The unique environment of the most acidified permanently meromictic lake in the Czech Republic

Changes in the water properties and biological characteristics of the highly acidic Hromnice Lake (Western Bohemia) were investigated. This 110-year-old lake, formed as a consequence of the mining of pyritic shales, is permanently meromictic. Two chemoclines separate an extremely acidic (pH ～ 2.6) mixolimnion from a metal-rich anoxic monimolimnion. The absence of spring mixolimnetic turnover due to ice melting and very slow heat propagation through the chemocline with a 6-month delay were observed. Extreme mixolimnetic oxygen maxima (up to 31 mg l^?1) in phosphorus-rich lake (PO₄^3? up to 1.6 mg l^?1) well correlated with outbursts of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton consist of several acido-tolerant species of the genera Coccomyxa, Lepocinclis, Chlamydomonas and Chromulina. Surface phytoplankton biomass expressed as chlorophyll-a varies from 2 to 140 μg l^?1. Multicellular zooplankton are almost absent with the exception of Cephalodella acidophila, a small rotifer occurring in low numbers. Large red larvae of the midge Chironomus gr. plumosus were found at the bottom close to the shore, with larvulae in the open water. Developmental stages (protonemata) of a moss, resembling filamentous algae, dwell in the otherwise plant-free littoral zone.     

Phylogenetic Diversity of Microorganisms from Chemocline of the Meromictic Soda Lake Doroninskoe(Zabaikalie,Russia)

正1 Introduction Many soda and salt lakes are characterized by the formation of the meromictic conditions under which a part of the water column is not involved in the annual process of mixing(Mac Intyre,Melack,1982).This creates an     

Microbial activity and biogeochemical cycling in a nutrient-rich meromictic acid pit lake

Microbial activity, abundance and biomass, and biogeochemical cycling of iron, sulphur and carbon were studied in the extremely acidic (pH 2.5-4.3), meromictic, nutrient-rich pit lake Cueva de la Mora in Spain. The goal was to find out (1) if the relatively high nutrient content influenced plankton abundance in the water column and alkalinity-producing microbial processes in the sediments compared to other acid pit lakes, and (2) if sediments in the shallow, mixed and the deep, stagnant parts of the lake exhibited differences in microbial activities and geochemical sediment composition related to meromixis. We hypothesised that redox cycling was more intense in the mixed part and higher amounts of reduced components would accumulate in the stagnant part. Especially phytoplankton biomass, CO₂ production, and sulphate reduction were indeed higher than reported from typical acid pit lakes and were rather within the range of neutral or weakly acidic lakes, which can be attributed to the relatively high nutrient contents of Cueva de la Mora. Even in the monimolimnion, anaerobic processes occurred mainly in the sediments. Sediments from the mixed and stagnant parts of the lake differed markedly in their biogeochemistry. Mixolimnetic sediments showed high iron and sulphate reduction rates, and they appeared to undergo substantial recycling, as supported by reactive Fe, relation between gross sulphate reduction rate and net accumulation of reduced sulphur, and viable counts of iron and sulphur bacteria. Monimolimnetic sediments exhibited lower anaerobic microbial activities, and surprisingly they accumulated more Fe(II) than mixolimnetic sediments, but less reduced sulphur and carbon. This might be explained by a strong separation of the two water bodies, resulting in comparably less input of energy (light) and allochthonous matter into the monimolimnion. Regarding the total extent of alkalinity-generating microbial processes, their net effect is not sufficient to neutralise the lake within decades.     

Autotrophic response to lake age,conductivity and temperature in two West Greenland lakes

Predicted changes in future climate necessitate a better understanding of climate impacts on lake biota, and the role of within-lake processes in modifying biotic response. Therefore we examined two climate-related variables (lake-water conductivity and GRIP temperatures) and lake ontogeny (lake age), to determine their influence on lake autotrophic communities in two neighbouring closed-basin lakes from West Greenland spanning the past 8,000 years. Using sedimentary pigments as proxies for lake autotrophic communities, we used synchrony and variance partitioning analyses (VPA) to test three specific hypotheses (a) that lake primary production would increase with lake age, (b) that climate would be the dominant process controlling autotrophic communities in these pristine lakes and (c) that the response of autotrophs to conductivity and temperature would vary depending upon the age of the lake. The results supported our first hypothesis, showing that lakes changed significantly with age, exhibiting an increase and decline in production in the first millennium of their existence, followed by a steady increase in production and increasingly frequent abrupt switches between mixed and meromictic states. The highly synchronous detrended response (r = 0.769) of lake autotrophs in the two study lakes, supported our hypothesis that climate was the dominant factor controlling lake autotrophs. However, VPA revealed that our climate-related variables (temperature and conductivity) explained only small amounts of variance alone (<12.9%) because covariance among them hindered efficient partitioning. In support of our third hypothesis, autotrophs responded significantly to temperature and conductivity in interaction with lake age (>50% variance explained) and with each other (>28% variance explained), such that autotrophic response changed as lakes aged. In spite of this, lakes sometimes responded independently, as a result of differences in the relative proportion of benthic to pelagic production and because of differences in lake morphometry. Together these results show that long-term control of lake autotrophs by climate and lake age is modified on shorter timescales by non-linear responses related to within-lake processes, and by the interaction of different climate variables with each other and with lake age.     

Holocene environmental history in northwest Finnish Lapland reflected in the multi-proxy record of a small subarctic lake

A 2.5-m-long sediment core was retrieved from Lake Somaslampi, a small lake located in a kame field on the north slope of the Scandes Mountains in Finnish Lapland. Holocene environmental changes were inferred from the lithological, geochemical, pollen, diatom and Cladocera records stored in the lake sediment. The chronology was based on six radiocarbon AMS dates supported by a palynological control chronology. The sediment profile consists of a glacial sedimentary sequence truncated by a lacustrine one. A hiatus, tentatively correlated with climate cooling and advances of glaciers during the 8.2 ka yrs BP “Finse cooling Event”, occurs between these sequences. The glacial sequence was composed of fluvioglacial clastics, smoothly changing into glacio-lacustrine diatomaceous ooze deposited in a meromictic proglacial lake that covered the kame field. The meromixis was probably caused by the greater depth of the lake, the extended ice-cover, and the microbial mats covering large areas of the lake bottom. A distinct change in the biota of the glacio-lacustrine sediments indicates higher trophic conditions than during deposition of the fluvioglacial clastics. The late-Pleistocene vegetation was characterised by subarctic birch tundra vegetation (Betula–Salix–Ericaceae) with low biodiversity gradually changing to Betula–Pinus dominance in the early Holocene. The lake was deep and had a diatom inferred pH ~ 7 indicated also by the dominance of planktonic Cladocera. The base of the lacustrine sediment sequence (6,650–6,300 cal. BP) consisted of loess-rich sediment indicating an increase in eolian activity. This is also supported by the pollen record, which is dominated by more long-distant taxa such as Alnus and Pinus, and by the increased C/N ratio of the sediment. After the initial meromictic phase of the lake, an abrupt lowering of the water level occurred. Lake Somaslampi was isolated from the larger Pre-Lake Somas basin and became holomictic, shallow, much warmer and more productive, until the deterioration of climate around 3,000 yr BP and the increased input of clastics from the tundra soils. The vegetation followed the general climatic trend by gradually changing from the dominance of Betula and Pinus to the dominance of more tundra-related vegetation like Poaceae and Cyperaceae. However, the higher frequencies of planktonic Cladocera and centric diatoms in the most recent sediments indicates higher trophic conditions, increased turbulence and a prolonged ice-free period, which can possibly be linked to the recent climate warming especially in areas of higher altitude and latitude.     

Volatile Organic Sulfur Compounds in a Meromictic Alpine Lake

The full spectrum of volatile sulfur compounds was detected in the water column of the permanently stratified meromictic Lake Cadagno. Besides hydrogen sulfide it included methanethiol, carbonyl sulfide, dimethyl sulfide, carbon disulfide, and dimethyl disulfide. Their distribution in the water column suggests that these compounds are of biogenic origin. Except for carbon disulfide which is present in all layers of Lake Cadagno, these volatile organic sulfur compounds are restricted to the anoxic part of the lake. For methanethiol, dimethyl sulfide, and carbon disulfide maximum concentrations were observed in the redox transition zone and in the sediment porewater. Carbon disulfide is the most abundant volatile organic sulfur compound with concentrations of up to 60 μmol L^–1. The concentrations of the methylated sulfides are in the nmolar range. Although their concentrations varied during the summer months, seasonal trends of the concentrations of volatile organic sulfur compounds did not follow a consistent pattern. The restriction of most sulfur species to the anoxic layers of the lake indicates that their production originates from anaerobic microbial degradation of biomass and not from its release from a specific precursor like dimethylsulfoniumpropionate as in marine environments.     

Disturbance of meromixis in saline Lake Shira (Siberia,Russia): Possible reasons and ecosystem response

Saline Lake Shira (Southern Siberia, Russia) was meromictic through the observation period 2002–2015. During the under-ice periods of 2015 and 2016, complete mixing of the water column was recorded for the first time, and hydrogen sulphide temporarily disappeared from the water column of the lake; i.e. in those years the lake turned to holomixis. In the summer of 2015, a sharp increase in chlorophyll a, organic carbon, zooplankton, and phytoflagellates was observed in the lake, which was probably due to the release of nutrients from the monimolimnion. Purple sulfur bacteria completely disappeared from the lake after the first mixing in 2015, and did not reappear despite the restoration of meromixis in 2017. Thus, it was demonstrated that purple sulfur bacteria are sensitive to the weakening of the stratification of Lake Shira. Based on the data of the seasonal monitoring of temperature and salinity profiles over the period 2002–2017, it was presumed that the main cause of deep mixing in 2015 was the weakening of the salinity gradient due to strong wind impact and early ice retreat in the spring of 2014. In addition, it was shown that in previous years a significant contribution to the maintenance of meromixis was made by an additional influx of fresh water, which caused a rise in the lake level in the period 2002–2007. Thus, we identified a relationship between the stratification regime of the lake and the change in its level, which provides valuable information both for the forecast of water quality and for reconstruction of the Holocene climate humidity in this region of Southern Siberia from the sediment cores of Lake Shira.     

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

Cores of recent sediments were sampled along a depth gradient in a 23 m deep kettle lake with stagnant deep waters containing exceptionally high concentrations of dissolved iron and manganese. Sediment cores were taken on two occasions, in 1978 and 1997, before and after an incidence of full circulation. The aims of this study are to see how oxic and anoxic conditions in the water column influence stratigraphy and sediment focusing and, to compare cores from 1979 and 1998 to see how measured element fluxes and external events are reflected in the chemical stratigraphy. Element analyses show characteristic stratigraphic patterns that depend on the ability to undergo redox transformations, sorptive properties and chemical equilibria in the anoxic deep waters and porewaters. In sediments from the oxic part of the lake Al, Cr, Co, Ni, Zn Cu, Cd, and Pb were well correlated. Positive correlations are seen between elements associated with primary production and sulphur. In the anoxic part of the lake most metals were positively correlated with carbonate. Phosphorus correlated positively with iron in sediments from oxic waters and negatively with manganese and iron deep-water sediments. Porewater analyses indicate that recycling from the deep-water sediments was negligible. The stratigraphy of lead agrees with the historic variation in atmospheric input and is used as a chronological marker. Assessed deposition rates agree with measurements in sediment traps. Most elements more than double their rates of deposition towards the deepest point of the lake, while sulphur, manganese and carbonate had maxima around the depth of the redoxcline in the water. Variations in the external loading and variable redox conditions in the deep waters explain variations in the chemical composition of recent sediments.