SOLUTE TRANSFER ACROSS THE SEDIMENT SURFACE OF A EUTROPHIC LAKE .1. POREWATER PROFILES FROM DIALYSIS SAMPLERS

Porewater profiles often are used to identify and quantify important b iogeochemical processes occurring in lake sediments. In this study, mu ltiple porewater profiles were obtained from two eutrophic Swiss lakes using porewater equilibrators (peepers) in order to examine spatial a nd seasonal trends in biogeochemical processes. Variability in profile shapes and concentrations was small on spatial scales of a few meters , but the uncertainty in calculated diffusive fluxes across the sedime nt surface was, on average, 35%. Focusing of Fe and Mn oxides toward t he lake center resulted in systematic increases in porewater concentra tions and diffusive fluxes of Fe2+ and Mn2+ with increasing water dept h; these fluxes are postulated to be regulated by the pH-dependent dis solution of reduced-metal phases. Despite higher concentrations of ino rganic carbon, NH,, Si and P in pelagic compared to littoral sites, di ffusive fluxes of these substances across the sediment surface increas ed only slightly or not at all with increasing water depth. Porewater profiles did reveal temporal changes in Fe2+, Mn2+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ that were an indirect result of the large, seasonal changes in seston depo sition, but no clear seasonal variations were found in diffusive fluxe s of nutrients across the sediment surface. The intense mineralization occurring at the sediment surface was not reflected in the porewater profiles nor in the calculated diffusive fluxes. Calculated diffusive fluxes across the sediment surface resulted from decomposition occurri ng primarily in the top 5-7 cm of sediment. Diffusive fluxes from this subsurface mineralization were equal to the solute release from miner alization occurring at the sediment-water interface. Buried organic ma tter acts as a memory of previous lake conditons; it will require at l east a decade before reductions in nutrient inputs to lakes fully redu ce the diffusive fluxes into the lake from the buried reservoir of org anic matter.