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Long-term dynamics of watershed leaching and lake sediment sequestration of rare earth elements following deglaciation of two mountain watersheds

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Abstract

Sediment cores from Sargent Mountain Pond, Maine, USA and Plešné Lake, southwestern Czech Republic, record the entire post-glacial terrestrial vegetation, lake algal communities, and chemical dynamics of the watershed and lake from 16,600 and 14,600 Cal Yr BP, respectively, to the present. Both watersheds are underlain by granite, and overlain by till. Total rare earth element (REE) concentrations and fluxes to the sediment declined from deglaciation until forest developed slightly prior to the Younger Dryas (YD) (12,600–11,600 Cal Yr BP) at Sargent Mountain Pond, and immediately after the YD at Plešné Lake, peaked in value just after the YD, and then declined to the present. Before the YD, REE concentrations were dominated by detrital, soluble apatite [Ca5(PO4)3(OH)]. Weathering of apatite contributed the phosphorus (P) sequestered as NaOH-extractable P in the lake sediment. After the YD, REE concentrations and fluxes behave coherently with NaOH-extractable aluminum (Al) and P after forestation in each catchment. Concentrations of extractable REEs, P, and Al peak after the YD and decline coherently to the present. We hypothesize that as climate ameliorated after glaciation, afforestation occurred and organic-rich forest soils developed. These soils produced higher concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soil water and runoff. Concurrently, the weathering of apatite released PO4 and Ca to runoff, raising pH to ~8. The soil DOC complexed with and mobilized Al and REEs, which were transported to the lakes in runoff. There, photo-oxidation of the Al–DOC and REE–DOC complexes caused release of ionic, inorganic Al and REEs, precipitation of Al(OH)3 in the higher-pH environment, adsorption of REEs and PO4 by the Al(OH)3, and irreversible sedimentation. REE concentrations and fluxes declined from the YD to the present because the apatite was progressively depleted in the soil by weathering, while REEs were increasingly retained by secondary Al(OH)3 [and Fe(OH)3 to a lesser degree] in the soil. The adsorption ability of soil and water-column Al(OH)3 for P increased, but for REEs likely declined, as the watershed soils developed and acidified. This natural process was further magnified by atmospheric acidification, as indicated by changes in diatom assemblages.

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Acknowledgments

Access to Sargent Mountain Pond (SMP) was supported by the staff of Acadia National Park. We thank George L. Jacobson for leading the coring of SMP. Coring, 14C dating, and chemical analyses for the core were supported by US National Science Foundation Grant DEB-0415348 (Norton et al.) and by the University of Strasbourg/CNRS while Pierret was on sabbatical leave at the University of Maine, supported by a Fulbright Fellowship for 2010–2011. REE analysis was supported by the Climate Change Institute, University of Maine and by the LHYGES, University of Strasbourg (thanks to René Boutin for the ICP-MS analyses). Andrea Nurse (Climate Change Institute, University of Maine) isolated samples for 14C analysis, and supervised the sub-sampling of the SMP core. We thank R. Schmidt from the Institute for Limnology, Mondsee, Austria for sampling of the Plešné Lake sediment. Dating and determination of Ti concentrations in this core were supervised by Josef Veselý (†2006) from the Czech Geological Survey. We are grateful to John Boyle (University of Liverpool) and an anonymous reviewer for very constructive input, enabling us to substantially improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 314 BGSC, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469-5790, USA

    Stephen A. Norton

  2. Laboratoire d’Hydrologie et de Géochimie de Strasbourg LHYGES, University of Strasbourg/CNRS, Strasbourg, France

    Marie-Claire Pierret

  3. Biology Centre CAS, Institute of Hydrobiology and University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

    Jiří Kopáček

  4. University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Michael J. Handley

  5. State University of New York - Fredonia, Fredonia, NY, USA

    Randall H. Perry

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  1. Stephen A. Norton
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Correspondence to Stephen A. Norton.

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Norton, S.A., Pierret, MC., Kopáček, J. et al. Long-term dynamics of watershed leaching and lake sediment sequestration of rare earth elements following deglaciation of two mountain watersheds. J Paleolimnol 55, 209–222 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-015-9872-0

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