Organic carbon accumulation and productivity over the past 130 years in Lake Kawaguchi (central Japan) reconstructed using organic geochemical proxies

Abstract

Organic matter in lake sediments contains information that can be used to reconstruct lake environmental histories over decades or centuries. In this study, we used organic geochemical proxies (i.e., total organic carbon [TOC], TOC/total nitrogen [TN] atomic ratios [C/N], stable carbon isotope ratios of TOC [δ13CTOC] and palmitic acid [δ13CC16:0], and nitrogen isotope ratios of bulk sediment [δ15Nbulk]) in sediments from Lake Kawaguchi, Japan, to reconstruct detailed histories of the organic matter accumulation and lake productivity over the past 130 years. Vertical profiles of the mass accumulation rate (MAR) of TOC in the eastern lake basin (core KAW14-7A) showed parallel increases with the C/N ratio from the 1960s to the 1980s, indicating an accelerated delivery of terrestrial organic matter via anthropogenic land-use change. In contrast, the C/N ratios in the western and central basins (cores KAW14-1A and KAW14-4B, respectively) were almost constant prior to the 1980s, suggesting that the increasing trends in the TOC MAR values in these cores are most likely attributable to the onset of eutrophication associated with rapid economic growth after the mid-1950s. On the other hand, the δ15Nbulk showed a gradual increase from the late 1870s, providing evidence for anthropogenic nitrogen input to the lake prior to the apparent eutrophication. After the 1960s–1970s, the δ15Nbulk values rapidly increased, demonstrating water deterioration associated with the direct nutrient discharge into the lake from domestic wastewater. The δ13CC16:0 profiles displayed similar increasing trends to δ15Nbulk from the mid-1960s, demonstrating a close relationship between lake productivity and anthropogenic nitrogen input in Lake Kawaguchi. Our geochemical records as a whole clearly show high algal productivity and enhanced deposition of organic matter in recent decades, suggesting that the amelioration of the lake water is a likely consequence of the transfer of nutrients to the sediment by enhanced productivity, rather than a decrease in the amount of nutrient inflow into the lake.