DOM is present in a body of water to observe environmental effects and possible pollutants in that area. Different types of DOM contain compounds with different have unique molecular weights and polarities, this allows them to be distinguished from each other and helps to determine their role in environmental pollution. Over the last decade, a new method to characterize and compare DOM and CDOM in different freshwater natural waters has been developed. In this method, the slope of the absorbance spectrum in the 275nm-295nm region is used for the characterization of CDOM and as a proxy for the determination of dissolved organic carbon content. In this study, this method has been applied to freshwater samples from sources at various locations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in upstate New York. Other parameters of the water samples such as The pH and conductivity, were also measured and established relationships between these parameters and CDOM absorbance levels are investigated. Samples are collected through different times of year and after various weather conditions in order to investigate any variation in the values. Suwannee River Fulvic acid is used for control experiments.

Investigation of colored dissolved organic matter in natural waters from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in Upstate New York

2019 Spring National Meeting

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