The chemistry of suspended matter in Esthwaite Water,a biologically productive lake with seasonally anoxic hypolimnion

Ten detailed vertical water column profiles were taken between April and November, 1979, in Esthwaite Water (English Lake district), a lake with high biological productivity and a seasonally anoxic hypolimnion. Measurements of the major-element particle composition (organic C, P, S, Si, Al, Ti, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, and Ba) and hydrochemical constituents (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, total suspended load, dissolved Fe, Mn, P, and Ba) were carried out. These have revealed new information about the mechanisms and kinetics of biogeochemical cycles in a lake.Pronounced seasonal cycles exist in which large excess concentrations (those unsupported by detrital components) of particulate organic C, Fe, Mn, P, S, Mg, K, Ba, and Ca are being generated and lost in situ in the water column (15m deep). In the epilimnion these elements (excepting Fe and Mn) are incorporated into the organic components of growing phytoplankton during the spring and summer. Simultaneously, in the hypolimnion there is a build-up and then a decrease in the excess concentrations of particulate C, P, S, Mg, K, Ba and Ca; this cycle is due to the indirect involvement of these elements with the iron redox cycle. As the hypolimnion becomes anoxic, dissolved ferrous Fe is released from the sediments and large concentrations of excess particulate iron (III) oxides accumulate; these oxides act as adsorbing substrates for the above mentioned elements. As conditions become more reducing, these same elements are solubilized as the iron (III) oxide particles are reduced to dissolved ferrous iron.Adsorption equations are derived from the field data which relate the concentration of excess particulate Fe to those of POC, P, S, Ca, Mg, Ba, and K. At the last stages of anoxia (before the lake overturns) large populations of bacteria and the formation of iron sulfide particles control the concentrations of excess particulate C, S, P, Mg, K, and Ca.