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The palaeolimnology of Lake Mývatn, northern Iceland: plant and animal microfossils in the sediment
Author(s) -
EINARSSON ÁRNI
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
freshwater biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2427
pISSN - 0046-5070
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2427.1982.tb00603.x
Subject(s) - cladophora , sediment , cladocera , diatom , algae , ecology , limnology , holdfast , chlorophyta , geology , electrofishing , biology , zooplankton , abundance (ecology) , paleontology
SUMMARY. Sediment from a precursor of the 2300‐year old Lake Mývatn was traced by diatoms in pseudocrater scoria. This lake (Mývatn I) was deeper than the present Mývatn but similar in size. Tephrochronology confirms an equal age of the Ytrlflói and Sydrifloi basins of the present Mývatn. Diatom succession in the sediment of the Sydriflói basin was divided into four zones, of which the lowest corresponds to inherited and highly disturbed Mývatn I sediment. At 90 cm depth, i.e. around 1600 AD, in the Sydriflói sediment a simultaneous increase occurred in Cladophora aegagropila (Chlorophyta), Eurycercus lamellatus (Cladocera) and three diatom species epiphytic on Cladophora. The density of Cladocera also followed this trend. The increase in Cladophora was perhaps caused by improved light conditions on the bottom, either because of a decrease in water depth due to sedimentation, or a decrease in Anabaena blooms, or both.