From the sea strait to the meromictic lake: Evolution and ecosystem of a water body at the Fiard Coast (Lake Kislo-Sladkoe at the Karelian Coast of the Kandalaksha Bay, the White Sea, Russia)

Abstract

Fiard coasts are common on the periphery of the areas previously covered by ice sheets. The conditions in such areas are favorable for separation of bays and straits from the sea. As a result of the glacial isostatic adjustment of the area the fiards would be transformed into coastal lakes. To discover the regularities of evolution of such water bodies, we studied topography, sea and lake sediments, hydrology and diatom associations of meromictic Lake Kislo-Sladkoe at the Karelian Coast of the Kandalaksha Bay, the White Sea, Russia (66°32′54″N, 33°08′05″E). Detailed geomorphological, geodetic, bathymetric, and aerial imagery field works have been completed on the coastal area. We built a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the coast and seabed. Radioisotope dating (210Pb, 14С), grain size distribution, loss on ignition, Corg/Norg ratio and diatom analysis have been completed for the entire 1.5-m sequence of the Lake's sediments. Currently, the Lake Kislo-Sladkoe communicates with the sea through a rising sill. We have established that the water body is meromictic due to its upper water layer being of variable salinity, middle layer comprising of aerated salty water, and the near-bottom water layer being anaerobic. However, several-year-long periods of water stratification alternate there with occasional late-autumn or early-winter flushes. The water body evolution falls into four stages: (1) a strait with an active hydrodynamic environment (prior to 1500–1560s), (2) a strait with a variable hydrodynamic environment (1500–1560s to 1850–1890s), (3) a semi-isolated lagoon with a quiet hydrodynamic environment (1850–1890s to early 1950s), and (4) a meromictic lake at an early stage of separation from the sea (early 1950s to present). We show how coastal processes on fiard coasts change the mode and duration of isolation of coastal water bodies from the sea. Based on the assessment of the rate of the post-glacial rebound and hydrological conditions of the coastal area we propose an approach to estimating the duration of transitional phase between a marine bay or strait and freshwater lake, including its meromictic stage. We predict that the meromictic stage of the lake will be completed no earlier than c. 100–200 years after the sill rises above the tidal zone.