Human impact recorded in the sediment of Honghu Lake, Hubei, China

Article type: Research Article

Authors: YAO, Shu-chun^; | XUE, Bin | XIA, Wei-lan

Affiliations: Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China | Graduate School of CAS, Beijing 100039, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Vertical profiles of the total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), phosphorus, susceptibilities, elements and partical size were analyzed in a short ^{137}Cs-dated sediment core collected from Honghu Lake, China. The average sedimentation rate was 1.55 mm/a. The results indicated that trophic status of Honghu Lake in the historical period had experienced three stages. Before 1840 the lake was characterized with lower productivity, TOC was less than 9.92 g/kg; TN was 0.902 to 1.24 g/kg. During about 1840–1950, population increased quickly, there was an obvious change in TOC with an average of 13.0 g/kg. Since 1950, human impacts have accelerated the lake eutrophication and nutrients enriched in the sediment with TOC of 21.7 to 93.1 g/kg, TN of 1.77 to 8.78 g/kg. The heavy metal concentration profiles presented similar distribution trends except Pb and Mn. The results from elements analyses indicated that Honghu Lake had not been polluted by heavy metals except lead.

Keywords: Honghu Lake, lake deposit, human impact

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 402-406, 2006