Recent sedimentation dynamics in a shallow coastal lake (Lake Sarbsko, northern Poland): driving factors, processes and effects

Abstract

Despite the fact that sediment dynamics in shallow coastal lakes strongly influences lake water quality and is crucial for preserving good quality paleo-records from coastal zones, the depositional processes in coastal lakes have not been thoroughly recognised so far. The present study aims at investigating the relationship between lake water circulation and the distribution of surface sediments, identifying the postdepositional physical mechanisms affecting lake deposits, and estimating the intensity of sediment mixing in a coastal lake on the Baltic coast. Our approach includes analyses of sediment grain size and chemical composition, hydrodynamic modelling and measurements of 210Pb activity in sediment short-cores from various sections of the lake. We showed that the distribution of lithofacies in the lake is explained by hydrodynamic conditions. Enhanced water dynamics reduces spatial extent of organic-rich lacustrine deposits and results in the exposure of relic marine-lagoonal sediments. A major part of the lake sediments is prone to vertical mixing by wind waves to a depth of ≥ 40 cm. Hydrodynamic modelling and 210Pb displayed overall agreement in predicting the depth of sediment mixing. At the same time the limitations of 210Pb as a geochronologic marker in shallow coastal lakes are revealed. It appears that even exponential depth-wise 210Pb distributions may be produced by storm redeposition.