Abstract
A sedimentological study of two dimitic lakes in North-Eastern Germany provided a record of anthropogenic impacts and historical changes of water quality. The upper 50 cm sediment profiles were compared for major nutrients and selected major trace elements. The sediments were dated by 210Pb and 137Cs measurement. The upper 50 cm sediment profiles represent approximately the last 100 years of history in both lakes. Element analyses show different characteristic stratigraphic patterns in both lakes. Based on the nutrient and metal stratification, three characteristic time periods can be documented for both lakes. In addition to agricultural use of the catchment area, atmospheric pollution greatly influenced the metal concentration in the sediment layers. Variation in the external loading and redox conditions in the hypolimnion explain the variation in the composition and accumulation of metals in the sediment stratigraphy. No increases or changes in the trophic level of either lake could be documented based on the accumulation of the nutrients C, N and P. The ratio of Fe/Mn and Fe/Ca characterized the changing redox conditions. The stratigraphy of Pb and Zn agrees with the historical variation in atmospheric pollution and confirms literature values for Central and North Europe. The drop in Pb and Zn over the last 10–15 years is a regional effect in North-Eastern Germany.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abril JM (2003) Difficulties in interpreting fast mixing in the radiometric dating of sediments using 210Pb and 137CS. J Paleolim 30:407–414
Appleby PG, Oldfield F (1983) The assessment of 210Pb dates from sites with varying sediment accumulation rates. Hydrobiol 103:29–35
Appleby PG, Richardson N, Nolan PJ (1992) Self-absorption corrections for well-type germanium detectors. Nucl Instr and Methods 71:228–233
Bengston L, Persson T (1978) Sediment changes in a lake used for sewage reception. Polskie Arch Hydrobiol 25:17–33
Bennion H, Wunsam S, Schmidt R (1995) The validation of diatom-phosphorus transfer functions: an example from Mondsee, Austria. Freshwat Biol 34:271–283
Bostroem B, Andersen JM, Fleischer S, Jansson M (1988) Exchange of phosphorus across the sediment-water interface. Hydrobiol 170:229–244
Dixit SS, Dixit AS, Smol JP (2000) Water quality changes from human activities in three Northestern USA lakes. Lake Reserv Manage 16(4):305–321
Dreßler M, Selig U, Dörfler W, Adler S, Schubert H, Hübener T (2006) Environmental changes and the migration period in northern Germany as reflected in the sediments of Lake Dudinghausen. Quaternary Res 66:25–37
Dreßler M, Hübener T, Goers S, Werner P, Selig U (2007) Multi-proxy reconstruction of trophic state, hypolimnetic anoxia and phototrophic sulphur bacteria abundance in a dimictic lake in Northern Germany over the past 80 years. J Paleolim 37(2):205–219
Einsele W (1936) Über die Beziehung des Eisenkreislaufes zum Phosphorkreislauf in eutrophen See. Arch Hydrobiol 29:664–684
Engstrom DR, Wright Jr HE (1984) Chemical stratigraphy of lake sediments as a record of environmental change. In: Lund JWG (ed) Lake sediments and environmental history. Haworth, EY, pp 11–67
Gallagher L, MacDonald RW, Paton DW (2004) The historical record of metals in sediments from six lakes in the fraser river basin, British Columbia. Water Air Soil Pollut 152:257–278
Garrison PJ, Wakeman RS (2000) Use of paleolimnology to document the effect of lake shoreland development on water quality. J Paleolim 24:369–393
Goslar T, Ralska-Jasiewiczowa M, van Geel B, Lacka B, Szeroczynka K, Chrost L, Walanus A (1999) Anthropogenic changes in the sediment composition of Lake Gosciaz (central Poland), during the last 330 yrs. J Paleolim 22:171–185
Hongve D (2003) Chemical stratigraphy of recent sediments from a depth gradient in a meromictic lake, Nordbytjernet, SE Norway, in relation to variable external loading and sedimentary fluxes. J Paleolim 30:75–93
Itkonen A, Marttila V, Meriläinen JJ, Salonenv P (1999) 8000—year history of palaeoproductivity in a large boreal lake. J Paleolim 21:271–294
Kemp ALW, Thomas RL, Dell CI, Jaquet JM (1976) Cultural impact on geochemistry of sediments in Lake Erie. J Fish Res Board Can 33(3):440–462
Kenney WF, Schelske CL, Chapman AD (2001) Changes in polyphosphate sedimentation: a response to excessive phosphorus enrichment in a hypereutrophic lake. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:879–887
Koinig KA, Shotyk W, Lotter AF, Ohlendorf C, Sturm M (2003) 9000 years of geochemical evolution of lithogenic major and trace elements in the sediment of an alpine lake—the role of climate, vegetation, and land-use history. J Paleolim 30:307–320
Löffler H (1986) An early meromictic stage in Lobsigensee (Switzerland) as evidenced by ostracods and Chaoborus. Hydrobiol 143:309–314
Loizeau JL, Span D, Coppee V, Dominik J (2001) Evolution of the trophic state of Lake Annecy (eastern France) since the last glaciation as indicated by iron, manganese and phosphorus speciation. J Paleolim 25:205–214
Lotter AF (2001) The paleolimnology of Soppensee (Central Switzerland), as evidenced by diatom, pollen, and fossil-pigment analyses. J Paleolim 25:65–79
Neumann T, Christiansen C, Clasen S, Emeis KC, Kunzendorf H (1997) Geochemical records of salt-water inflows into the deep basin of the Baltic Sea. Cont Shelf Res 17(1):95–115
OECD (1982) Eutrophications of waters. Monitoring, assessment and control. OECD report, OECD Paris, 154 pp
Olsson S, Regnell J, Persson A, Sandgren P (1997) Sediment-chemistry response to land-use change and pollutant loading in a hypertrophic lake, southern Sweden. J Paleolim 17:275–294
Penn MR, Auer MT, Van Orman EL, Korienek JJ (1995) Phosphorus diagenesis in lake sediments: investigations using fractionation techniques. Mar Freshwater Res 46:89–99
Psenner R, Pucsko R, Sager M (1984) Die Fraktionierung organischer und anorganischer Phosphorbindungen von Sedimenten–Versuch einer Definition ökologisch wichtiger Fraktionen. Arch Hydrobiol Suppl 70:111–155
Rippey B (1990) Sediment chemistry and atmospheric contamination. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 327:311–317
Schaller T, Moor HC, Wehrli B (1997) Sedimentary profiles of Fe, Mn, V, Cr, As and Mo recording signals of changing deep-water oxygen conditions in Baldeggersee. Aquat Sci 59:345–361
Scharf BW (1998) Eutrophication history of Lake Arendsee (Germany). Palaeogeograph Palaeo-climatol Palaeoecol 140:85–96
Selig U, Schlungbaum G (2003) Characterisation and quantification of phosphorus release from profundal bottom sediments in two dimictic lakes during summer stratification. J Limnol 62(2):151–162
Selig U, Hübener T, Schwarz A, Leipe T (2002) The environmental history investigations of a postglacial dimictic lake in North Germany. Proc Int Assoc Limnol 28:1340–1344
Selig U, Hübener T, Heerkloss R, Schubert H (2004) Vertical gradient of nutrients in two dimictic lakes—influence of phototrophic sulfur bacteria on the nutrient balance. Aquat Sci 66(3):247–256
Selig U, Fischer K, Leipe T (2005) Phosphorus accumulation in lake sediments during the last 14,000 years: description by fractionation techniques and X-ray micro analysis. J Freshwater Ecol 20(2):347–359
Ter Braak CJF, Van Dam H (1989) Inferring pH from diatoms: a comparison of old and new calibration methods. Hydrobiol 178:209–223
Verardo DJ, Froelich PN, McIntyre A (1990) Determination of organic carbon and nitrogen in marine sediments using the Carlo Erba NA-1500 Analyser. Deep Sea Res 37:157–165
Walker IR, Levesque AJ, Cwynar LC, Lotter AF (1997) An expanded surface-water palaeotemperature inference model for use with fossil midges from eastern Canada. J Paleolim 18:165–178
Acknowledgments
We gratefully thank Dr. Helmut Erlenkeuser, Leibniz Laboratory for Radiometric Research of the University Kiel, for analysis of 210Pb and 137CS activity profiles. The Ministry of Environmental Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, supported this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Selig, U., Leipe, T. Stratigraphy of nutrients and metals in sediment profiles of two dimictic lakes in North-Eastern Germany. Environ Geol 55, 1099–1107 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1058-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1058-2