The role of sediments in the carbon budget of a small boreal lake

• We investigated the role of lake sediments as carbon (C) source and sink in the annual C budget of a small (0.07 km2), shallow (mean depth 3.4 m), and humic lake (mean DOC concentration 17 mg L-1) in boreal Sweden. Organic carbon (OC) burial and mineralization in sediments were quantified from 210Pb-dated sediment and laboratory sediment incubation experiments, respectively, and upscaled to the entire basin and to one whole year, by using sediment thickness derived sub-bottom profiling, basin morphometry, and water column monitoring data of temperature and oxygen concentration. Furthermore, catchment C import, open water metabolism, photochemical mineralization as well as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions to the atmosphere, were quantified to relate sediment processes to other lake C fluxes. We found that on a whole-basin and annual scale, sediment OC mineralization was three times larger than OC burial, and contributed about 16% to the annual CO2 emission from the lake to the atmosphere. Remaining contributions to the CO2 emission were attributed to water column metabolism (31%), photochemical mineralization (6%), and catchment imports via inlet streams and inflow of shallow groundwater (47%). We conclude that on an annual and whole-basin scale 1) sediment OC mineralization dominated over OC burial, 2) water column OC mineralization contributed more than sediments to lake CO2 emission, and 3) catchment import of C to the lake was greater than lake-internal C cycling. 

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Oceanografi, hydrologi och vattenresurser (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Oceanography, Hydrology and Water Resources (hsv//eng)

Keyword

mineralization

burial

carbon dioxide

methane

emission

photomineralization

Biologi med inriktning mot limnologi

Biology with specialization in Limnology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)