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Untangling the influence of in-lake productivity and terrestrial organic matter flux on 4,250 years of mercury accumulation in Lake Hambre, Southern Chile

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Abstract

There is ongoing debate about the relative influence of aquatic production, flux, and sedimentation of aquatic and terrestrial organic matter on mercury accumulation in lake sediments. In this study, lake sediments spanning the past 4,250 years, were collected from remote, organic-rich Lake Hambre, Patagonia (53° S) and investigated for changes in the accumulation of pre-anthropogenic mercury and organic matter of aquatic and terrestrial origin. Natural mercury accumulation varied by up to a factor of four, comparable to the recent anthropogenic forcing of the mercury cycle (factor 3–5). Hydrogen and Oxygen indices (HI and OI, Rock–Eval©) and nitrogen/carbon ratios of the organic matter, combined with multi-element sediment data, reveal intense changes in aquatic productivity as well as influx of terrestrial organic matter into the lake. Evaluation of the multi-element dataset using Principal Component Analysis shows clear covariation of mercury with other soil-derived elements such as copper and yttrium. This covariance reflects a common transport mechanism, i.e. leaching of trace-element-bearing organic matter complexes from catchment soils. Correlation between changes in aquatic productivity and mercury concentrations occurs in some sections of the record, but we do not suggest they are linked by a direct causal relationship. Mass balance approaches suggest that mercury scavenging and accumulation in this organic-rich lake is controlled by the supply of mercury from catchment soils rather than the amount of organic material produced within the water column. A common controlling mechanism, i.e. changing climate, however, is thought to independently drive variations in both the flux of terrestrial organic matter mercury complexes and aquatic productivity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the German Science Foundation (DFG) for funding to H. Biester (BI 734/10-1). We thank Rolf Kilian for providing the sediment core and for his help during sample preparation. We thank C. Rios Cardoza (Instituto de la Patagonia, Universidad de Magellanes) and P. Cid-Agüero (Dirección de Programas Antárticos, Universidad de Magallanes) for support during the field campaigns.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geoökologie, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19c, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany

    Yvonne-Marie Hermanns & Harald Biester

  2. Department of Pedology and Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Lope Gómez de Marzóa s/n, Campus Sur, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Antonio Martinez Cortizas

  3. Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Seestraße 15, 18819, Rostock, Warnemünde, Germany

    Helge Arz

  4. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Alten Hafen 26, 27568, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Rüdiger Stein

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  1. Yvonne-Marie Hermanns
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  2. Antonio Martinez Cortizas
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  3. Helge Arz
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  4. Rüdiger Stein
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  5. Harald Biester
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Correspondence to Yvonne-Marie Hermanns.

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Hermanns, YM., Cortizas, A.M., Arz, H. et al. Untangling the influence of in-lake productivity and terrestrial organic matter flux on 4,250 years of mercury accumulation in Lake Hambre, Southern Chile. J Paleolimnol 49, 563–573 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-012-9657-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-012-9657-7

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