Sedimentary Phosphate Fractions Related to Calcite Precipitation in an Eutrophic Hardwater Lake (Lake Alserio, Northern Italy)

P-fractional composition has been studied in a 64-cm long sediment core collected in an eutrophic hardwater lake (Lake Alserio, northern Italy) in an attempt to identify the main mechanisms (chemical or biologic) controlling CaCO₃ precipitation in the water column. The results of the sedimentary phosphate fractionation showed that the most important P fraction was an organic fraction extracted with hot NaOH: org-P_alkali (26% of P_sed). A digestion of the supernatant of the P-fraction bound to CaCO₃ allowed the detection of a large pool of org-P (19% of P_sed). Although the nature of this fraction is unclear, we suggest that it may be involved in the biologically mediated precipitation of CaCO₃. The high CaCO₃ concentration in the entire vertical sediment profile, as well as the presence of inorg- and org-P bound to Ca in both laminated and non-laminated zones, suggest that the CaCO₃ precipitation is not a recent process but is a process that has been occurring in the lake for some time. Accordingly, the change from a homogeneous sediment to a laminated sequence might be caused by the eutrophication process of Lake Alserio occurring since the 1960s, which has allowed the preservation of the varved sediment as a consequence of the drastic reduction in bioturbation.