Flood effects on phosphorus immobilisation in a river water filled pit lake—Case study Lake Goitsche (Germany)

Abstract

Between 1999 and 2002, a former open-cast mine was filled with river water forming the recent Lake Goitsche. During filling initially acid water was neutralised. Phosphorus (P) imported from Mulde River was nearly completely removed from the water column by co-precipitation with iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) and deposited in the sediment. During extremely high waters of the Mulde River in 2002, a dike breach facilitated a second high import of P into Lake Goitsche with suspended and dissolved matter. The analysis of total phosphorus (TP), however, showed that P again had been eliminated from the water body a few months after the flood event. Sediment investigations before filling with river water, during filling, and after the flood event were used to analyse the process of P immobilisation in a lake with acid mine drainage history. The ratios of Fe to soluble reactive P (SRP) of sediment pore water were up to three orders of magnitudes higher than in natural lakes and can serve as an indicator for potential internal P loading from sediments. The SRP concentrations at the oxic/anoxic boundary were near or below the limit of quantification (< 0.2 μmol/L). Fe and manganese (Mn) redox cycling were responsible for hindering P dissolution from sediment to lake water. Finally it can be stated, that the risk of eutrophication for such a lake seems to be low.