The Role of Alpine Wetlands as Hot Spots of Dissolved Organic Carbon in the East River, Colorado

Abstract

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a critical chemical attribute of freshwater systems, affecting nutrient availability, toxicity and solubility of metals, and biological activity via the absorption of light and microbial consumption of O2 during DOC mineralization. Although DOC contributions to streams are distributed across the landscape in the shallow subsurface, many studies have demonstrated area-outsized contributions from riparian zones with high biological productivity and low subsurface O2 concentrations. In the East River, CO, a high-elevation watershed located in the central Rocky Mountains, initial observations show that DOC concentrations of two tributaries, Rock Creek and Gothic Creek, are elevated by 2.5-8.9 times compared to concentrations in the main East River and its other tributaries. These elevated concentrations are qualitatively linked to the unique presence of large wetlands in the headwaters of Rock and Gothic creeks, which due to potential anoxic conditions, experience reduced rates of organic matter decomposition and serve as an elevated source of DOC. In this study we quantify the cycling of organic matter in these wetlands and their area-outsized contributions to East River DOC fluxes. We present concentration profiles of DOC along stream reaches and along subsurface flowpaths that span the transition from hillslope to wetland coupled with high-resolution mapping of chronically-saturated zones and calculate area-weighted fluxes of DOC from wetlands to Rock and Gothic creeks at multiple times through the 2016 growing season. Additionally, soil and groundwater DOC fluxes are compared with depth-resolved organic carbon content from soil cores and soil surface CO2 fluxes to evaluate organic carbon budgets in the hillslope and wetland areas feeding Rock Creek. The characterization of these hotspots of DOC generation and transport in the East River is vital to the ability to predict nutrient cycling changes into the future.

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