Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Patterns in the percent sediment organic matter of arctic lakes

  • Primary Research Paper
  • Published:
Hydrobiologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Patterns of sediment organic matter deposition in lakes reflect the factors that affect the production of organic matter in the lake and watershed and the removal of organic matter from the sediments. We surveyed the percent sediment organic matter of 22 lakes in the Alaskan Arctic and the rate of organic matter loss with sediment age in 3 lakes in the same region. The variation in sediment organic matter among lakes was greater than the variation between shallow and deep locations within the same lake, which is consistent with landscape-scale control of variation in sediment organic matter. In shallow water sediments, percent sediment organic matter was positively correlated with the amount of light reaching the sediments and the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the overlying water, suggesting that differences in organic matter content reflect differences in benthic production. The percent organic matter of the sediments in deep water was correlated with the percent organic matter in the sediments from shallow water but not environmental variables. The results suggest that variation in sediment organic matter in this region may be influenced by variation in benthic organic matter production more than by the loss of organic matter via mineralization.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Appleby, P. G. & F. Oldfield, 1992. Uranium series disequilibrium: Application to Earth, Marine and Environmental Science in Application of lead-210 to sedimentation studies. Oxford Science Publications, London: 731–783.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ask, J., J. Karlsson, L. Persson, P. Ask, P. Byström & M. Jansson, 2009. Terrestrial organic matter and light penetration: effects on bacterial and primary production in lakes. Limnology and Oceanography 54: 2034–2040.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaty, S. R., K. Fortino & A. E. Hershey, 2006. Distribution and growth of benthic macroinvertebrates among different patch types of the littoral zone of two arctic lakes. Freshwater Biology 51: 2347–2361.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bjork-Ramberg, S., 1983. Production of epipelic algae before and during lake fertilization in a subarctic lake. Holarctic Ecology 6: 349–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bretz, K. A. & S. C. Whalen, 2014. Methane cycling dynamics in sediments of Alaskan Arctic Foothill lakes. Inland Waters 4: 65–78.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burdige, D. J., 2007. Preservation of organic matter in marine sediments: controls, mechanisms, and an imbalance in sediment organic carbon budgets? Chemical Reviews 107: 467–485.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Canfield, D. E., 1994. Factors influencing organic matter preservation in marine sediments. Chemical Geology 114: 315–329.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Capone, D. G. & R. P. Kiene, 1988. Comparison of microbial dynamics in marine and freshwater sediments: contrasts in anaerobic carbon catabolism. Limnology and Oceanography 33: 725–749.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, J. J., Y. T. Prairie, N. T. Caraco, W. H. McDowell, L. T. Tranvik, R. G. Striegl, C. M. Duartie, P. Kortelainen, J. A. Downing, J. J. Middelburg & J. Melack, 2007. Plumbing the global carbon cycle: integrating inland waters into the terrestrial carbon budget. Ecosystems 10: 171–184.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cornwell, J. C. & G. W. Kipphut, 1992. Biogeochemistry of manganese- and iron-rich sediments in Toolik Lake, Alaska. Hydrobiologia 240: 45–59.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • den Heyer, C. & J. Kalff, 1998. Organic matter mineralization rates in sediments: a within and among lake study. Limnology and Oceanography 43: 695–705.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortino, K., A. E. Hershey, M. D. Keyes & S. C. Whalen, 2009. Summer sedimentation in six shallow arctic lakes. Hydrobiologia 621: 75–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortino, K., S. C. Whalen & C. R. Johnson, 2014. Relationship between lake transparency, thermocline depth, and sediment oxygen demand in Arctic lakes. Inland Waters 4: 79–90.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, T. D., 2003. Glacial Geology of the Toolik Lake and Upper Kuparuk River regions. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Institute of Arctic Biology, Fairbanks, AK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, L. A., 1992. Factors regulating peripytic algal biomass. Limnology and Oceanography 37: 322–328.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heathcote, A. J. & J. A. Downing, 2012. Impacts of eutrophication on carbon burial in freshwater lakes in an intensively agricultural landscape. Ecosystems 15: 60–70.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hermanson, M. H., 1990. 210Pb and 137Cs chronology of sediments from small, shallow Arctic lakes. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 54: 1443–1451.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie, J. E., T. Traaen, P. Rublee, J. P. Reed, M. C. Miller & T. Fenchel, 1980. Limnology of Tundra Ponds in Decomposers, Bacteria, and Microbenthos. Dowden, Hutchensen & Ross, New York.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Holland, A. F., R. G. Zingmark & J. M. Dean, 1974. Quantitative evidence concerning the stabilization of sediments by marine benthic diatoms. Marine Biology 27: 191–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karlsson, J., P. Byström, J. Ask, P. Ask, L. Persson & M. Jansson, 2009. Light limitation of nutrient-poor lake ecosystems. Nature 460: 506–510.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone, D. A., K. Bryan & R. G. Leahy, 1958. Effects of an arctic environment on the origin and development of freshwater lakes. Limnology and Oceanography 3: 192–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovett, G. M., J. J. Cole & M. L. Pace, 2006. Is net ecosystem production equal to ecosystem carbon accumulation? Ecosystems 9: 1–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molot, L. M. & P. J. Dillon, 1996. Storage of terrestrial carbon in boreal lake sediments and evasion to the atmosphere. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 10: 483–492.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oechel, W. C., G. L. Vourlitis, S. J. Hastings, R. C. Zulueta, L. Hinzman & D. Kane, 2000. Acclimation of ecosystem CO2 exchange in the Alaskan Arctic in response to decadal climate warming. Nature 406: 978–981.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pace, M. & Y. T. Prairie, 2005. Respiration in Aquatic Ecosystems in Respiration in lakes. Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paterson, D. M., 1989. Short-term changes in the erodibility of intertidal cohesive sediments related to the migratory behavior of epipelic diatoms. Limnology and Oceanography 34: 223–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ping, C. L., J. G. Bockheim, J. M. Kimble, G. J. Michaelson & D. A. Walker, 1998. Characteristics of cryogenic soils along a latitudinal transect in Arctic Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research 103: 28917–28928.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team, 2009. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, D. W., 1976a. Productivity of epipelic algae in tundra ponds and a lake near Barrow, Alaska. Ecology 57: 1015–1024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, D. W., 1976b. A carbon flow model of epipelic algal productivity in Alaskan Tundra ponds. Ecology 57: 1034–1042.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vadeboncoeur, Y., D. M. Lodge & S. R. Carpenter, 2001. Whole-lake fertilization effects on the distribution of primary production between benthic and pelagic habitats. Ecology 82: 1065–1077.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vadeboncoeur, Y., G. Peterson, M. J. Vander Zanden & J. Kalff, 2008. Benthic algal production across lake size gradients: interactions among morphometry, nutrients, and light. Ecology 89: 2542–2552.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wetzel, R. G., 2001. Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. Academic Press, Orlando, FL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetzel, R. G. & G. E. Likens, 2000. Limnological Analyses. Springer-Verlag, New York.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Whalen, S. C., B. A. Chalfant, E. N. Fischer, K. Fortino & A. E. Hershey, 2006. Comparative influence of resuspended glacial sediment on physiochemical characteristics and primary production in two arctic lakes. Aquatic Sciences 68: 65–77.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whalen, S. C., B. A. Chalfant & E. N. Fischer, 2008. Epipelic and pelagic primary production in Alaskan Arctic lakes of varying depth. Hydrobiologia 614: 243–257.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whalen, S. C., D. D. Lofton, G. E. McGowan & A. Strohm, 2013. Microphytobenthos in shallow arctic lakes: fine-scale distribution of chlorophyll a, radiocarbon assimilation, irradiance, and dissolved O2. Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research 45: 285–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Invaluable field assistance was provided by Dendy Lofton, Matthew Harrell, Tim Yarborough, and all the members of the Geomorphic Trophic Hypothesis project. We would like to thank the Toolik Lake staff for all of their support during this project. Comments by Dina Leech improved a previous draft of this manuscript. The calculation of the lake and watershed areas and the production of the map in Fig. 1 were performed by Randy Fulweber and Jason Stuckey of the Toolik Lake GIS support staff. Funding was provided by National Science Foundation Grants NSF 0323557 and NSF 0516043.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Longwood University, Farmville, USA

    Kenneth Fortino

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

    Stephen C. Whalen

  3. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Geography, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA

    Joseph M. Smoak

Authors
  1. Kenneth Fortino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stephen C. Whalen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Joseph M. Smoak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenneth Fortino.

Additional information

Handling editor: Zhengwen Liu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fortino, K., Whalen, S.C. & Smoak, J.M. Patterns in the percent sediment organic matter of arctic lakes. Hydrobiologia 777, 149–160 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2771-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2771-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation