The Suitability of a South Pennine (UK) Reservoir as an Archive of Recent Environmental Change

Abstract

The suitability of a south Pennine (UK) reservoir as an archive of recent environmental change Yeloff, D.; Labadz, J.C.; Hunt, C.O. General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Key words: Blanket peat erosion, Industrial Pb deposition, Pollen, Reservoir sediment, South Pennines AbstractThe suitability of a south Pennine reservoir as an archive of recent industrial pollution (Pb deposition) and vegetation change was assessed by comparing the sediment record of Pb and pollen with a local blanket peat profile, and the modelled regional SO 2 deposition since 1840. The pollen-based record of vegetation change from the reservoir sediments was obscured by high inputs of eroded peat from the surrounding catchment. Total fluxes of Pb from the catchment into the reservoir varied between 0.05 and 2.67 kg km À2 year À1 during a 7 year period of increased peat erosion (1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984). The presence of concentration peaks in the Pb profile of the blanket peat may have been caused by changes in sulphide or redox chemistry within the peat profile. Large variations in influxes of Pb to the reservoir occurred during periods of increased peat erosion, suggesting the record of aerial pollution deposition has been obscured by terrestrial inputs. Extensive areas of blanket peat in the south Pennines have been subject to denudation, suggesting reservoirs in the region and other areas of high erosion and sediment flux are unsuitable for producing accurate records of the aerial deposition of pollen rain and Pb pollution. The ecological implications of highly variable fluxes of heavy metal contaminants from extensively eroded blanket bogs to ecosystems downstream are poorly understood.

Forecasting the outbreak of moorland wildfires in the English Peak District

“…1 Firedamaged-peat is eroded and deposited in reservoirs where it discolours drinking water supplies and reduces water storage capacity. Heavy metals deposited from airborne industrial pollution in previous centuries are disturbed by burning and leach into water catchments from exposed peat (Yeloff et al, 2005;Rothwell et al, 2005). Large fires may close major roads and force rerouting of flights to Manchester Airport for short periods at considerable cost.…”

Seasonal Dynamics of Trace Elements in Tidal Salt Marsh Soils as Affected by the Flow-Sediment Regulation Regime

“…Contamination of sediments with trace elements is a major concern [1], [2]. Moreover, these trace elements can be transferred and carried downstream into wetland ecosystems, and accumulate in wetland soils [3], [4].…”

Historic and contemporary sediment transfer in an upland Pennine catchment, UK

“…Mean annual estimates of sediment yields based on reservoir sediment accumulation are therefore not directly comparable to inflows monitored annually over short timescales. For this reason, yield estimations calculated from reservoir sedimentation that has accumulated over the past 67 years provide the most accurate estimate of annual sediment yield for the Burnhope Reservoir catchment but do not necessarily provide the best record of environmental change in the catchment (Yeloff et al, 2005). This budget is a spatial representation of sediment transfer to Burnhope Reservoir and provides a basis for further investigation into identification of sediment sources.…”

“…Lakes and reservoirs are low energy environments that provide excellent sinks for catchment sediments and as such provide sedimentary archives of geomorphological activity within catchment systems through time (Shotbolt et al, 2005). In upland regions of the UK, the combined approach of determining drainage basin sediment yields from sedimentation in water bodies and estimating sediment fluxes from fluvial monitoring has been used to investigate catchment disturbance as a result of human activity and climatic variability (Yeloff et al, 2005). Studies of erosion from sites in upland Wales (Francis, 1990), the southern Pennines (Labadz, 1988;Butcher et al, 1993;White, 1993), Scotland (Ledger et al, 1974;Duck and McManus, 1990) and northern England (Foster and Lees, 1999) have enhanced understanding of sediment delivery from upland catchments in the UK.…”

“…This provides evidence of potential sediment reworking within the reservoir by rapid water-level rise after drought. regional pollution (Yeloff et al, 2005) and fire (Yeloff et al, 2006). Macklin et al (1992) investigated coarse-grained flood deposits and earlier Holocene alluvial tills in Thinhope Burn catchment, North Pennines.…”