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Floodplains are important biogeochemical reactors during fluvial transportof carbon and nutrient species towards the oceans. In the tropics andsubtropics, pronounced rainfall seasonality results in highly dynamicfloodplain biogeochemistry. The massive construction of dams, however, hassignificantly altered the hydrography and chemical characteristics of many(sub)tropical rivers. In this study, we compare organic-matter and nutrientbiogeochemistry of two large, contrasting floodplains in the Zambezi Riverbasin in southern Africa: the Barotse Plains and the Kafue Flats. Bothsystems are of comparable size but differ in anthropogenic influence: whilethe Barotse Plains are still in large parts pristine, the Kafue Flats arebordered by two hydropower dams.  The two systems exhibit different flooding dynamics, with a largercontribution of floodplain-derived water in the Kafue Flats and a strongerpeak flow in the Barotse Plains. Distinct seasonal differences have beenobserved in carbon and nutrient concentrations, loads, and export andretention behavior in both systems. The simultaneous retention of particulatecarbon and nitrogen and the net export of dissolved organic and inorganiccarbon and nitrogen suggested that degradation of particulate organic matterwas the dominant process influencing the river biogeochemistry during thewet season in the Barotse Plains and during the dry season in the KafueFlats. Reverse trends during the dry season indicated that primaryproduction was important in the Barotse Plains, whereas the Kafue Flatsseemed to have both primary production and respiration occurring during thewet season, potentially occurring spatially separated in the main channeland on the floodplain.  Carbon-to-nitrogen ratios of particulate organic matter showed thatsoil-derived material was dominant year-round in the Barotse Plains, whereasthe Kafue Flats transported particulate organic matter that had beenproduced in the upstream reservoir during the wet season. Stable carbonisotopes suggested that inputs from the inundated floodplain to theparticulate organic-matter pool were important during the wet season,whereas permanent vegetation contributed to the material transported duringthe dry season. This study revealed effects of dam construction on organic-matter and nutrient dynamics on the downstream floodplain that only becomevisible after longer periods, and it highlights how floodplains act as largebiogeochemical reactors that can behave distinctly differently from the entirecatchment

Seasonal dynamics of carbon and nutrients from two contrasting tropical floodplain systems in the Zambezi River basin