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Organic Matter Spectroscopy Lab

Image: Boulder Reservoir by Richard Saxon

We measure the amount and character of dissolved organic matter from diverse ecosystems, especially aquatic ones. We often combine our lab data with field-scale experiments and modeling to understand of the interactions between hydrologic, chemical and biological processes in controlling the dynamics of these systems.

Diane McKnight
Director

Lane Allen
PhD student

Natalie Aranda
Grad student

Jared Collins
Grad student

Lauren Magliozzi
Grad student

Mia Vanderwilt
Grad student

Alumni

Nayoung Hur, MS 2022
Garrett Rue, PhD 2019
Alia Lauren Khan, NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Maggie Burns, MA 2014 in Geography; now Hydrologist
Rachel Gabor, PhD 2013 in Environmental Studies
Jessica Ebert, MS 2012

Contact & services

Diane McKnight

Major equipment includes

Shimadzu TOC analyzer
Antec 9000 DON analyzer
Agilent 8453 spectrophotometer
FluroMax2 fluorometer
fractionation columns
Ulter-filtration

Josh Darling kneels to sample algal mats from a rocky meltwater stream in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica

Josh Darling kneels to sample algal mats from a rocky meltwater stream near Canada Glacier in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica

Researcher in shorts and a backpack stands on the grassy shore of an alpine lake within a rocky catchment

Researcher on the grassy shoreline of an alpine lake in the Rocky Mountains.

News

Two mountain streams come together, one with rusty red acid rock drainage

More metals found in Summit County river due to climate change, scientists say (9NEWS)

A first-of-its-kind study by Garrett Rue and Diane McKnight suggests that warmer weather and less snowpack are causing higher concentrations of rare earth elements in the river. Read more

CU Boulder campus building with fall tree colors

Six CU Boulder faculty members become distinguished professors (CU Boulder Today)

Diane McKnight and Giff Miller are among those added to the roster of distinguished professors, the highest honor bestowed by the CU System. The award recognizes faculty who demonstrate exemplary performance in research or creative work; a record of excellence in promoting learning and student attainment of knowledge and skills; and outstanding service to the profession, the university and its affiliates. Read more

Water exiting a mountain mine, with rust colored streambed

Climate change Is acidifying and contaminating drinking water and alpine ecosystems (Scientific American)

Hotter, drier mountains leach more metal into streams from abandoned mines and natural deposits, finds a study by INSTAARs Garrett Rue and Diane McKnight. Read more

More institute news for the Organic Matter Spectroscopy Lab

Publications

Publications for McKnight are shown below

Click to view publications

Physicochemical and biological dynamics in a coastal Antarctic lake as it transitions from frozen to open water

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors:

Dieser M; Foreman CM; Jaros C; Lisle JT; Greenwood M; Laybourn-Parry J; Miller PL; Chin Y-P; McKnight DM...

Dieser M
Foreman CM
Jaros C
Lisle JT
Greenwood M
Laybourn-Parry J
Miller PL
Chin Y-P
McKnight DM

Published in: Antarctic Science
Publication Date: 2013-10-01
Type: Journal Article

Environmental factors influencing diatom communities in Antarctic cryoconite holes

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Stanish LF; Bagshaw EA; McKnight DM; Fountain AG; Tranter M

Published in: Environmental Research Letters
Publication Date: 2013-10-01
Type: Journal Article

Microbial growth under humic-free conditions in a supraglacial stream system on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica

CU Boulder Authors: SanClements, Michael; McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors:

Foreman CM; Cory RM; Morris CE; SanClements MD; Smith HJ; Lisle JT; Miller PL; Chin Y-P; McKnight DM...

Foreman CM
Cory RM
Morris CE
SanClements MD
Smith HJ
Lisle JT
Miller PL
Chin Y-P
McKnight DM

Published in: Environmental Research Letters
Publication Date: 2013-09-01
Type: Journal Article

The influence of stream thermal regimes and preferential flow paths on hyporheic exchange in a glacial meltwater stream

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie; Gooseff, Mike

All Authors: Cozzetto KD; Bencala KE; Gooseff MN; McKnight DM

Published in: Water Resources Research
Publication Date: 2013-09-01
Type: Journal Article

Increasing ARD and rare earth metal concentrations in an alpine watershed

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Rue G; Crouch C; McKnight D

Publication Date: 2013-08-06
Type: Conference Proceeding

Wetland Photochemistry as a Major Control on the Transport of Metals in an Acid Mine Drainage Impacted Watershed

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Duren SM; McKnight DM

Publication Date: 2013-08-06
Type: Conference Proceeding

The role of dissolved organic matter (DOM) quality in the growth enhancement of Alexandrium fundyense (Dinophyceae) in laboratory culture

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Cawley KM; Koerfer V; McKnight DM

Published in: Journal of Phycology: an international journal of algal research
Publication Date: 2013-06-01
Type: Journal Article

Hydrologic controls on the transport and cycling of carbon and nitrogen in a boreal catchment underlain by continuous permafrost

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Koch JC; Runkel RL; Striegl R; McKnight DM

Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
Publication Date: 2013-06-01
Type: Journal Article

The carbon stable isotope biogeochemistry of streams, Taylor Valley, Antarctica

CU Boulder Authors: Welch, Kathleen Ann; McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Lyons WB; Leslie DL; Harmon RS; Neumann K; Welch KA; Bisson KM; McKnight DM

Published in: Applied Geochemistry
Publication Date: 2013-05-01
Type: Journal Article

Redox reactivity of humic substances in aquatic ecosystems: Multiple lines of evidence and the potential for understanding natural systems using fluorescence spectroscopy

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: McKnight DM

Published in: ACS National Meeting Book of Abstracts
Publication Date: 2013-04-07
Type: Journal Article

Spectral evaluation of watershed DOM and DBP precursors

CU Boulder Authors: Summers, R Scott; Rosario-Ortiz, Fernando L.; McKnight, Diane Marie; Korak, Julie Ann

All Authors: Beggs KMH; Billica JA; Korak JA; Rosario-Ortiz FL; McKnight DM; Summers RS

Published in: Journal American Water Works Association
Publication Date: 2013-04-01
Type: Journal Article

Bacteria and diatom co-occurrence patterns in microbial mats from polar desert streams

CU Boulder Authors: Spaulding, Sarah A; McKnight, Diane Marie; Stanish, Lee F; Bilinski, Teresa

All Authors: Stanish LF; O'Neill SP; Gonzalez A; Legg TM; Knelman J; McKnight DM; Spaulding S; Nemergut DR

Published in: Environmental Microbiology
Publication Date: 2013-04-01
Type: Journal Article

Quantifying sources of increasing zinc from acid rock drainage in an alpine catchment under a changing hydrologic regime

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Crouch CM; McKnight DM; Todd AS

Published in: Hydrological Processes
Publication Date: 2013-02-28
Type: Journal Article

Hydrodynamic shear removal of the nuisance stalk‐forming diatom Didymosphenia geminata

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie; Crimaldi, John

All Authors: Cullis JDS; Crimaldi JP; McKnight DM

Published in: Limnology and Oceanography: Fluids and Environments
Publication Date: 2013-02-01
Type: Journal Article

Rapid runoff via shallow throughflow and deeper preferential flow in a boreal catchment underlain by frozen silt (Alaska, USA)

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Koch JC; Ewing SA; Striegl R; McKnight DM

Published in: Hydrogeology Journal
Publication Date: 2013-02-01
Type: Journal Article

Automated measurement of diatom size

CU Boulder Authors: Spaulding, Sarah A; McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Spaulding SA; Jewson DH; Bixby RJ; Nelson H; McKnight DM

Published in: Limnology and Oceanography: Methods
Publication Date: 2012-11-01
Type: Journal Article

Climate-Change-Driven Deterioration of Water Quality in a Mineralized Watershed

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Todd AS; Manning AH; Verplanck PL; Crouch C; McKnight DM; Dunham R

Published in: Environmental Science and Technology (Washington)
Publication Date: 2012-09-04
Type: Journal Article

Identifying fluorescent pulp mill effluent in the Gulf of Maine and its watershed

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Cawley KM; Butler KD; Aiken GR; Larsen LG; Huntington TG; McKnight DM

Published in: Marine Pollution Bulletin
Publication Date: 2012-08-01
Type: Journal Article

Extreme streams: flow intermittency as a control on diatom communities in meltwater streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Stanish LF; Kohler TJ; Esposito RMM; Simmons BL; Nielsen UN; Wall DH; Nemergut DR; McKnight DM

Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Publication Date: 2012-08-01
Type: Journal Article

New Insights into the Source of Decadal Increases of Dissolved Organic Matter in Acid-Sensitive Lakes of the Northeastern United States

CU Boulder Authors: SanClements, Michael; McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: SanClements MD; Oelsner GP; McKnight DM; Stoddard JL; Nelson SJ

Published in: Environmental Science and Technology (Washington)
Publication Date: 2012-03-20
Type: Journal Article

The ecology of pulse events: insights from an extreme climatic event in a polar desert ecosystem

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie; Gooseff, Mike

All Authors: Nielsen UN; Wall DH; Adams BJ; Virginia RA; Ball BA; Gooseff MN; McKnight DM

Published in: Ecosphere
Publication Date: 2012-02-01
Type: Journal Article

The role of dissolved organic matter in arctic surface waters in the photolysis of hexachlorobenzene and lindane

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Grannas AM; Cory RM; Miller PL; Chin Y-P; McKnight DM

Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
Publication Date: 2012-01-18
Type: Journal Article

Carbon, metals, and grain size correlate with bacterial community structure in sediments of a high arsenic aquifer

CU Boulder Authors: Bilinski, Teresa; McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors:

Legg TM; Zheng Y; Simone B; Radloff KA; Mladenov N; Gonzalez A; Knights D; Siu HC; Rahman MM; Ahmed KM...

Legg TM
Zheng Y
Simone B
Radloff KA
Mladenov N
Gonzalez A
Knights D
Siu HC
Rahman MM
Ahmed KM

Published in: Frontiers in Microbiology
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Type: Journal Article

15N and 13C{14N} NMR investigation of the major nitrogen-containing segment in an aquatic fulvic acid: Evidence for a hydantoin derivative

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Fang X; Mao J; Cory RM; McKnight DM; Schmidt-Rohr K

Published in: Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry
Publication Date: 2011-12-01
Type: Journal Article

Hydrologic processes influence diatom community composition in Dry Valley streams

CU Boulder Authors: McKnight, Diane Marie

All Authors: Stanish LF; Nemergut DR; McKnight DM

Published in: Journal of the North American Benthological Society
Publication Date: 2011-12-01
Type: Journal Article

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Organic Matter Spectroscopy Lab

Breadcrumb

Organic Matter Spectroscopy Lab

Contact & services

News

Publications

Increasing ARD and rare earth metal concentrations in an alpine watershed

Wetland Photochemistry as a Major Control on the Transport of Metals in an Acid Mine Drainage Impacted Watershed

Redox reactivity of humic substances in aquatic ecosystems: Multiple lines of evidence and the potential for understanding natural systems using fluorescence spectroscopy

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