Geology topics

Siddhartha Mitra

Publications and source records attributed to Siddhartha Mitra.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2008

Oceanic loading of wildfire-derived organic compounds from a small mountainous river

Small mountainous rivers (SMRs) export substantial amounts of sediment into the world's oceans. The concomitant yield of organic carbon (OC) associated with this class of rivers has also been shown to be significant and compositionally unique. We report here excessively high loadings of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), lignin, and levoglucosan, discharged from the Santa Clara River into the Santa Barbara Channel. The abundance of PAHs, levoglucosan, and lignin in Santa Barbara Channel sediments ranged from 201.7 to 1232.3 ng gdw-1, 1.3 to 6.9 ??g gdw-1, and 0.3 to 2.2 mg per 100 mg of the sedimentary OC, respectively. Assuming a constant rate of sediment accumulation, the annual fluxes of PAHs, levoglucosan, and lignin, to the Santa Barbara Channel were respectively, 885.5 ?? 170.2 ng cm-2 a-1, 3.5 ?? 1.9 ??g cm-2 a-1 and 1.4 ?? 0.3 mg per 100 mg OC cm-2 a-1, over ???30 years. The close agreement between PAHs, levoglucosan, and lignin abundance suggests that the depositional flux of these compounds is largely biomass combustion-derived. To that end, use of the Santa Clara River as a model for SMRs suggests this class of rivers may be one of the largest contributors of pyrolyzed carbon to coastal systems and the open ocean. Wildfire associated carbon discharged from other high yield fluvial systems, when considered collectively, may be a significant source of lignin, pyrolytic PAHs, and other pyrogenic compounds to the ocean. Extrapolating these methods over geologic time may offer useful historical information about carbon sequestration and burial in coastal sediments and affect coastal carbon budgets. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences↗

USGS2002

Black carbon from the Mississippi river: Quantities, sources, and potential implications for the global carbon cycle

Black carbon (BC) may be a major component of riverine carbon exported to the ocean, but its flux from large rivers is unknown. Furthermore, the global distribution of BC between natural and anthropogenic sources remains uncertain. We have determined BC concentrations in suspended sediments of the Mississippi River, the 7th largest river in the world in terms of sediment and water discharge, during high flow and low flow in 1999. The 1999 annual flux of BC from the Mississippi River was 5 × 10 - 4 petagrams (1 Pg = 10 15 g = 1 gigaton). We also applied a principal components analysis to particulate-phase high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon isomer ratios in Mississippi River suspended sediments. In doing so, we determined that ∼27% of the BC discharged from the Mississippi River in 1999 originated from fossil fuel combustion (coal and smelter-derived combustion), implicating fluvial BC as an important source of anthropogenic BC contamination into the ocean. Using our value for BC flux and the annual estimate for BC burial in ocean sediments, we calculate that, in 1999, the Mississippi River discharged ∼5% of the BC buried annually in the ocean. These results have important implications, not only for the global carbon cycle but also for the fluvial discharge of particulate organic contaminants into the world's oceans.

Louisiana↗

USGS2002

Sources of terrestrially-derived organic carbon in lower Mississippi River and Louisiana shelf sediments: Implications for differential sedimentation and transport at the coastal margin

In this study, we examined the temporal and spatial variability of terrestrial organic carbon sources in lower Mississippi River and Louisiana shelf sediments (during 11 cruises over a 22-month period) to further understand the sorting dynamics and selective transport of vascular plant materials within the primary dispersal system of the river. Bulk ??13C values in lower river sediments ranged from -21.90??? to -24.64??? (mean=-23.20??1.09???), these values were generally more depleted than those found in shelf sediments (-22.5??? to -21.2???). The ??8 (??8 = sum of vanillyl, syringyl and cinnamyl phenols produced from the oxidation of 100 mg of organic carbon) values in the lower river ranged from 0.71 to 3.74 (mean = 1.78??0.23). While there was no significant relationship between ??8 and river discharge (p>0.05), the highest value occurred during peak discharge in April 1999-which corresponded to the highest observed C/N value of 17.41. The ??8 values on the shelf ranged from 0.68 to 1.36 (mean = 0.54??0.30) and were significantly lower (p <0.05) than the average value for lower river sediments. The range of S/V (syringyl/vanillyl) and C/V (cinnamyl/vanillyl) ratios on the shelf, 0.11 to 0.95 and 0.01 to 0.08, respectively, were similar to that found in the lower river. These low C/V ratios are indicative a mixture of woody and non-woody carbon sources. Recent work by Goni et al. [Nature 389 (1997) 275; Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 62 (1998) 3055], which did not include sampling transects within the primary dispersal system of the Mississippi River, showed a non-woody vascular plant signature on the Louisiana shelf. This suggests that riverine-derived woody tissues preferentially settle out of the water column, in the lower river and inner shelf, prior to the selective dispersal of C3 versus C4 non-woody materials in other regions the shelf and slope. This works further demonstrates the importance of differential settlement of particles, sampling location within the dispersal system, and river discharge, when examining biogeochemical cycles in river-dominated margins. ?? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Marine Chemistry↗