Dissolved black carbon is not likely a significant refractory organic carbon pool in rivers and oceans

Rivers are the major carriers of dissolved black carbon (DBC) from land to ocean; the sources of DBC during its continuous transformation and cycling in the ocean, however, are not well characterized. Here, we present new carbon isotope data for DBC in four large and two small mountainous rivers, the Yangtze and Yellow river estuaries, the East China Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. We found that the carbon isotope signatures of DBC are...