Bulk organic matter composition, n-alkane distribution patterns, and compound-specific stable isotope compositions of modern surface sediments and plants of South Africa's largest freshwater wetland

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

Bulk organic matter composition, n-alkane distribution patterns, and compound-specific stable isotope compositions of modern surface sediments and plants of South Africa's largest freshwater wetland

2021

Surface sediments (n=41) reflecting modern times (uppermost 10 cm) were collected during a November/December 2018 field campaign along the course of the Mkhuze River and a transect into Lake St. Lucia (KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa). In addition, plant species (n=10) were collected based on previous reports of dominant vegetation communities and local occurrences. All samples were extracted soon after with a mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (9:1), purified, and fractionated. The apolar fraction was finally analyzed for its n-alkane concentrations and corresponding compound-specific carbon and hydrogen isotope compositions. Sub-samples of the surface sediments were also analyzed for (i) organic matter content (total organic carbon) and composition (d13C, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio) after decalcification, and (ii) for thermal indices (Hydrogen Index, R-index, I-index) using Rock-Eval analyses. The study's objective was to evaluate the most extensive freshwater wetland system in South Africa regarding its current condition and functioning by identifying the origin and transport pathways of sedimentary organic matter.

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AGROVOC Keywords

carbon depth nitrogen organic matter south africa species

Bibliographic information

Publisher

PANGAEA

Other Subjects

N-alkane c24; Mk07-7; N-alkane c31; Sediment/rock; Mk21-1; Mk19-1; Rock-eval; Mk03-1; N-alkane c26; Mk32-1; Mk04-1; N-alkane c35; D13c; Mk08-4; Mk31-1; N-alkane c16; Mk14-1; R-index; Mk16-1; Mk27-1; Mk21-5; Mk12-1; N-alkane c29; N-alkane c23; N-alkane c21; Mk18-1; Mk08-2; Traces; Mk26-1; Latitude of event; N-alkane c28; Event label; Mk17-1; Bulk carbonate; Mk07-2; N-alkane c30; N-alkane c19; N-alkane c34; Sample comment; Mk20-1; Mk03-3; Mk03-2; Mk07-4; Δd; Δ13c; N-alkane c32; Mk10-1; Carbon/nitrogen ratio; Mk29-1; Mk28-1; N-alkane c20; N-alkane c27; N-alkane c18; Hydrogen index; Mk24-5; Longitude of event; Total; Mk13-1; Mk02-3; Mkuze river; Mk07-3; Mk35-1; Mk02-2; N-alkane c17; Mk30-1; N-alkane c22; Mk09-2; Mk37-2; Standard deviation; Mk24-4; N-alkane c33; Mk22-1; N-alkanes; Tracing human and climate impacts in south africa; Mk21-4; N-alkane c25; Mk12-3; Mk23-1; Wetland; Mk36-1; Mk05-1; Mk06-1; Mk01-10; Dd; Mk07-5_2; Sample type; Mk20-2; Mk34-1; Mk25-1; I-index; Mk33-1; Mk15-1; Plant waxes; Mk07-5_1; Mk07-6; Organic

Language

English

Format

text/tab-separated-values, 2231 data points

License

CC-BY-4.0: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, Access constraints: unrestricted, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Type

Dataset

In AGRIS since: 2024-11-28

Format: Dublin Core

Data Provider

This bibliographic record has been provided by Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research