Abstract
The IJsselmeer originated in 1932 when a former coastal lagoon was shut off from the North Sea. Its main source of water and sediments is from the highly polluted river Rhine. The lake acts as a sink not only for particulate trace metals, but also for the dissolved metals; especially dissolved zinc, chromium and cadmium are held back in the lake. For these metals field and laboratory experiments revealed a correlation between pH and element concentrations where adsorption strongly depends on the pH within the range 7–9 observed in the IJsselmeer. Algae account for about 4–14% of the removal cadmium, chromium, zinc and copper. In the mouthing area of the river IJssel, metal concentrations in the sediments are determined by physical (mixing of lake and river sediments) and by chemical processes (adsorption). Mixing of the sediments has been quantitatively studied with the aid of natural stable isotope tracers. Between 1932 and 1974 trace metal concentrations in the sediments show increases between 25% (chromium) and 600% (cadmium). Organic matter concentrations increased by 140%, calcium carbonate by 300% and phosphorus by 600%.
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