A whole‐basin study of sediment accumulation using stable lead isotopes and flyash particles in an acidified lake, Sweden

Abstract

Using analyses of lead concentrations, lead isotopes ( 206 Pb/ 207 Pb), and spheroidal carbonaceous flyash particles (SCP), we studied sediment accumulation patterns in the acidified lake Härsvatten in southwest Sweden. After determining the natural background 206 Pb/ 207 Pb ratio (1.5) in deeper sediments in long sediment cores from three basins in the lake, we applied an isotope mixing model to quantify pollution Pb accumulation in 46 gravity cores. The mean pollution Pb inventory in the cores was 2.6 g m Ϫ2 (range, 0.3-11 g m Ϫ2 ). Although some variation in Pb concentrations can be explained by loss on ignition (LOI) and water depth (together, R ϭ 0.33), there is no 2 adj relationship between pollution Pb inventories and these variables. Contrary to the traditional model of sediment focusing, where higher accumulations of pollutants are expected in deeper waters, the highest inventories for pollution Pb and SCP are generally found at shallow sites (Ͻ4 m water depth) and not in the three deep basins of the lake (10, 12, and 24 m deep). Furthermore, the model for sediment focusing, which may be appropriate for describing the physical building of sediments in a lake basin, may be inappropriate for describing the specific processes controlling the distribution of pollutants in a lake basin of this type.

Contaminated lead environments of man: reviewing the lead isotopic evidence in sediments, peat, and soils for the temporal and spatial patterns of atmospheric lead pollution in Sweden

“…In Sweden, the sediments up to 3500 BP had consistently high 206 Pb/ 207 Pb ratios in the range of 1.3 to 2.0 Bindler et al 2001Bindler et al , 2009Brännvall et al 2001a). …”

“…1). These archives include lake sediments in Sweden (Renberg et al 1994;Brännvall et al 1999Brännvall et al , 2001aBindler et al 2001); peat deposits in Sweden Klaminder et al 2003), Spain (Martínez-Cortizas et al 2002;Kylander et al 2005), France (Monna et al 2004a, b;Baron et al 2005), Belgium (De Vleeschouwer et al 2007), Switzerland (Shotyk et al 1998), Germany (Le Roux et al 2005, the UK (Le Roux et al 2004;Cloy et al 2008), and Iceland (Marshall et al 2009); and ice records from Greenland and Devon Island (Hong et al 1994;Rosman et al 1997;Zheng et al 2007). …”

Estimating modern carbon burial rates in lakes using a single sediment sample

“…Furthermore, results from our two multiple-core lakes demonstrated that the OC : Pb with fine-grained sediment particles, including organic seston. However, OC from littoral production and particulate carbon from terrestrial sources might focus differently than 210 Pb because of spatially non-uniform loading, especially in complex lake basins with multiple embayments (Bindler et al 2001;Engstrom and Rose 2013). Nonetheless, the relative uniformity of OC: 210 Pb ratios noted above suggests that both constituents are redistributed to the depositional region of a lake in roughly the same proportions.…”

The role of submerged macrophyte beds in phosphorus and sediment accumulation in Lake Memphremagog, Quebec, Canada

“…Finally, the zone of sediment erosion (ZSE), located in high-energy, shallow environments, is characterized by coarse-grained, dense inorganic sediments and low sediment-accretion rates. This pattern, however, does not hold where the littoral zone is colonized by submerged vegetation (James and Barko 1990;Benoy and Kalff 1999;Bindler et al 2001).…”