Abstract
Previous measurements of the 14C activity of lake sediments and Potamogeton plants from Säynäjälampi, collected in 1970, indicated a severe hard-water effect (Donner et al. 1971). Samples from new cores, collected in 1977, were sliced into thin sections down to 18 cm. The 14C concentration in samples down to 7 cm was similar to that obtained by the Helsinki Laboratory. The corresponding apparent 14C age is almost 2 000 years. Light-coloured layers, apparently due to catchment drainage, were used together with density diagrams to correlate the cores. The drainage history gives a time-scale showing that the lowest samples dated to correlate the cores. The drainage history gives a time-scale showing that the lowest samples dated were just old enough to be pre-bomb sediments. Three samples of submerged plants were also examined, indicating some exchange with the air and an appreciable reservoir age. The activity of the plants was significantly lower in 1978 than in 1970. One sample, well below the lowest drainage stratum, indicates a reservoir age of ca. 1 100 years. This sample yielded an apparent age of the INS fraction which was significantly different from that of the SOL fraction. The difference was determined to ca. 600 years.
Total 210Pb was determined via 210Po using isotope dilution while 226Ra was measured with the help of radon emanation. The 226Ra was used to estimate the supported 210Pb. The unsupported 210Pb showed a higher sediment accumulation rate for the top nine cm of one core (the length investigated was 16.5 cm). The varying accumulation rate was explained by human activities, as could be seen from the heterogenous sediment composition of the cores.
Recent vegetational change is described from direct observations since 1957. Pollen analysis does not give any reliable indication of agriculture.
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Olsson, I.U., El-Daoushy, F. & Vasari, Y. Säynäjälampi and the difficulties inherent in the dating of sediments in a hard-water lake. Hydrobiologia 103, 5–14 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00028421
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00028421