Reaction rates, depositional history and sources of indium in sediments from Appalachian and Canadian Shield lakes

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Sediment cores were collected at the deepest site of twelve headwater lakes from the Province of Québec, Canada that receive contaminants only from atmospheric deposition, either directly to the lake surface or indirectly from the watershed. Several of the lakes are located within relatively short distance (<40km) and others at more than 200km from potential sources of contamination. The sediments were dated and analyzed for In and other elements including Fe, Mn, Al and organic C. Fe-rich authigenic material was collected on Teflon sheets inserted vertically into the sediments at the only study site whose hypolimnion remains perennially oxic. Porewater samples collected at the coring site of four of the lakes were also analyzed for In and other solutes including sulfide, sulfate, Fe, Mn, inorganic and organic C and major ions. The porewater In profiles display concentration gradients at or below the sediment–water interface. Modeling these profiles with a one-dimensional transport-reaction equation assuming steady state allows definition of depth intervals (zones) where In is either released to or removed from porewater and quantification of net In reactions rates in each zone.The position of the In consumption zones, the shape of the vertical profiles of dissolved In, sulfide and iron, as well as thermodynamic calculations of saturation states collectively suggest that In(OH)3(s) and In2S3(s) do not precipitate in the sediments and that adsorption of In onto sedimentary FeS(s) does not occur. However, similarities in the In and Fe porewater profiles, and the presence of In in the authigenic Fe-rich solids, reveal that part of the In becomes associated with authigenic Fe oxyhydroxides in the perennially oxic lake and is coupled to the Fe redox cycling. Comparison of the In/Corg and In/Fe molar ratios in the authigenic Fe-rich material and in surface sediments (0–0.5cm) of this lake suggests that most non-lithogenic In was bound to humic substances. From the magnitude of the net In reaction rates, we infer that the post-depositional redistribution of this element is quantitatively not important and that the In sedimentary record represents accurately In deposition at the sampling sites. Reconstructed chronologies of the anthropogenic In deposition and comparison of In inventories among lakes point to non-ferrous metal smelters as a past significant source of atmospheric In contamination and to a significant reduction of industrial In emissions into the North American atmosphere in recent decades.