Premium
Recent sedimentation and its relationship with primary productivity in four western Washington lakes 1
Author(s) -
Birch Peter B.,
Barnes Robert S.,
Spyridakis Dimitris E.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1980.25.2.0240
Subject(s) - sedimentation , profundal zone , primary productivity , productivity , deposition (geology) , erosion , sediment , phytoplankton , physical geography , phosphorus , environmental science , oceanography , ecology , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , geography , nutrient , benthic zone , biology , geomorphology , materials science , geotechnical engineering , macroeconomics , metallurgy , economics
Studies of sedimentation processes in four western Washington lakes reveal up to sixfold variations in sedimentation rates over the past 130 years of settlement in the region. These variations in sedimentation can be linked with known changes in land use in the watersheds, especially logging, which appears to have accelerated erosion. Contemporary deposition of phosphorus into profundal sediments is positively correlated with phytoplankton productivity in the four lakes. If a similar relationship existed in the past when sedimentation rates of phosphorus were different, then increases in primary productivity from twofold to fourfold could have occurred in three of the lakes since about 1840.