The separation of the influence of nutrients and climate on the varve time-series of baldeggersee, Switzerland

The varve data-set from a freeze-core taken in the deepest part of Baldeggersee was subjected to different multivariate statistical analyses in order to estimate the amount of variance in the varve thickness measures explicable by past climate and by the trophic state of the lake. A comparison of two different time-periods (1902 to1992 versus 1920 to 1980) revealed that the lake restoration programme since 1982 has had a significant impact on the formation of the seasonal layers. Results of the partitioning of the variance in the varve thickness measures showed that about two thirds of the variance are unexplained by a climate and trophic state model and that trophic state explains 6%, whereas climate accounts for about 28% of the variance before the effect of lake restoration had a strong impact on the varves. Among the climate parameters the amount of annual precipitation is a strong predictor for explaining the thickness of both dark layer and total couplet thickness, whereas summer precipitation is important for the thickness of the light layer.     

The Taconite Inlet Lakes Project: a systems approach to paleoclimatic reconstruction

A comprehensive study of meteorological, hydrological, limnological and sedimentological conditions in the watersheds of density-stratified (meromictic) lakes around Taconite Inlet, Northern Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada was carried out from 1990–1992. Lakes C1 and C2 contain seawater trapped by isostatic uplift as the former embayments became isolated from the sea. These lakes, and Lake C3, contain varved sediments which provide an annually resolvable paleoclimatic record. By studing the major systems influencing sedimentation in one of these lakes (Lake C2) a better understanding of the climatic controls on varve formation, and hence on the paleoclimatic signal in the varved sediment record, was obtained. The varves of Lake C2 provide a proxy record of summer temperature for the region.This is the first in a series of papers published in this issue on the Taconite Inlet Lakes Project. These papers were collected by Dr R. S. Bradley.     

The glacilacustrine sedimentary environment of Bowser Lake in the northern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada

Bowser Lake, a fiord lake in the northern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, contains a thick Holocene fill consisting mainly of silt and clay varves. These sediments were carried into the lake by proglacial Bowser River which drains a high-energy, heavily glacierized basin. Sedimentation in the lake is controlled by seasonal snow and ice melt, by autumn rainstorms, and by rare, but very large jökulhlaups from glacier-dammed lakes in the upper Bowser River basin which complicate environmental inferences from the sedimentary record. Sediment is dispersed through the deep western part of the lake by energetic turbidity currents. The turbidity currents apparently do not overtop a sill that separates the western basin from much shallower areas to the east. Large amounts of silt and clay are deposited from suspension in the eastern part of the lake, but sediment accumulation rates there are much lower than to the west. Several strong acoustic reflectors punctuate the varved fill in the western basin; these may be thick or relatively coarse beds deposited during jökulhlaups or exceptionally large storms. The contemporary sediment yield to Bowser Lake, estimated from sediments in the lake, is about 360 t km^-2a^-1. This is a relatively high value, but it is less than yields insome other, similar montane basins with extensive snow and ice cover.The most likely explanation for the difference is that large amounts of sediment have been, and continue to be, stored on the Bowser delta andin small proglacial lakes.     

A high resolution proxy-climate record from an arctic lake with annually-laminated sediments on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada

Sediments from a 3 ha lake (75 °34.34N, 89 °18.55W) from the coastal region of northern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada, contain discrete laminations in the deepest part of the basin. The laminations are varves as indicated by the correspondence between counts and thickness measurements of the couplets and ²¹⁰Pb dating. A 14 cm core representing 150 years of sedimentation contained laminated couplets consisting of a lighter inorganic layer with a higher percentage of calcium and magnesium, alternating with fine darker bands, typically more cohesive, and comprising higher proportions of silica and carbon. A reddish oxidation zone with higher iron and aluminum frequently separates the laminations. The dark layer represents a biogenic component deposited in summer and is made cohesive by bacterial filaments among the other particles. The light inorganic layer represents clastic deposition from allochthonous sources. Deposition rates were relatively consistent through the core with an increase in varve thickness in the 1950s. Diatom concentrations in the sediments increased by two orders of magnitude in this century, with major increases in the 1920s and 1950s. The increase in varve thickness and diatom abundance coincides with an increase in summer melt percentage in an ice core from the Devon Island Ice Cap (Koerner, 1977). The relatively high sedimentation rate (0.15 cm yr^-1) coupled with the consistency of deposition makes this lake a significant indicator for recent climate changes of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.     

Spatial uniformity of sediment accumulation in varved lake sediments in northern Sweden

As part of an investigation aimed at assessing the potential of northern Swedish varved lake sediments for fine-resolution reconstruction of past climatic conditions, the following questions were addressed; how representative is a single core, does the appearance of varves change as the sediment ages, and how can varve thickness and within-varve structures be digitized? Analyses of replicate cores from Kassjön, using sample sequences of seasonal, annual and centennial time resolution, show that spatial variability of sediment accumulation in the varved sediment is very low. Comparisons of intensity curves from image analysis of freeze cores of recent sediments from Lake Nylandssjön, sampled in 1980 and 1985, indicate that the varves acquire their appearance at the sediment-water interface during sedimentation and that the varve structures are preserved during diagenetic processes. Measurement of varve thicknesses with a tree-ring microscope and with image analysis gave similar results. However, with image analysis, within-varve structures such as colour variations and thicknesses of seasonal layers, can also be recorded, increasing the possibilities for palaeolimnological and palaeoclimatic inferences.     

Drainage ditch erosion history as recorded in the varved sediment of a small lake in East Finland

Short core stratigraphy of total N, P, Zn, Hg and diatoms were investigated in the varved sediment of Lake Heinälampi, a small 8 m deep pond in East Finland. The sediment has recently changed from organic mud to minerogenic silt. The presence of varved sediment offers independent control for ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs dates and these are in good agreement: the sediment quality initially changed around the year 1930 due to increaed field erosion, and the inflow of mineral matter was further increased by ditching of paludified forests in 1980.Diatom analysis reveals that eutrophication has occurred before and concurrent with the sedimentary change. The causes of eutrophication and the increased levels of Zn and Hg are discussed.     

Recent sedimentation in a high arctic lake, northern Ellesmere Island, Canada

A multiple core study was conducted on laminated minerogenic sediments from Lake C2, Northern Ellesmere Island, Canadian High Arctic. Lateral persistence, distal thinning, variation in grain size of these laminations as well as present-day processes of highly seasonal sediment transfer into the lake basin suggest that clastic varves have been formed. Sedimentation rates based on ²¹⁰Pb dating agree well with sedimentation rates based on lamination counts giving further evidence that laminations are annual. Errors in varve counting were reduced from 12% to < 2% using the multi-core approach of cross-correlating all records. Varved sediments are occasionally interrupted by thick coarse-grained layers, which are interpreted as deposits of turbidity currents and may be related to extremely high discharge events and slope failures of the delta front. Micro-laminated sediments spanning the last two centuries were studied in detail. Suspension settling is the dominant process of deposition depending upon stream discharge which is controlled by nival melt and summer temperatures. Application of varve chronology thus allows to use lamination thickness measurements as source of high resolution proxy data for palaeoclimatic reconstruction.This is the fifth in a series of papers published in this issue on the Taconite Inlet Lakes Project. These papers were collected by Dr R. S. Bradley.     

SEDIMENT TRANSPORT, DELTA GROWTH AND SEDIMENTATION IN LAKE NIGARDSVATN, NORWAY

ABSTRACT. The retreat of Nigardsbreen, an outlet glacier from the ice-cap Jostedalsbreen in south-central Norway, from its largest extent during the Little Ice Age, uncovered a proglacial lake during 1936–1967. This lake, Nigardsvatn, has been studied since 1968 in order to obtain data on solid material carried by the meltwater stream from the glacier, both in suspension and as bottom load. Between 70 and 85% of the suspended sediment has been deposited on the lake bottom, forming annual varves. The coarse material has been deposited in a delta, the formation of which started in 1968. Its growth, and hence the volume of total annual bottom load, has been surveyed annually for the past 36 years. In 1969 the entire bottom load was collected by building a fence-like net across the river. Material >3 cm was caught by this net, and formed approximately half the amount of suspended sediment transport during the same three-week period. Annual average deposition on the delta was 11800×10³ kg for the period 1968–2003. This is almost the same amount as carried in suspension from the glacier on an annual mean basis for the 36-year period. If conditions remain constant, the lake will be completely filled in about 500 years. The glacier erosion is calculated to be 0.3 mm/a.     

Spatial and interannual variations in sedimentation patterns recorded in nonglacial varved sediments from the Canadian High Arctic

Multiple cores taken throughout Nicolay Lake in the Canadian High Arctic contain laminated sediments that are interpreted as varved. Annual sediment accumulation during the last 197 years reveals three major patterns that have important implications for hydroclimatic reconstruction. Widespread sediment dispersal is evident during most years and contrasts with years when anomalous localized and bifurcating patterns of deposition occur. Localized deposition is limited to the centre of the lake and is attributed to turbidity currents that originate on the delta foreslope. In contrast, a bifurcating pattern is produced when the river supplying the delta switches from one to two delta distributaries, resulting in altered proximal accumulation. Principal component analysis reveals additional accumulation anomalies that are sedimentologically indistinct, but constitute important sources of localized variance. The recognition and removal of anomalous deposition patterns is critical for accurate reconstruction of sediment flux from the catchment, particularly in long records where geomorphic conditions may have changed. This study identifies potentially misleading depositional artifacts and a methodology to recognize similar depositional controls in other lakes.