Tracking eutrophication in Taihu Lake using the diatom record: potential and problems

Taihu Lake is the third largest freshwater lake in China and has been experiencing eutrophication problems for several decades. Diatoms in short sediment cores from three bays in northern Taihu Lake were studied in addition to 1-year of seasonal phytoplankton samples in order to evaluate the rate and magnitude of nutrient enrichment. The dominant species found in the phytoplankton samples appeared in high percentages in the surface sediment samples, suggesting that the latter faithfully record the modern diatom flora. The diatom preservation status varied among the three cores, while in all cores the preservation deteriorated with sediment depth. Due to the superior diatom preservation in the core from Mashan Bay, the fossil diatom record of this core and an established diatom total phosphorus (TP) transfer function were used to reconstruct the nutrient history of Taihu Lake. Diatom assemblages changed from Aulacoseira-dominated to other eutrophic planktonic species, such as Stephanodiscus minutulus, Cyclostephanos tholiformis, Cyclotella atomus, C. meneghiniana and S. hantzschii in ca. 1980. Diatom-inferred TP concentrations exhibited little change prior to 1980, with values around 50 μg/l. However, after 1980 TP concentrations increased significantly and remained in excess of 100 μg/l, reflecting eutrophication of Taihu Lake. Comparison with TP measurements in the water column from 1988 to 2004, as well as the analogue analysis among fossil and modern samples, demonstrates that the diatom-TP inference model can reliably hindcast past TP concentrations. Therefore, the baseline TP value of about 50 μg/l, can be used as a restoration target for Taihu Lake. However, due to the complexity of this very large, shallow aquatic ecosystem, caution should be exercised when employing the diatom record to track eutrophication. Further studies on the mechanism of diatom distribution, evolution and preservation are recommended for Taihu Lake.     

新疆玛纳斯湖沉积物氧同位素记录的古气候信息探讨──与青海湖和色林错比较

内陆封闭湖泊自生碳酸盐氧同位素组成与大气降水同位素组成、空气相对湿度和地面气温这三个参数相关。我国季风带的青海湖与色林错的δ~(18)O曲线非常相似,说明古气候变化受相同因素驱动。在10500～9500aB．P．的末次冰期向全新世的过渡期,这两个湖泊的δ~(18)O值大幅度下降,这是夏季风雨水的低δ~(18)O值的缘故。属于西风带的玛纳斯湖和季风带的青海湖的δ~(18)O曲线基本上是对称的。大约9500～4000aB．P,图形由对称转变为相似,据此推论当时夏季风的影响范围可能达到新疆北部。     

太湖14000年以来古环境演变的湖泊记录

本文根据东西太湖短柱岩芯的沉积物的物理、化学、生物指标的综合分析,讨论了该区距今14ka来的古气候变化过程,结果表明14.3-13.3kaBP,太湖水位低,环境指标甚至表现为暴露特征,反映了气候干旱:13.3-12.4kaBP,为偏暖湿的过渡阶段;该孔柱270-280cm (11.5kaBP左右)各类指标均明显反映冷干特征,可能是YoungerDrays事件的记录,与我国东部其它地区有可比性;约10.9-10kaBP,这一时期是整个研究时段内一个较显著的温暖期。表现为还原沉积环境和水位相对较深;约10-7.2kaBP为冷暖交替的过渡带;7.2-5.737kaBP为暖湿气候;5.05kaBP多项分析指标发生突变,反映物源发生显著变化,可能存在沉积间断;表层沉积物则呈现现代环境的特征,西太湖藻类生长茂盛,偏氧化的沉积环境。目前湖泊生产力较高,富营养化程度高,表现为藻型湖泊特征;东太湖有机质来源以东太湖中生长较为茂盛的维管水生植物为主,目前湖泊生产力较低,富营养化程度低,表现为典型的草型湖泊特征。      

春秋两季鄱阳湖浮游动物的编目、数量分布与变动

分析鉴定了1999年春、秋两季,在鄱阳湖区8个断面24个采样站采得的水样．共观察到各类浮游动物共150种．其中轮虫动物物种最为丰富,为96种,占总种数的64．0％,且单位体积的数量亦呈明显优势,说明轮虫动物是该湖区浮游动物的优势类群;其次为原生动物．24个采样站中,原生动物、轮虫动物、枝角类、桡足类这四类浮游动物个体数量分布的差异极大,其中第10、12、13和23号站中的个体数量较高,超过100ind／L最大数量出现在13号站,个体数量高达1101．60ind／L鄱阳湖浮游动物的数量有明显的季节变动,尤属轮虫的变动最大．本次调查中轮虫和枝角类的数量春季大于秋季,而原生动物和桡足类则秋季大于春季．     

末次冰消期晚期青藏高原东北部气候变化

我国最大的内陆封闭湖泊青海湖的沉积岩芯为研究末次冰期/全新世过渡期间青藏高原东北部的环境变化和季风降水演变提供了连续高分辨率环境档案。对两孔岩芯的多学科研究结果表明:大约14000～11600aB.P.期间气候干冷,湖泊的自生碳酸盐和有机质生产率远低于全新世;季节性入湖径流量在11600aB.P.突然增大;从10700aB.P.起,夏季蒸发量突然增大,干旱化作用导致碳酸盐滩湖环境;区域降水量在10000aB.P.的增大结束了滩湖环境,标志了早全新世温暖较湿气候的开始。全新世早期的青海湖水深比现在要浅20m左右,表明那时的有效湿度显然比现在要低很多。14000～10000aB.P.期间青海湖水深不超过6m,说明在末次冰消期的这一时段中,青藏高原东北部没有形成大规模冰融水。在10700～10000aB.P.期间突发的干旱事件与西欧的新仙女木事件(YoungerDryas)年代相当,但没有气候变冷的证据。青藏高原东北部末次冰消期的气候变化表现了明显的阶段性特征和有效湿度的突然改变。区域季风降水量和夏季温度的变化决定了该过渡期的这种变化格局。     

内蒙古呼伦湖表层沉积物的矿物组成和沉积速率

呼伦湖表层沉积物的取样和分析表明,沉积物主要由碎屑矿物和自生碳酸盐矿物组成。碳酸盐含量为10％—18％。碳酸盐沉积作用与湖水的较高含盐量和碳酸盐过饱和度有关。湖泊中心HL8号柱样的~(210)Pb测定结果是,10cm以上平均沉积速率0.25cm/a,10—12cm为0.05cm/a。60年代开始随湖泊水位上涨沉积物输入量迅速加大。     

The last 40 ka tephrostratigraphic record of Lake Ohrid,Albania and Macedonia: a very distal archive for ash dispersal from Italian volcanoes

A 1075 cm long core (Lz1120) was recovered in the south-eastern part of the Lake Ohrid (Republics of Macedonia and Albania) and sampled for identification of tephra layers. Magnetic susceptibility investigations show rather high magnetic values throughout the core, with peaks unrelated to the occurrence of tephra layers but instead to the relative abundance of detrital magnetic minerals in the sediment. Naked-eye inspection of the core allowed us to identify of two tephra layers, at 896–897 cm and 1070–1075 cm. Laboratory inspection of the grain-size fraction > 125 μm allowed for the identification of a third cryptotephra at 310–315 cm. Major element analyses on glass shards of the tephra layers at 896–897 cm and 1070–1075 cm show a trachytic composition, and indicate a correlation with the regionally dispersed Y-3 and Y-5 tephra layers, dated at ca 30 and 39 cal ka BP. The cryptotephra at 310–315 cm has a mugearitic–benmoreitic composition, and was correlated with the FL eruption of Mt. Etna, dated at 3370 ± 70 cal yr BP. These ages are in agreement with five ¹⁴C AMS measurements carried out on plant remains and macrofossils from the lake sediments at different depths along the core.     

Magnetic properties of recent sediments in Lake Baikal, Siberia

Mineral magnetic measurements of six ²¹⁰Pb-dated surface cores from different basins of Lake Baikal, Siberia, show temporal records controlled by a range of internal and external processes. With the exception of sediments on the Academician Ridge, there is clear evidence for widespread reductive diagenesis effects on the ferrimagnetic component coupled with neo-formation of paramagnetic iron minerals. Greigite formation, bacterial magnetosome accumulation and turbidite layers may affect the properties of some sediment levels. Concentrations of canted antiferromagnetic minerals (eg. haematite) appear to increase from the 19th century onwards. These minerals are less affected by dissolution processes and probably represent detrital minerals delivered by catchment fluvial processes. The magnetic evidence for recent atmospheric pollution by fossil-fuel combustion processes is weak in all the cores, and supports the findings from studies of spherical carbonaceous particles (SCPs) and heavy metals that pollution is largely restricted to the southern basin. Correlations between recent sediments based on magnetic data may be insecure over long distances or between basins.     

Lake Winnipeg: geological setting and sediment seismostratigraphy

Lake Winnipeg, the seventh largest lake in North America, is located at the boundary between the Interior Plains and the Canadian Shield in Manitoba, Canada. Seismic profiles were obtained in Lake Winnipeg on two geoscientific cruises in 1994 and 1996. These data indicate the morphology of the bedrock surface. In most cases, a clear distinction between low relief Paleozoic carbonate rock and high relief Precambrian rock can be made. In northern Lake Winnipeg, the eastern limit of Paleozoic rock is clearly demarcated 30 km west of the previous estimate of its position. In southern Lake Winnipeg, all or most of the Paleozoic sequence terminates at a prominent buried escarpment in the centre of the lake. This indicates that Paleozoic rock on the eastern shore, known from drilling and outcrops, is an outlier. Major moraines are apparent as abrupt, large ridges having a chaotic internal reflection pattern. These include the Pearson Reef Moraine, the George Island Moraine and the offshore extension of The Pas Moraine. Little evidence for extensive or thick till was observed. Instead, fine-grained sediments deposited in glacial Lake Agassiz rest directly on bedrock over most of the lake basin. Hence an episode of erosion to bedrock was associated with glaciation and/or deglaciation. The Agassiz Sequence sediments are well-stratified, drape underlying relief and in some areas are over 100 m thick. In places, stratification in these sediments is disrupted, perhaps by dewatering. Evidence of erosion of Agassiz Sequence sediments by recent currents was observed. The contact between the Agassiz Sequence and the overlying Winnipeg Sequence sediments is a marked angular unconformity. The Agassiz Unconformity indicates up to 10 m of erosion in places. The low-relief character of this unconformity precludes subaerial erosion and the lack of till, moraines, or extensive deformation precludes glacial erosion. Waves appear to be the most likely erosional agent, either in waning Lake Agassiz or early Lake Winnipeg time. Winnipeg Sequence sediments, in places very thin, mantle most of the lakefloor. These sediments were deposited in the present Lake Winnipeg and are faintly stratified to massive and reach about 10 m in thickness in deep water. On the surface of the Winnipeg Sequence, vigorous, episodic currents are thought to contribute to the construction of flow-transverse sand waves as much as 6 m high in a deep, narrow constriction in the lake.     

Holocene lake-level fluctuations and beach-ridge development along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, USA

Geomorphology of a beach-ridge complex and adjacent lake basins along the northern shore of Lake Michigan records fluctuations in the level of Lake Michigan for the last 8000 to 10 000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. (radiocarbon years Before Present). A storm berm at 204.7–206 m (671.6–675.9 ft) exposed in a sandpit provides evidence of a pre-Chippewa Low lake level that is correlated with dropping water levels of Glacial Lake Algonquin (c. 10 300–10 100 ¹⁴C yr B.P.). Radiocarbon dates from organic material exposed in a river cutbank and basal sediments from Elbow Lake, Mackinac Co., Michigan, indicate a maximum age of a highstand of Lake Michigan at 6900 ¹⁴C yr B.P., which reached as high as 196.7 m (645 ft), during the early-Nipissing transgression of Lake Michigan. Basal radiocarbon dates from beach swales and a second lake site (Beaverhouse Lake, Mackinac Co.) provide geomorphic evidence for a subsequent highstand which reached 192.6 m (632 ft) at 5390±70 ¹⁴C yr B.P.Basal radiocarbon dates from a transect of sediment cores, along with tree-ring data, and General Land Office Surveyor notes of a shipwreck, c. A.D. 1846, reveal a late-Holocene rate for isostatic rebound of 22.6 cm/100 radiocarbon years (0.74 ft/100 radiocarbon years) for the northern shore of Lake Michigan, relative to the Lake Michigan-Lake Huron outlet at Port Huron, Michigan. Changes in sediment stratigraphy, inter-ridge distance, and sediment accumulation rates document a mid- to late-Holocene retreat of the shoreline due to isostatic rebound. This regression sequence was punctuated by brief, periodic highstands, resulting in progressive development over the past 5400 ¹⁴C yr of 75 pairs of dune ridges and swales each formed over an interval of approximately 72 years. Times of lake-level fluctuation were identified at 3900, 3200, and 1000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. based on changes in inter-ridge spacing, shifts in the course of Millecoquins River, and reorientation of beach-ridge lineation. Soil type, dune development, and selected pollen data provide supporting evidence for this chronology. Late-Holocene beach-ridge development and lake-level fluctuations are related to a retreat of the dominant Pacific airmass and the convergence of the Arctic and Tropical airmasses resulting in predominantly meridional rather than zonal air flow across the Great Lakes region.This is the 13th in a series of papers published in this special AMQUA issue. These papers were presented at the 1994 meeting of the American Quaternary Association held 19–22 June, 1994, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Dr Linda C. K. Shane served as guest editor for these papers.