Author(s)

R. W. Fulweiler, S. W. Nixon, B. Buckley & S. Granger

Abstract

Export of organic carbon from a minimally developed southern New England watershed R. W. Fulweiler, S. W. Nixon, B. Buckley & S. Granger Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882 USA Abstract The Pawcatuck River Watershed (797 lan2), located on the border between mode Island (80%) and Connecticut, is unusual for a southern New England coastal area because sixty-five percent of it remains undeveloped, including over 30% classified as protected natural habitat. The Pawcatuck River (47 km long) drains this watershed until it meets tidal waters in Westerly, R.I. Population increase in the river watershed of over one hundred-percent in the last thirty years, combined with increasing freshwater withdrawal, is potentially degrading water quality. As part of a larger study of nutrient and sediment exports from the watershed, we measured concentrations of dissolved (DOC) and particulate (>0.45 pm) organic carbon (POC) approximately weekly since December 2001. Ou

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