Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sediment accumulation rates in European lakes since AD 1850: trends, reference conditions and exceedence

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

Abstract

Sediment accumulation rate (SAR) is an important physical parameter in all lakes and increases have been observed in many over the last c.100 years. This has been ascribed to changes in land-use and land-management causing accelerated catchment soil erosion and an increase in autochthonous organic matter production. The EU Water Framework Directive requires that assessment of biological, hydromorphological and chemical elements of water quality should be based on the degree to which present day conditions deviate from those expected in the absence of significant anthropogenic influence, termed reference conditions. Currently however, the reference condition for sediment accumulation rate for lakes of different types is undefined. To improve our understanding of the controls on SARs we compiled SAR and lake typology data for 207 European lakes derived from 210Pb dated cores to assess how rates have changed through time (in 25 year classes) both overall and for lakes of different types. Seventy-one percent of these sediment cores showed surface SARs higher than “basal” (mainly nineteenth century) rates, 11% showed no change while 18% showed a decline. Lakes were then classified into lake-types using four variables: alkalinity (3 classes), altitude (3 classes), maximum depth (2 classes) and lake area (2 classes). This generated a possible 36 lake classes of which 25 were represented in the dataset. Nine lake-types contained >10 lakes. Little change in SAR occurred prior to 1900 and most increases occurred in more recent periods, in particular 1950–1975 and post-1975. This indicates a general acceleration in SAR in European lakes during the second half of the twentieth century. Reference SARs were estimated for six lake-types with the highest number of sites. European mountain lakes had the lowest reference SAR (0.005 ± 0.003 g cm−2 yr−1) while lowland, high alkalinity sites had the highest (0.03–0.04 g cm−2 yr−1). SARs for other lake-types ranged between 0.012 and 0.024 g cm−2 yr−1. Using the mountain lake-type as an example, the 1850 reference SAR appears to show good agreement with available data for lakes beyond Europe indicating these values may be more broadly applicable. Contemporary SARs in lakes of all classes showed exceedence over their defined reference SAR. This may be partly due to diagenetic processes. Greatest exceedences were found in shallow, low altitude lakes and these are considered to be the ones under the greatest threat from continued elevation of SAR. It is considered that climate change may play a progressively more important role in driving SAR in the future.

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
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Appleby PG (2001) Chronostratigraphic techniques in recent sediments. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments volume 1: basin analysis coring and chronological techniques. Developments in paleoenvironmental research. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 171–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Appleby PG, Haworth EY, Michel H, Short DB, Laptev G, Piliposian GT (2003) The transport and mass balance of fallout radionuclides in Blelham Tarn Cumbria (UK). J Paleolimnol 29:459–473

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barra R, Cisternas M, Urrutia R, Pozo K, Pacheco P, Parra O, Focardi S (2001) First report on chlorinated pesticide deposition in a sediment core from a small lake in central Chile. Chemosphere 45:749–757

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battarbee RW (1999) The importance of palaeolimnology to lake restoration. Hydrobiologia 396:149–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battarbee RW, Renberg I (1990) The Surface Water Acidification Project (SWAP) palaeolimnology program. Phil Trans R Soc Lond Ser Biol Sci 327:227–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battarbee RW, Appleby PG, Odell K, Flower RJ (1985) 210Pb dating of Scottish lake sediments, afforestation and accelerated soil erosion. Earth Surf Process 10(2):137–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battarbee RW, Thompson R, Catalan J, Grytnes JA, Birks HJB (2002) Climate variability and ecosystem dynamics of remote alpine and arctic lakes: the MOLAR project. J Paleolimnol 28:1–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battarbee RW, Kernan M, Rose NL (2009) Threatened and stressed mountain lakes of Europe: assessment and progress. Aquat Ecosys Health Manag 12:118–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battarbee RW, Morley D, Bennion H, Simpson G, Hughes M, Bauere V (2010) A palaeolimnological meta-database for assessing the ecological status of lakes. J Paleolimnol (this issue). doi:10.1007/s10933-010-9417-5

  • Bennion H, Battarbee RW (2007) The European Union Water Framework Directive: opportunities for palaeolimnology. J Paleolimnol 38:285–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennion H, Simpson GL (2010) The use of diatom records to establish reference conditions for UK lakes subject to eutrophication. J Paleolimnol (this issue). doi:10.1007/s10933-010-9422-8

  • Bergström A-K, Jansson M (2006) Atmospheric nitrogen deposition has caused nitrogen enrichment and eutrophication of lakes in the northern hemisphere. Glob Change Biol 12:635–643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berner RA (1980) Early diagenesis a theoretical approach. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Bindler R, Korsman T, Renberg I, Högberg P (2002) Pre-industrial atmospheric pollution: was it important for the pH of acid-sensitive Swedish lakes? Ambio 31:460–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjerring R, Bradshaw E, Amsinck SL, Johansson LS, Odgaard BV, Nielsen AB, Jeppesen E (2008) Inferring recent changes in the ecological state of 21 Danish candidate reference lakes (EU Water Framework Directive) using palaeolimnology. J Appl Ecol 45:1566–1575

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brothers S, Vermaire JC, Gregory-Eaves I (2008) Empirical models for describing recent sedimentation rates in lakes distributed across broad spatial scales. J Paleolimnol 40:1003–1019

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckland PC, Foster P, Perry DW, Savory D (1981) Tephrochronology and palaeoecology: the value of isochrones. In: Self S, Sparks RSJ (eds) Tephra studies. D. Reidel Publishing Co, Dordrecht, pp 381–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunting L, Leavitt PR, Gibson CE, McGee EJ, Hall VA (2007) Degradation of water quality in Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland, by diffuse nitrogen flux from a phosphorus-rich catchment. Limnol Oceanogr 52:354–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callender E (2000) Geochemical effects of rapid sedimentation in aquatic systems: minimal diagenesis and the preservation of historical metal signatures. J Paleolimnol 23:243–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooke CA, Abbott MB, Wolfe AP (2008) Late-Holocene atmospheric lead deposition in the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes. Holocene 18:353–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coupar A, Immirzi P, Reid E (1997) The nature and extent of degradation in Scottish blanket mires. In: Tallis JH, Meade R, Hulme PD (eds) Blanket mire degradation: causes consequences and challenges, Mires Research Group, British Ecological Society. Proceedings of the Manchester conference April 1997. British Ecological Society London, pp 90–100

  • Dearing JA, Jones RT (2003) Coupling temporal and spatial dimensions of global sediment flux through lake and marine sediment record. Glob Planet Change 39:147–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Union (2000) Establishing a framework for community action in the field of water policy. Directive of the European parliament and of the council 2000/60/EC. PE-CONS 3639/1/00 REV 1, Luxembourg

  • Gälman V, Rydberg J, de-Luna SS, Bindler R, Renberg I (2008) Carbon and nitrogen loss rates during aging of lake sediment: changes over 27 years studied in varved lake sediment. Limnol Oceanogr 53:1082–1976

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilizzoni P, Lami A, Marchetto A, Appleby PG, Alvisi F (2001) Fourteen years of palaeolimnological research of a past industrial polluted lakes (L Orta, Northern Italy): an overview. J Limnol 60:117–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Guilizzoni P, Lami A, Marchetto A, Jones V, Manca M, Bettinetti R (2002) Palaeoproductivity and environmental changes during the Holocene in central Italy as recorded in two crater lakes (Albano and Nemi). Quat Internat 88:57–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilizzoni P, Lami A, Manca M, Musazzi S, Marchetto A (2006) Palaeoenvironmental changes inferred from biological remains in short lake sediment cores from the central Alps and Dolomites. Hydrobiologia 562:167–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinderer M, Einsele G (2001) The world’s large lake basins as denudation-accumulation systems and implications for their lifetimes. J Paleolimnol 26(4):355–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kauppila P, Weckström K, Vaalgamaa S, Pitkänen H, Korhola A, Reuss N, Drew S (2005) Tracing pollution and recovery from sediments of an urban embayment: are we far from ecological reference conditions? Mar Ecol Prog Series 290:35–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kulbe T, Anselmetti F, Cantonati M, Sturm M (2005) Environmental history of Lago di Tovel, Italy, revealed by sediment cores and 3.5 kHz seismic mapping. J Paleolimnol 34:325–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lami A, Cameron N, Korhola A (2000) Palaeolimnology and ecosystem dynamics at remote European Alpine lakes (mountain lakes research programme, MOLAR). J Limnol 59(Suppl.1):119

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamoureux S (2001) Varve chronology techniques. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments volume 1: basin analysis coring and chronological techniques. Developments in paleoenvironmental research. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 247–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Landers DH, Simonich SL, Jaffe DA, Geiser LH, Campbell DH, Schwindt AR, Schreck CB, Kent ML, Hafner W, Taylor HE, Hageman K, Usenko S, Ackerman L, Schrlau L, Rose NL. Blett TF, Erway MM (2007) The fate, transport, and ecological impacts of airborne contaminants in Western National Parks (USA). EPA/600/R-07/138. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, NHEERL, Western Ecology Division, Corvallis, Oregon

  • Larsen J, Jones VJ, Eide W (2006) Climatically driven pH changes in two Norwegian alpine lakes. J Paleolimnol 36:175–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnuson JJ, Robertson DM, Benson BJ, Wynne RH, Livingstone DM, Arai T, Assel RA, Barry RG, Card V, Kuusisto E, Granin NG, Prowse TD, Stewart KM, Vuglinski VS (2000) Historical trends in lake and river ice cover in the northern hemisphere. Science 289:1743–1746

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monteith DT, Evans CD (2005) The United Kingdom Acid waters Monitoring Network: a review of the first 15 years and introduction to the special issue. Environ Pollut 137:3–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohlendorf C, Sturm M, Hausmann S (2003) Natural environmental changes and human impact reflected in sediments of a high alpine lake in Switzerland. J Paleolimnol 30:297–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield F, Appleby PG, van der Post KD (1999) Problems of core correlation, sediment source ascription and yield estimation in Ponsonby Tarn, West Cumbria, UK. Earth Surf Process Landform 24:975–992

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pla S, Monteith D, Flower R, Rose N (2009) The recent palaeolimnology of a remote Scottish loch with special reference to the relative impacts of regional warming and atmospheric contamination. Freshwat Biol 54:505–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollard P, Huxham M (1998) The European Water Framework Directive: a new era in the management of aquatic ecosystem health? Aquat Conserv Mar Freshwat Ecosyst 8:773–792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pozo K, Urrutia R, Barra R, Mariottini M, Treutler H-C, Araneda A, Focardi S (2007) Records of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in sediments of four remote Chilean Andean lakes. Chemosphere 66:1911–1921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramstack JM, Fritz SC, Engstrom DR (2004) Twentieth century water quality trends in Minnesota lakes compared with presettlement variability. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 61:561–576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose NL (2007) The sediments of Lochnagar: distribution, accumulation and composition. In: Rose NL (ed) Lochnagar: the natural history of a mountain lake. Developments in paleoenvironmental research, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 155–175

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rose NL, Appleby PG (2005) Regional applications of lake sediment dating by spheroidal carbonaceous particle analysis I United Kingdom. J Paleolimnol 34:349–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose NL, Morley D (2006) Sediment accumulation rate changes in European lakes: A first report. Euro-limpacs deliverable no. 89. European Union (FP6 integrated project eurolimpacs: European project to evaluate impacts of global change on freshwater ecosystems. GOCE-CT-2003-505540, pp 51

  • Rose NL, Harlock S, Appleby PG, Battarbee RW (1995) Dating of recent lake sediments in the United Kingdom and Ireland using spheroidal carbonaceous particle (SCP) concentration profiles. Holocene 5:328–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saarse L, Niinemets E (2007) Environmental changes in SE Estonia during the last 700 years. Bor Environ Res 12:611–621

    Google Scholar 

  • Schindler DW (2001) The cumulative effects of climate warming and other stresses on Canadian freshwaters in the new millennium. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:18–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tallis JH (1997) The southern Pennine experience: an overview of blanket mire degradation. In: Tallis JH, Meade R, Hulme PD (eds) Blanket mire degradation: causes consequences and challenges. Mires Research Group, British Ecological Society. Proceedings of the Manchester conference April 1997. British Ecological Society London, pp 7–15

  • Turney CSM, Lowe JJ (2001) Tephrochronology. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments volume 1: basin analysis coring and chronological techniques. Developments in paleoenvironmental research. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 451–471

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Bund W, Cardoso AC, Heiskanen A-S, Nõges P (2004) Overview of common intercalibration types. Version 4.0. Ecostat WG 2A. Ecological status Joint Research Centre of the EU Commission, pp 37. Downloaded from http://www.uba.de/wasser/themen/downloads/ICTypeManual_v4-0.pdf

  • Veski S, Koppel K, Poska A (2005) Integrated palaeoecological and historical data in the service of fine-resolution land use and ecological change assessment during the last 1,000 years in Rõuge, southern Estonia. J Biogeogr 32:1473–1488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wathne BM, Patrick ST, Monteith DT, Barth H (eds) (1995) Acidification of mountain lakes: palaeolimnology and ecology. Part 1. AL:PE 1 report 1991–1993. Report EUR 16129 EN. Ecosystems research report 9. European Commission DGXII Luxembourg, pp 292

  • Wathne BM, Patrick ST, Cameron NG (eds) (1997) Acidification of mountain lakes: palaeolimnology and ecology. Part 2—remote mountain lakes as indicators of air pollution and climate change. Report 3638-97. Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, pp 525

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was funded under Work Package 2 of the European Union FP6 Integrated Project Euro-limpacs (European project to evaluate impacts of global change on freshwater ecosystems) (GOCE-CT-2003-505540). EJ was also supported by CLEAR (A Villum Kann Rasmussen Centre of Excellence project) and by Galathea 3. Financial support for TA was provided by the Estonian Ministry of Education (SF0332710s06). We would like to thank Andrea Lami, Aldo Marchetto, John Anderson, Anton Brancelj, Brian Rippey, Carl Sayer, Dan Cogalniceanu, Gina Clarke, Helen Bennion, Jarl Loevik, Laurence Carvalho, Torben L. Lauridsen, Susanne L. Amsinck, Sanna Sorvari, Jan Weckström, Nadia Solovieva, Ingemar Renberg, Viv Jones, Atko Heinsalu and Siim Veski for sharing various data. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments in improving the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Neil L. Rose, David Morley & Richard W. Battarbee

  2. Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

    Peter G. Appleby

  3. Institute of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate Tee 5, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia

    Tiiu Alliksaar

  4. CNR-Istituto Per Lo Studio Degli Ecosistemi (ISE), Verbania Pallanza, Italy

    Piero Guilizzoni

  5. National Environmental Research Institute, Department of Freshwater Ecology, University of Aarhus, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Erik Jeppesen

  6. Environmental Change Research Unit, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Atte Korhola

  7. Institute of Ecology, Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, 10120, Tallinn, Estonia

    Jaan-Mati Punning

Authors
  1. Neil L. Rose
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David Morley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter G. Appleby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Richard W. Battarbee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tiiu Alliksaar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Piero Guilizzoni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Erik Jeppesen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Atte Korhola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Jaan-Mati Punning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Neil L. Rose.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rose, N.L., Morley, D., Appleby, P.G. et al. Sediment accumulation rates in European lakes since AD 1850: trends, reference conditions and exceedence. J Paleolimnol 45, 447–468 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-010-9424-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-010-9424-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation