The overall objective of this project is to determine the nature of natural organic carbon and organic nitrogen during its biogeochemical cycling through the environment and its interactions with anthropogenic compounds. Emerging techniques in liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy and other means will be used to gain new insights into dominant processes responsible for fate, transport, and reactivity. Field- and laboratory-based experiments will enable direct application to current environmental problems such as disinfection byproduct formation potential, long-term effects of forest fires, and sustainability of agricultural soils. The chemical, biologic, and hydrologic processes that produce and alter anthropogenic and natural organic carbon and nitrogen in water will be investigated as relevant to environmental problems. This project will address major questions such as how nitrogen incorporates into natural organic matter and its fate in the degradation of natural organic matter. Interdisciplinary studies will be conducted with colleagues to determine significance and mechanisms of nitrogen fate in natural organic substances in river systems. New sources of dissolved natural organic carbon and nitrogen include large-scale application of biochar to agricultural soils to increase soil organic carbon, fertility, and crop production along with long-term natural terrestrial carbon sequestration.
