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Monitoring Sediment and Water Chemistry in Small Remote Aquatic Systems in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea

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Abstract

Small rivers are complex ecosystems facing threats from human activities and climate change. Therefore, studying the sediment and water chemistry of several streams in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea will enhance our understanding of the characteristics of remote aquatic systems. We found high total organic carbon (OC) and vanillic acid to vanillin ratio, (Ad/Al)v, and high dissolved CH4, indications of methanogenesis, at some locations. High sediments inorganic carbon and high total alkalinity (TA) and SiO2 in the water were characteristic of carbonate minerals at other locations. Some locations showed high dissolved oxygen (DO), and low dissolved CH4, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2), indicating autotrophic condition. Other sites showed remarkably low DO and high pCO2, dissolved CH4, nutrient, and DIC, indicating heterotrophy and possibly anoxic condition. These findings reveal that even small remote aquatic systems of the areas sampled exhibit high variability in their sediment and water chemistries, probably due to human activities and different watershed morphology. Furthermore, higher dissolved NO3−, NO2−, N2O, PO43−, SiO2, TA, DIC, pCO2, DOC, particulate OC, and nitrogen were found at lower salinity, and vice versa, indicating the importance of mixing from seawater in diluting materials and affecting the autotrophy/heterotrophy in these systems.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during this study are presented in the tables in this manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Hsiu-I Huang, Bing-Jye Wang, and everyone who provided assistance during the sampling trips. We thank the reviewers for their valuable comments which have helped improve this manuscript greatly.

Funding

This study acknowledges the NSC101-2611-M-110–010-MY3, MOST 104–2611-M-110–016, and Zhejiang University Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities 2013QNA4037.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Sciences, Ocean College, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan, China

    Pei Sun Loh, Hong-Wei Yuan, Long-Xiu Cheng & Xue-Gang Chen

  2. Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Ting-Hsuan Huang & Hon-Kit Lui

  3. Department of Marine Science, Naval Academy, R.O.C, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Jiann-Yuh Lou

  4. Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, China

    Jianfang Chen

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  1. Pei Sun Loh
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Loh, P.S., Chen, CT.A., Huang, TH. et al. Monitoring Sediment and Water Chemistry in Small Remote Aquatic Systems in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Water Air Soil Pollut 232, 446 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05359-x

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