Isotopic and elemental characterization of colloidal organic matter from the Chesapeake Bay and Galveston Bay

This article examines the occurrence and distribution of colloids within the Galveston Bay and Chesapeake Bay environments in an effort to determine nature, composition, sources and fate. Values for colloidal organic matter (COM), colloidal organic carbon (COC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic matter (DOM), particulate organic carbon (POC), and total organic carbon (TOC) are analyzed. It is hypothesized that terrestrial COM is rapidly removed from the estuarine environment and that marine or internal sources of COM dominate.