Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Identifying sources of organic matter in sediments of shallow lakes using multiple geochemical variables

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Journal of Paleolimnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We analyzed 210Pb-dated sediment cores from four relatively shallow lakes (zmax < 10 m) in the Upper Ocklawaha River Basin, Florida, USA to compare primary producer community structure before and after anthropogenic impacts. We measured physical and chemical sediment variables including density, organic matter (OM), water-soluble phosphorus, polyphosphate (Poly-P), total P (TP), total carbon to total nitrogen mass ratios of OM (TC:TN), biogenic silica (diatoms, sponge spicules), total amorphous silica, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of bulk OM. Principal component analysis showed that diatom biogenic silica, TC:TN, Poly-P and TP displayed discernible stratigraphic changes associated with the shift in the primary producer community. We applied k-means cluster analysis to these variables to identify macrophyte-derived, transitional, and phytoplankton-derived sediments. Our approach provides an objective method for identifying sediment sources that may be applied to shallow lakes in other regions. The four study lakes shifted from a macrophyte-dominated state to a transitional state before major anthropogenic disturbances, and became phytoplankton-dominated after ~1950.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Appleby PG, Oldield F (1983) The assessment of 210Pb data from sites with varying sediment accumulation rates. Hydrobiologia 103:29–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appleby PG, Nolan PJ, Gifford DW, Godfrey MJ, Oldfield F, Anderson NJ, Battarbee RW (1986) 210Pb dating by low background gamma counting. Hydrobiologia 143:21–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battoe LE, Coveney MF, Lowe EF, Stites DL (1999) The role of phosphorus reduction and export in the restoration of Lake Apopka, Florida. In: Reddy KR, O’Connor GA, Schelske CL (eds) Phosphorus biogeochemistry in subtropical ecosystems. CRC/Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, pp 511–526

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford MW (1990) Calculation and uncertainty of 210Pb dates for PIRLA project sediment cores. J Paleolimnol 3:253–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binford MW, Brenner M (1986) Dilution of 210Pb by organic sedimentation in lakes of different trophic states, and application to studies of sediment-water interactions. Limnol Oceanogr 31:584–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner M, Binford MW (1988) Relationships between concentrations of sedimentary variables and trophic state in Florida lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 45:294–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner M, Whitmore TJ, Flannery MS, Binford MW (1993) Paleolimnological methods for defining target conditions in lake restoration: Florida case studies. Lake Reserv Manage 7:209–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner M, Whitmore TJ, Curtis JH, Hodell DA, Schelske CL (1999) Stable isotope (13C and 15N) signatures of sedimented organic matter as indicators of historic lake trophic state. J Paleolimnol 22:205–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner M, Hodell DA, Curtis JH, Kenney WF, Gu B, Newman JM, Leyden BW (2006) Mechanisms for organic matter and phosphorus burial in sediments of a shallow, subtropical, macrophyte-dominated lake. J Paleolimnol 35:129–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conley DJ, Schelske CL (1993) Potential role of sponge spicules in influencing the silicon biogeochemistry of Florida lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 50:296–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danek LJ, Barnard TA, Tomlinson MS (1991) Bathymetric and sediment thickness analysis of seven lakes in the Upper Ocklawaha river basin. Final Report 90-170-0400, St. Johns River Water Management District, Palatka, FL, USA

  • Fisher MM, Brenner M, Reddy KR (1992) A simple, inexpensive piston corer for collecting undisturbed sediment/water interface profiles. J Paleolimnol 7:157–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fulton RS III (1995) External nutrient budget and trophic state modeling for lakes in the Upper Oklawaha River Basin. Technical Publication SJ95-6. St. Johns River Water Management District, Palatka, FL, USA

  • Gu B, Schelske CL, Brenner M (1996) Relationship between sediment and plankton isotope ratios (13C and 15N) and primary productivity in Florida lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 53:875–883

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • JMP Version 3 (1998) SAS Institute incorporated

  • Kenney WF, Schelske CL, Chapman AD (2001) Changes in polyphosphate sedimentation: a response to excessive phosphorus enrichment in a hypereutrophic lake. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:879–887

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenney WF, Schelske CL, Waters MN, Brenner M (2002) Sediment records of phosphorus driven shifts to phytoplankton dominance in shallow Florida lakes. J Paleolimnol 27:367–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe EF, Battoe LE, Coveney M, Stites D (1999) Setting water quality goals for restoration of Lake Apopka: inferring past conditions. Lake Reserv Manage 15:103–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGowan S, Leavitt PR, Hall RI, Anderson NJ, Jeppesen E, Odgaard BV (2005) Controls of algal abundance and community composition during ecosystem state change. Ecology 86:2200–2211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyers P, Schelske CL (2000) An inexpensive, optical (infrared) detector to locate the sediment/water interface in lakes with unconsolidated sediments. J Paleolimnol 23:201–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyers PA, Teranes JL (2001) Sediment organic matter. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental changes using lake sediments—vol 2: physical and chemical techniques. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 239–269

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller A, Mathesius U (1999) The palaeoenvironments of coastal lagoons in the southern Baltic Sea, I. The application of sedimentary Corg/N ratios as source indicators of organic matter. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 145:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield F, Appleby PG (1984) Empirical testing of 210Pb-dating models for lake sediments. In: Haworth EY, Lund JWG (eds) Lake sediments and environmental history. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp 93–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips GL, Eminson D, Moss B (1978) A mechanism to account for macrophyte decline in progressively eutrophicated freshwaters. Aquat Bot 4:103–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen P, Anderson NJ (2005) Natural and anthropogenic forcing of aquatic macrophyte development in a shallow Danish lake during the last 7000 years. J Biogeogr 32:1993–2005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sayer CD, Burgess A, Kari K, Davidson TA, Peglar S, Handong Y, Rose N (2010) Long-term dynamics of submerged macrophytes and algae in a small and shallow, eutrophic lake: implications for the stability of macrophyte dominance. Freshw Biol 55:565–583

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheffer M, Hosper SH, Meijer M-L, Moss B, Jeppesen E (1993) Alternative equilibria in shallow lakes. TREE 8:275–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Schelske CL, Hodell DA (1995) Using carbon isotopes of bulk sedimentary organic matter to reconstruct the history of nutrient loading and eutrophication in Lake Erie. Limnol Oceanogr 40:918–929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schelske CL, Conley DJ, Stoermer EF, Newberry TL, Campbell CD (1986) Biogenic silica and phosphorus accumulation in sediments as indices of eutrophication in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Hydrobiologia 143:79–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schelske CL, Peplow A, Brenner M, Spencer CN (1994) Low-background gamma counting: applications for 210Pb dating of sediments. J Paleolimnol 10:115–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schelske CL, Donar CM, Stoermer EF (1999) A test of paleolimnological proxies for the planktonic/benthic ratio of microfossil diatoms in Lake Apopka. 14th international diatom symposium. Koeltz Scientific Books, Konigstein, Germany, pp 367–382

  • Schelske CL, Coveney MF, Aldridge FJ, Kenney WF, Cable JE (2000) Wind or nutrients: historic development of hypereutrophy in Lake Apopka, Florida. Arch Hydrobiol Spec Issues Advanc Limnol, Limnology and Lake Management 2000 + 55:543–563

  • Schelske CL, Kenney WF, Whitmore TJ (2001) Sediment and nutrient deposition in Harris Chain-of-Lakes. Final report to the St. Johns River Water Management District. Palatka, FL, USA, SJ2001-SP7 http://www.sjrwmd.com/technicalreports/spubs4.html#2001

  • Schelske CL, Lowe EF, Kenney WF, Battoe LE, Brenner M, Coveney MF (2010) How anthropogenic darkening of Lake Apopka induced benthic light limitation and forced the shift from macrophyte to phytoplankton dominance. Limnol Oceanogr 55:1202–1212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verardo DJ, Froelich PN, McIntyre A (1990) Determination of organic carbon and nitrogen in marine sediments using the Carlo Erba NA-1500 analyzer. Deep Sea Res 37:157–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waters MN, Schelske CL, Kenney WF, Chapman AD (2005) The use of sedimentary algal pigments to infer historic algal communities in Lake Apopka, FL. J Paleolimnol 33:53–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welch EB, Cook GD (1987) Lakes. In: Jordan WR III, Gapin ME, Obe JD (eds) Restoration ecology: a synthetic approach to ecological research. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 109–129

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the late Martha Love and Brandy DeArmond for administrative and technical assistance. Financial support was provided in part by the St. Johns River Water Management District, the University of Florida Foundation, Carl S. Swisher Endowment, and the University of Florida Land Use and Environmental Change Institute (LUECI).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Land Use and Environmental Change Institute (LUECI) and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    William F. Kenney, Mark Brenner, Jason H. Curtis & Claire L. Schelske

Authors
  1. William F. Kenney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mark Brenner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jason H. Curtis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Claire L. Schelske
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William F. Kenney.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kenney, W.F., Brenner, M., Curtis, J.H. et al. Identifying sources of organic matter in sediments of shallow lakes using multiple geochemical variables. J Paleolimnol 44, 1039–1052 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-010-9472-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-010-9472-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation