Western Kentucky University
Organic Carbon Cycling Within the Mammoth Cave Karst Aquifer
Institution
Western Kentucky University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Chris Groves; Kate Webb
Abstract
Inorganic and organic carbon exist in a wide variety of solid, aqueous, and gas phases within karst landscape/aquifer systems. Quantitative relationships coupling equilibrium chemistry, reaction kinetics, and other properties of carbon in natural and anthropogenically influenced waters make it possible to derive models that reveal fine detail about the behavior and partitioning of carbon within karst systems, and to use such models to better understand the impact of these processes on the global carbon cycle at human-influenced timescales. With funding from the National Science Foundation Program Research Experiences for Undergraduates, this summer we began to study the mass fluxes of organic carbon within the south central Kentucky karst aquifer in and around Mammoth Cave National Park in order to better understand the sources and volume of these fluxes and the geobiochemical mechanisms responsible for the partitioning of organic carbon as it moves into and through the karst aquifer. The specific research goal is to identify the forms and quantity of organic carbon species flowing through the south central Kentucky karst area in order to better understand the roles of this carbon within the overall carbon cycle. This summer is the first of three on the project and focused on development of, and student training in, the sampling and analytical methods. During the summer we studied new methods of analysis recently developed for excitation-emission matrix scanning of carbon with spectrofluorophotometry and organic carbon analysis using a Total Carbon Analyzer. Preliminary samples from a variety of sampling locations in and around Mammoth Cave National Park have been analyzed.
Organic Carbon Cycling Within the Mammoth Cave Karst Aquifer
Inorganic and organic carbon exist in a wide variety of solid, aqueous, and gas phases within karst landscape/aquifer systems. Quantitative relationships coupling equilibrium chemistry, reaction kinetics, and other properties of carbon in natural and anthropogenically influenced waters make it possible to derive models that reveal fine detail about the behavior and partitioning of carbon within karst systems, and to use such models to better understand the impact of these processes on the global carbon cycle at human-influenced timescales. With funding from the National Science Foundation Program Research Experiences for Undergraduates, this summer we began to study the mass fluxes of organic carbon within the south central Kentucky karst aquifer in and around Mammoth Cave National Park in order to better understand the sources and volume of these fluxes and the geobiochemical mechanisms responsible for the partitioning of organic carbon as it moves into and through the karst aquifer. The specific research goal is to identify the forms and quantity of organic carbon species flowing through the south central Kentucky karst area in order to better understand the roles of this carbon within the overall carbon cycle. This summer is the first of three on the project and focused on development of, and student training in, the sampling and analytical methods. During the summer we studied new methods of analysis recently developed for excitation-emission matrix scanning of carbon with spectrofluorophotometry and organic carbon analysis using a Total Carbon Analyzer. Preliminary samples from a variety of sampling locations in and around Mammoth Cave National Park have been analyzed.