INFRARED STUDIES OF SUWANNEE RIVER HUMIC SUBSTANCES: EVIDENCE OF CHLORINATION OF HUMICS IN SALT WATER

Humic Substance (HS) samples were collected from twenty-five sites along the Suwannee River. These sites included the Okeefenokee Swamp, several springs and tributaries, and the delta where the river empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) is used to categorize the relative abundance of the functional groups of these samples. In salt-water samples we identified a relatively intense C-Cl vibration indicating the chlorination of the humic substance. We also measured the vibrational spectra of humic acid with several concentrations of HNO3, KOH and Na4P2O7 over twenty-eight days to optimize our extraction procedure by minimizing condensation reactions.