Collaborative Research: Delivery and Burial of Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) on Ocean Margins Dominated by Small, Mountainous Rivers: the Role of Effective Discharge

我们将调查控制不同类型的陆源颗粒有机碳（POC）在美国西海岸的小，多山的河流，重点对Umpqua，鳗鱼和萨利纳斯河运输的基本因素。此外，我们将探讨河流流量和邻近沿海海洋的波浪/风能之间的一致性，作为控制陆源POC最终命运的关键因素（即，广泛扩散退化与局部积累保存）。为了实现这些目标，将从所有三条河流和洪泛区沉积物中收集悬浮颗粒物的代表性样本，以量化各种排放量的POC负荷的大小和组成。对洪泛平原和大陆边缘洪水后的沉积物进行事件响应取样，将有助于深入了解短期碳埋藏模式。还将在河流流域和沿海海洋内收集更长的沉积物档案，以记录过去几千年来最大的事件，并调查在气候变化和人为改变流域的背景下POC埋藏的规模和组成的历史变化。我们将联合收割机结合这些数据，调查与陆地-海洋连续体中不同类型碳的输送和埋藏相关的事件的规模和频率。我们的结果将通过与USGS测量站，NOAA海洋浮标和NWS气象站的数据集相结合，扩大到整个美国西海岸边缘。这项工作更广泛的意义和重要性在于，小型多山河流占全球向海洋输送颗粒物的50%，并主导着北美西海岸。然而，尽管碳具有全球和区域重要性，但人们对碳如何从高起伏盆地转移并埋藏在沿海边缘缺乏定量了解。通过关注分娩和埋葬如何随河流流量而变化，这项研究将建立水文学和海洋学之间的统一联系。通过我们的事件响应采样，我们将开发新的方法来吸收陆地和海洋上的真实的实时监测站不断增加的信息流。最后，在不断变化的水文气候条件和土地使用做法下，物质通过河流流域的流动具有广泛的社会意义。沉积物和颗粒相关的有机污染物是美国地表沃茨中常见的污染物。因此，通过提供有关河流悬浮泥沙和碳负荷的新信息，并将知识扩展到罕见的高级别事件，我们将揭示研究区域内与污染相关的问题。

We will investigate the fundamental factors controlling the transport of different types of land-derived particulate organic carbon (POC) by small, mountainous rivers on the US West Coast with an emphasis on the Umpqua, Eel and Salinas Rivers. Moreover, we will explore the coherence between river discharge and wave/wind energy in the adjacent coastal ocean as the key factor controlling the ultimate fate of land-derived POC (i.e., widespread dispersal & degradation vs. localized accumulation & preservation). To achieve these objectives, representative samples of suspended particulate matter will be collected from all three rivers and from floodplain deposits to quantify the magnitude and composition of the POC load over a wide range of discharges. Event-response sampling of sediments from both the floodplains and continental margins following floods will provide insight into short-term carbon burial patterns. Longer sediment archives will also be collected within the river basins and coastal ocean to provide a record of the largest events over the past several millennia and to investigate historical changes in the magnitude and composition of POC burial in the context of climatic changes and human-induced alterations of the watersheds. We will combine these data to investigate the magnitude and frequency of events associated with the delivery and burial of different types of carbon across the land-ocean continuum. Our results will be up-scaled to the entire US West Coast margin by integrating them with data sets from USGS gauging-stations, NOAA ocean-buoys and NWS meteorological stations. The broader significance and importance of the work resides in the fact that small, mountainous rivers account for 50% of global transport of particulates to the ocean and dominate the west coast of North America. However, in spite of their global and regional importance, a quantitative understanding of how carbon is transported from high-relief basins and buried on coastal margins is lacking. By focusing on how delivery and burial vary as a function of river discharge this research will forge a unifying link between hydrology and oceanography. Through our event-response sampling, we will develop novel approaches to assimilate the ever-increasing flow of information from real time monitoring stations on land and in the ocean. Lastly, the flux of material through river basins under changing hydroclimatic conditions and land-use practices has widespread societal relevance. Both sediment and particle-associated organic contaminants are common pollutants in US surface waters. Thus, by providing new information on river suspended-sediment and carbon loads, and extending knowledge to rare, high-magnitude events we will shed important light on pollutant-related issues within the study region.