Lindsay Chipman

Graduate Student

Biological Oceanography
Major Professor: Dr. Markus Huettel

Department of Oceanography
Rm 531, OSB
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4320

Research

Coastal Water Quality: Degradation of Dissolved Organic Carbon in Permeable Sediments

Dissolved organic matter, a complex product of biomass degradation, plays an important role in the global cycles of carbon and nitrogen. About 25 to 50% of the organic material produced on the shelf is degraded within the benthic layer by microbes, which make nutrients and organic matter accessible to the oceanÕs food chain. Fluxes from these sediments are significant; roughly equal to that of the riverine DOC flux. The magnitude and fate of sediment water interface fluxes are vital to understanding the cycling of carbon and its budget in both sediments and the water column. My research investigates the degradation of dissolved organic matter as water is pumped through permeable shelf sediments. A time series of field measurements from St. George Island will be combined with column, chamber, and flume experiments in a laboratory setting to gain insight on DOM degradation, distributions, and seasonal trends. A main goal is to assess the role of this filtration process for the remobilization of nutrients from the DOM and, thus, the contribution of the sediment to water quality in the coastal zone.