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The purpose of this study was to better understand the link between dissolved organic matter (DOM) in soil leachates and the different vegetation cover types in a boreal forest. Soil cores were collected from the Caribou Poker Creeks Research Watershed (CPCRW) and subjected to a laboratory leaching procedure. The leachates were subjected to a number of analytical tests, including pyrolysis-gas chromotagraphy/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS). Py-GC/MS is a molecular fingerprinting technique that proved capable of characterizing the DOM obtained from the various soil leachates. The molecular fingerprint and vegetation types were compared with Student's t test and principal component analysis. Results from these tests support a conclusion that the characteristics of cover vegetation can be detected in leachates. Coniferous and deciduous trees could be statistically differentiated based on their molecular fingerprints with statistical significance (p < 0.005). By using, the combination of py-GC/MS and rigorous multivariate statistical analysis one can better understand the source of DOM based on characteristics it retains. Key words: py-GC/MS, DOM, molecular fingerprint, leachate.

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