Resolving the variability of CDOM fluorescence to differentiate the sources and fate of DOM in Lake Taihu and its tributaries

Taihu Basin is the most developed area in China, which economic development has resulted in pollutants being produced and discharged into rivers and the lake. Lake Taihu is located in the center of the basin, which is characterized by a complex network of rivers and channels. To assess the sources and fate of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in surface waters, we determined the components and abundance of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) within Lake Taihu and 66 of its tributaries, and 22 sites along transects from two main rivers. In Lake Taihu, there was a relative less spatial variation in CDOM absorption aCDOM(355) with a mean of 2.46 ± 0.69 m−1compared to the mean of 3.36 ± 1.77 m−1 in the rivers. Two autochthonous tryptophan-like components (C1 and C5), two humic-like components (C2 and C3), and one autochthonous tyrosine-like component (C4) were identified using the parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) model. The C2 and C3 had a direct relationship with aCDOM(355), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The separation of lake samples from river samples, on both axes of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), showed the difference in DOM fluorophores between these various environments. Components C1 and C5 concurrently showed positive factor 1 loadings, while C4 was close to the negative factor 1 axis. Components C2 and C3 showed positive second factor loadings. The major contribution of autochthonous tryptophan-like components to lake samples is due to the autochthonous production of CDOM in the lake ecosystems. The results also showed that the differences in geology and associated land use control CDOM dynamics, such as the high levels of CDOM with terrestrial characteristics in the northwestern upstream rivers and low levels of CDOM with increased microbial characteristics in the southwestern upstream rivers. Most of river samples from the downstream regions in the eastern and southeastern plains had a similar relative abundance of humic-like fluorescence, with less of the tryptophan-like and more of the tyrosine-like contributions than did samples from upstream regions.