Composition of organic matter‑iron‑phosphorus associations in sediments of algae- and macrophyte-dominated zones in Lake Taihu

Abstract

The biogeochemical cycles of phosphorus (P) and organic matter (OM) are significantly influenced by iron (Fe) through forming OM-Fe-P associations. The sources and compositions of organic matter in the two typical states (algae-dominated and macrophyte-dominated) of shallow lakes are different, which could modulate the formation of OM-Fe-P associations and influence the internal loadings of P in lakes. In this study, OM and P bound with Fe were extracted from the sediments of algae-dominated zone (A-zone) and macrophyte-dominated zone (M-zone) in Lake Taihu via the citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite (CBD) reduction method, and were analyzed to elucidate the differences in OM-Fe-P associations between the two zones. The results showed that OM-Fe-P associations in the sediments of M-zone had higher a molar C/Fe ratio but a lower molar P/Fe ratio. Four components identified by excitation-emission matrix fluorescence coupled with parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC) in OM-Fe-P associations in the two zones were all humic-like substances and the relative abundance of the corresponding PARAFAC components had no significant difference between the two zones. However, the total fluorescence intensity of the humic-like components was higher in M-zone than those in A-zone. This could be attributed to the higher aromaticity of OM produced from macrophyte than that from algae, as evidenced by the difference in the easily-desorbed OM between two zones. In M-zone, high aromatic compounds which are preferentially associated with Fe, could be more produced from macrophyte plants than from algae and resulted in the higher C/Fe molar ratio. The higher C/Fe molar ratio (2.1 ± 0.9) of OM-Fe-P associations in M-zone reflected that more OM originated from macrophyte could be involved in the coprecipitation with Fe (III) and OM-Fe-P associations in M-zone were probably more resistant to the microbial and chemical reduction. Our results from the real situation confirmed the mechanism related to the role of OM composition in the reduction of OM-Fe-P associations to explain the lower internal loading of P in M-zone than that in A-zone.