The records of 239+240Pu and 137Cs of global fallout in Lake East Dongting Sediments and Responses to watershed environmental changes

Plutonium-239 + 240 and 137Cs in the environment can usually be used to track the impact of nuclear activities on the environment, and have become important tools in environmental geochemical studies. In this study, nine sediment cores (E1-E9) in Lake East Dongting were collected and measured for the activity concentration of 239+240Pu, 137Cs and the atomic ratio of 240Pu/239Pu, and then their vertical distribution characteristics were analyzed. The results show that: the activity concentrations of 137Cs and 239+240Pu in Lake East Dongting ranged from 5.26 ± 0.43 to 28.6 ± 2.23 Bq kg-1 and 0.29 ± 0.02 to 1.37 ± 0.09 Bq kg-1, with an average of 7.48 ± 0.68 Bq kg-1 and 0.39 ± 0.03 Bq kg-1, respectively. The atomic ratios of 240Pu/239Pu are 0.168 ± 0.012-0.211 ± 0.015, which are basically consistent with the global atmospheric deposition. The vertical profiles of 137Cs and 239+240Pu in sediment cores show obvious single-peak distribution in E1-E6 and bimodal distribution in E7-E9. The results of sedimentation rates calculated by 137Cs and 239+240Pu method ranged from 0.59 cm y-1 to 1.99 cm y-1 with a mean of 1.18 cm y-1 and 0.61 cm y-1 to 2.18 cm y-1 with a mean of 1.26 cm y-1. The inventories of 137Cs and 239+240Pu in nine sediment cores are 5.87-10.8 kBq m-2 and 307-545 Bq m-2, which are about 8-14 and 9-15 times the inventory in the global average atmospheric deposition at the same latitude respectively. Comparing the results of the sedimentation rates and the inventories from different sampling points indicates that extreme climatic events and human activities have a significant impact on sediment environment of Lake East Dongting.

Chronological records of sediment organic carbon at an entrance of Dongting Lake: Response to historical meteorological events

Lake sediments are the products of soil erosion and are strongly influenced by climate variability, particularly extreme meteorological events. Sediment organic carbon (SOC) can reflect environmental changes that affect sediment transport. However, the response of SOC chronological records to major meteorological events is relatively unknown. This study explored the chronological regularity of SOC and verified its variations using major historical meteorological events. Based on three sediment profiles with a depth of 230 cm at the Yuan River entrance to the West Dongting Lake (Hanshou entrance), the SOC chronology was reconstructed by employing the sedimentation rates calculated by ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb. The sedimentary environment then was interpreted via comparisons and quantitative analysis. The grain distribution and the S-shaped distribution of SOC reflected the general deposition regularity of organic carbon in lake sediments, which gradually stabilized with depth. The average sedimentation rates based on ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb were 1.310 and 1.319 cm a^-1, respectively. Accordingly, SOC records covered the past 76 years via dating (0-100 cm), during which the SOC content first increased and subsequently stabilized. By comparing the data with the occurrence of 11 major historical meteorological events, we found that SOC generally increased after these events. Moreover, the frequent occurrence of meteorological events stabilized the SOC content. Severe floods had a greater impact on SOC content than severe droughts, causing SOC to change by up to 20.24% and 8.77%, respectively. Our findings suggest that major historical meteorological events can verify SOC chronological records, thereby highlighting their significant impacts on organic carbon variations in sediments.

Analyzing the contribution of climate change to long-term variations in sediment nitrogen sources for reservoirs/lakes

We applied a mixing model based on stable isotopic δ(13)C, δ(15)N, and C:N ratios to estimate the contributions of multiple sources to sediment nitrogen. We also developed a conceptual model describing and analyzing the impacts of climate change on nitrogen enrichment. These two models were conducted in Miyun Reservoir to analyze the contribution of climate change to the variations in sediment nitrogen sources based on two (210)Pb and (137)Cs dated sediment cores. The results showed that during the past 50years, average contributions of soil and fertilizer, submerged macrophytes, N2-fixing phytoplankton, and non-N2-fixing phytoplankton were 40.7%, 40.3%, 11.8%, and 7.2%, respectively. In addition, total nitrogen (TN) contents in sediment showed significant increasing trends from 1960 to 2010, and sediment nitrogen of both submerged macrophytes and phytoplankton sources exhibited significant increasing trends during the past 50years. In contrast, soil and fertilizer sources showed a significant decreasing trend from 1990 to 2010. According to the changing trend of N2-fixing phytoplankton, changes of temperature and sunshine duration accounted for at least 43% of the trend in the sediment nitrogen enrichment over the past 50years. Regression analysis of the climatic factors on nitrogen sources showed that the contributions of precipitation, temperature, and sunshine duration to the variations in sediment nitrogen sources ranged from 18.5% to 60.3%. The study demonstrates that the mixing model provides a robust method for calculating the contribution of multiple nitrogen sources in sediment, and this study also suggests that N2-fixing phytoplankton could be regarded as an important response factor for assessing the impacts of climate change on nitrogen enrichment.

Historical accumulation of N and P and sources of organic matter and N in sediment in an agricultural reservoir in Northern China

Agriculture has significantly intensified in Northern China since the 1980s. This intensification has caused a series of simultaneous lake ecological environment problems in this area. However, little is known about the role of agricultural intensification in historical nutrient dynamics and lake eutrophication processes. The Yanghe reservoir, a typical artificial reservoir characterized by high-yield grain production in Northern China, has been suffering from serious eutrophication and water quality deterioration. This study evaluates the effect of agricultural intensification on nutrient retention and source in the sediments using (210)Pb and (137)Cs dating techniques combined with stable C and N isotopes (δ(13)C, δ(15)N) and total organic carbon/total nitrogen, as well as total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and P fractions. Results suggested that agricultural intensification was keys to the accumulation of nutrients and was a source of organic matter (OM) and N in sediment for the past three decades. N and P pollution started in the 1980s and worsened from the 1990s. Good water quality status and steady sedimentary environment with low nutrient content (mean concentrations of TN and TP were 815 and 387 mg kg(-1), respectively) were observed before the 1980s. Sediment OM was primarily derived from aquatic plants, whereas N was primarily derived from soil erosion and aquatic plants. However, water quality began to deteriorate while sediment nutrient content began to increase after the 1980s, with values of 1186 mg kg(-1) for TN and 434 mg kg(-1) for TP in 1989. Sediment OM was primarily derived from C3 (sweet potato) and aquatic plants, and the major sources of N were soil erosion, fertilizer, and sewage, which accompany the rapid development of agriculture in the watershed. Following the further growth of grain production and fertilizers, excessive external nutrient loading has resulted in dramatic water quality and ecosystem deterioration since 1990. The increasing rate of TN and TP contents was also augmented during these periods, reaching as high as 2624 and 846 mg kg(-1) in surface sediment, respectively. In addition, sources of OM and N in sediment were similar to those in the 1980s, but the contribution of aquatic organic N in sediment has continued to increase (aquatic organic N that accounts for TN increased from 14.5% before the 1980s to 48% in 2007). This condition could be attributed to the impact of frequent "water bloom" and recession of aquatic plant due to worsening water pollution.