Long‐term changes in the areal hypolimnetic oxygen deficit (AHOD) of Onondaga Lake: Evidence of sediment feedback

Long-term trends in the rate of depletion of hypolimnetic dissolved oxygen (DO) are documented for ionically enriched hypereutrophic Onondaga Lake, New York, for the 1978‐2002 interval. Depletion rates, represented as areal hypolimnetic oxygen deficits (AHOD, g m 22 d 21 ), are calculated on the basis of weekly DO profiles of 1-m resolution and estimates of coincident inputs of DO from overlying layers driven by vertical mixing. Vertical mixing inputs of DO are important in this system, representing from 15% to 37% (mean 25%) of AHOD. Interannual variations in hypolimnetic temperatures have comparatively minor (66%) effects on AHOD. AHOD decreased 49%, from an average of 2.12 g m 22 d 21 for the 1978‐1986 interval, to an average of 1.08 g m 22 d 21 for the 1997‐ 2002 interval. This decrease was driven by an abrupt decrease in the deposition of particulate organic carbon into the hypolimnion starting in 1987. The magnitude of the decrease in AHOD closes reasonably well with decreases in both primary production in the trophogenic zone and organic carbon deposition to the tropholytic zone. The time course of the decrease in AHOD is consistent with localization of oxygen-demanding processes within the lake sediments, reflecting the progression of sediment diagenesis. Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a fundamental resource of lakes that has profound effects on lake chemistry and biology (Wetzel 2001). Most hypolimnia are isolated from the important oxygen source of photosynthesis and potential inputs of DO from atmospheric exchange. Oxygen consumption in hypolimnia and sediments reflects decomposition of settling and deposited particulate organic matter that is formed mostly through primary production in the overlying trophogenic zone (Hutchinson 1957). The rate of hypolimnetic oxygen depletion has long been recognized as an integrator of lake metabolism. The evolution of these concepts and various calculation protocols to quantify the rate of DO depletion as an index, or even an indirect measure (Hutchinson 1938; Mortimer 1941), of primary production has been reviewed by Wetzel (2001). The rate of loss of the mass of DO, normalized for the surface area of the hypolimnion, described as the areal hypolimnetic oxygen deficit (AHOD, g m

[1]  R. Berner,et al.  The role of sedimentary organic matter in bacterial sulfate reduction: The G model tested1 , 1984 .

[2]  M. Charlton.  Hypolimnion Oxygen Consumption in Lakes: Discussion of Productivity and Morphometry Effects , 1980 .

[3]  D. W. Schults,et al.  Summer internal phosphorus supplies in Shagawa Lake, Minnesota , 1981 .

[4]  S. Chapra.  Surface Water-Quality Modeling , 1996 .

[5]  John T. Lehman,et al.  Hypolimnetic metabolism in Lake Washington: Relative effects of nutrient load and food web structure on lake productivity , 1988 .

[6]  G. Lee,et al.  Summary Analysis Of The North American (US Portion) OCED Eutrophication Project: Nutrient Loading - Lake Response Relationships And Trophic State Indices , 1978 .

[7]  R. P. Canale,et al.  Identification of Critical Nutrient Levels through Field Verification of Models for Phosphorus and Phytoplankton Growth , 1986 .

[8]  Steven W. Effler,et al.  Estimating oxygen exchange across the air–water interface of a hypereutrophic lake , 2002, Hydrobiologia.

[9]  William W. Walker,et al.  Use of hypolimnetic oxygen depletion rate as a trophic state index for lakes , 1979 .

[10]  P. Anderson,et al.  Variations in Sediment Accumulation Rates and the Flux of Labile Organic Matter in Eastern Lake Superior Basins , 1989 .

[11]  A. Jassby,et al.  Vertical patterns of eddy diffusion during stratification in Castle Lake, California1 , 1975 .

[12]  S. Effler.  Limnological and engineering analysis of a polluted urban lake : prelude to environmental management of Onondaga Lake, New York , 1996 .

[13]  Clifford H. Mortimer,et al.  THE EXCHANGE OF DISSOLVED SUBSTANCES BETWEEN MUD AND WATER IN LAKES, II , 1941 .

[14]  M. Beutel.  Hypolimnetic Anoxia and Sediment Oxygen Demand in California Drinking Water Reservoirs , 2003 .

[15]  S. Effler,et al.  Changes in Primary Production in Onondaga Lake, NY: Magnitude, Metrics, and Drivers , 2005 .

[16]  M. Auer,et al.  Development and Testing of a Dissolved Oxygen Model for a Hypereutrophic Lake , 1996 .

[17]  S. D. Field,et al.  Diffusivity-Based Flux of Phosphorus in Onondaga Lake , 1983 .

[18]  D. O’Donnell,et al.  Limnological and Loading Information and a Phosphorus Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Analysis for Onondaga Lake , 2002 .

[19]  D. Chynoweth,et al.  The contributions of temperature and of the input of organic matter in controlling rates of sediment methanogenesis1 , 1981 .

[20]  D. Lasenby.  Development of oxygen deficits in 14 southern Ontario lakes1 , 1975 .

[21]  R. Carignan,et al.  Regeneration of dissolved substances in a seasonally anoxic lake: The relative importance of processes occurring in the water column and in the sediments , 1991 .

[22]  P. Campbell,et al.  Effect of Ambient Oxygen Concentration on Measurements of Sediment Oxygen Consumption , 1986 .

[23]  N. M. Burns.  Using hypolimnetic dissolved oxygen depletion rates for monitoring lakes , 1995 .

[24]  F. Rosa,et al.  Lake Erie Central Basin Oxygen Depletion Changes from 1929–1980 , 1987 .

[25]  Werner Stumm,et al.  Particle transport in lakes: models and measurements , 1989 .

[26]  Patrick L. Brezonik,et al.  Chemical Kinetics and Process Dynamics in Aquatic Systems , 1993 .

[27]  S. Effler.  Limnological and Engineering Analysis of Polluted Urban Lake , 1996 .

[28]  Steven W. Effler,et al.  Metabolic rate estimates for a eutrophic lake from diel dissolved oxygen signals , 2002, Hydrobiologia.

[29]  S. Effler,et al.  Responses of Onondaga Lake, New York, to Early Stages of Rehabilitation: Unanticipated Ecosystem Feedbacks , 2001, Water environment research : a research publication of the Water Environment Federation.

[30]  John T. Lehman,et al.  The effect of changes in the nutrient income on the condition of Lake Washington1 , 1981 .

[31]  S. Effler,et al.  Phosphorus Pools, Alkaline Phosphatase Activity, and Phosphorus Limitation in Hypereutrophic Onondaga Lake , 1996 .

[32]  Martin T. Auer,et al.  Determination of sediment oxygen demand by direct measurement and by inference from reduced species accumulation , 1995 .

[33]  C. Driscoll,et al.  Changes in deposition of phytoplankton constituents in a Ca2+ polluted lake. , 2001, Environmental science & technology.

[34]  G. E. Hutchinson,et al.  On the Relation between the Oxygen Deficit and the productivity and Typology of Lakes , 1938 .

[35]  D. M. DiToro,et al.  Sediment flux modeling. , 2001 .

[36]  S. D. Field,et al.  Light‐Productivity Model for Onondaga Lake, N.Y. , 1983 .

[37]  S. Effler,et al.  Chloride model for polluted onondaga lake , 1994 .

[38]  F. Rigler,et al.  Hypolinimetic Oxygen Deficits: Their Prediction and Interpretation , 1979, Science.

[39]  S. Effler,et al.  Impacts of a Soda Ash Facility on Onondaga Lake and the Seneca River, NY , 2003 .

[40]  R. Wetzel.  Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems , 1975 .

[41]  C. M. Brooks,et al.  The oxygen resources of the hypolimnion of ionically enriched onondaga lake, NY, U.S.A. , 1986 .

[42]  Raymond P. Canale,et al.  LONG-TERM PHENOMENOLOGICAL MODEL OF PHOSPHORUS AND OXYGEN FOR STRATIFIED LAKES , 1991 .

[43]  S. Effler,et al.  CHANGES IN STRATIFICATION IN ONONDAGA LAJKE, NEW YORK1 , 1989 .

[44]  S. Effler,et al.  Optical Characteristics of Onondaga Lake: 1968–1990 , 1996 .

[45]  S. Effler,et al.  Changes in the Zooplankton of Onondaga Lake: Causes and Implications , 1996 .

[46]  H. Rowell.  Paleolimnology of Onondaga Lake: the History of Anthropogenic Impacts on Water Quality , 1996 .

[47]  M. Klug,et al.  Quantification and characterization of sedimenting particulate organic matter in a shallow hypereutrophic lake , 1980 .

[48]  D. Knauer.  Limnological and engineering analysis of a polluted urban lake: Prelude to environmental management of Onondaga Lake, New York , 1999 .

[49]  E. Prepas,et al.  Dependence of Lake Oxygen Depletion Rates on Maximum Oxygen Storage in a Partially Meromictic Lake in Alberta , 1988 .

[50]  Rattan Lal,et al.  Sediment Flux Modeling , 2003 .

[51]  W. T. Edmondson.  Changes in the oxygen deficit of Lake Washington: With 3 figures and 1 table in the text , 1966 .