title: Sources and preservation of organic matter in soils of the wetlands in the Liaohe (Liao River) Delta, North China.
abstract: Total organic carbon, total nitrogen, δ(13)Corg, δ(15)N, and aliphatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons of fifty-five soil samples collected from the coastal wetlands of the Liaohe Delta were measured, in order to determine the sources and possible preservation of organic matter (OM). The δ(15)N and δ(13)Corg values in the samples ranged from 3.0‰ to 9.4‰ and from -30.4‰ to -20.3‰, respectively, implying that the OM in the soils is predominantly derived from C3 plant. The long-chain n-alkanes had a strong odd-over-even carbon number predominance, suggesting a significant contribution from waxes of higher plants. The ubiquitous presence of unresolved complex mixture, alkylated polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons and typical biomarkers of petroleum hydrocarbons (pristane, phytane, hopanes and steranes) indicates that there is a contribution of petroleum hydrocarbons to the organic carbon pool in the wetland soils. P. australis-vegetated wetlands have strong potentials for the preservation of organic carbon in the wetlands.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China. lintian@gyig.ac.cn
authors: Tian
authors: T
authors: Lin
authors: Siyuan
authors: S
authors: Ye
authors: Chuanliang
authors: C
authors: Ma
authors: Xigui
authors: X
authors: Ding
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: Brix
authors: Hongming
authors: H
authors: Yuan
authors: Yingjun
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Zhigang
authors: Z
authors: Guo
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum; D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen