Remineralization of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon in the Baltic Sea

The measurements of the oxygen consumption and total CO2 production during the remineralization yielded a ΔO2:ΔCT molar ratio close to 1.0 for the terrestrial dissolved organic matter (DOM) whereas an increased ratio of 1.2-1.5 was observed during the remineralization of the Baltic Sea DOM. This indicates that tDOM consists of carbohydrate-like compounds. The higher O2 demand for the mineralization of mDOM can be explained by a higher proportion of lipid-like compounds and by nitrification.