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The temporal record and sources of atmospherically deposited fly-ash particles in Lake Akagi-konuma, a Japanese mountain lake

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Abstract

Fly-ash particles comprising spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP) and inorganic ash spheres (IAS), produced from industrial fossil-fuel combustion, are found in lake sediments throughout the world where they provide an historical record of atmospheric pollutant deposition. These particles have been widely used to assess the temporal and spatial distribution of industrial atmospheric pollution in both freshwater and terrestrial environments in Europe and the USA. However, there have been very few palaeolimnological fly-ash studies undertaken in Japan and none in Japanese mountain lakes. Here, we present the historical SCP and IAS records from a radiometrically dated sediment core taken from Lake Akagi-konuma (36°31′ 54″N, 139°11′ 32″E; elevation 1,470 m) located 100 km north-west of Tokyo. Meteorological data and back trajectory analyses confirm potential sources both within Japan and further afield in China and South Korea. SCP contamination began in the 1950s and increased rapidly to a peak in the mid-1980s. It is thought this represents contamination of Japanese origin, principally oil-fired power stations within 150 km of the lake. The profile of IAS, almost solely coal-derived, shows a rapid increase in the 1970s, in contrast to the record of coal consumption in Japan. The IAS record is therefore thought to reflect long-range transport from coal combustion sources in eastern China which started to expand in the 1970s. This raises concerns over the potential impact on Japanese mountain areas from recent rapid increases in, and predicted acceleration of, emissions from this industrial process. The scale of SCP contamination recorded in Lake Akagi-konuma is equivalent to moderately impacted mountain lakes in Europe, but is at the upper end of the range for remote lakes in the western United States.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially funded by the Environment Research Centre, Japan and the Toyota Foundation. We would like to thank members of the Environmental Change Research Centre for their help with laboratory work and Dr. Handong Yang for useful discussion on the radiometric dating. Mr. Dai Kurebayashi-Williams (UCL Department of Geography Cartographic Office) produced the map. We also acknowledge the comments of two anonymous reviewers which helped improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecosystem Studies, School of Environmental Science, University of Shiga Prefecture, 2500 Hassaka-cho, Hikone, Shiga, 522-8533, Japan

    Osamu Nagafuchi

  2. Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Neil L. Rose

  3. National Institute of Advance Industrial Science and Technology, Chugoku, 2-2-2 Hiro, Kure, Hiroshima, Japan

    Akira Hoshika

  4. Faculty of Geo-environmental Science, Rissho University, 1700 Mangaya, Kumagaya, Saitama, 360-0194, Japan

    Kenichi Satake

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  1. Osamu Nagafuchi
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  4. Kenichi Satake
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Correspondence to Neil L. Rose.

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Nagafuchi, O., Rose, N.L., Hoshika, A. et al. The temporal record and sources of atmospherically deposited fly-ash particles in Lake Akagi-konuma, a Japanese mountain lake. J Paleolimnol 42, 359–371 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9281-8

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