Elevation of basal lacustrine sediments along the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River and its implications for the reconstruction of Holocene water levels

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,a primary region for freshwater lakes in China,have undergone significant transformations throughout the Holocene.These changes,driven by factors such as sea-level rise,climate change,and human activities,have led to the progressive elevation of water levels in this area.As a result,a floodplain has emerged,characterized by the formation of numerous shallow lakes along the river course.However,the pattern of water-level changes in the main channel of the Yangtze River during the Holocene remains unclear.This gap in knowledge poses challenges for understanding sediment transport dynamics,the interactions between the river and its adjacent lakes,and the prevention and control of flood disasters in the Yangtze River basin.To shed light on these issues,our study compiled data on the surface elevation and water depth of 81 lakes in the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin.Additionally,we analyzed historical water-level records from the 1900s to the 1970s at eight gauging stations from Shashi to Jiangyin along the river’s main stream.Our findings reveal that,particularly along the Jingjiang section,the basal elevation of most lakes is lower than the Yangtze River’s water level during the dry season.Conversely,the water level of the main stream exceeds that of both the floodplain and the lakes enclosed by the Jingjiang embankment.In the tidal reach,especially within the Taihu Lake basin,the basal elevation of lakes typically falls below sea level.Meanwhile,lakes located along the section from Chenglingji to Wuhu exhibit basal elevations that correspond with the Yangtze River’s annual average and dry season water levels.Given the widespread presence of lakes along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,our study introduces a new proxy for reconstructing the mean water level of the mid-lower Yangtze River in the Holocene.By analyzing sediments from Nanyi Lake and Chenyao Lake in the lower Yangtze River,we attempted to reconstruct the water level of the Yangtze River’s main channel since 8 ka BP.

Historical trends of heavy metal contamination and their sources in lacustrine sediment from Xijiu Lake,Taihu Lake Catchment,China

Concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn and Hg in Xijiu Lake sediment from the Taihu Lake catchment, China, were analyzed. Their contamination state was investigated based on the geoaccumulation index and enrichment factors. Statistical analysis was used to differentiate the anthropogenic versus natural sources of heavy metals （HMs）, and the anthropogenic accumulation fluxes were calculated to quantify anthropogenic contribution to HMs. The results indicated that the lake sediment had been heavily contaminated by Cd, enrichment of Zn and Hg was at a relatively high level, while that of Cu and Pb was in the lower-to-moderate level and Cr was in the low enrichment level. Sources of Cr in the sediment were mainly from natural inputs, while other metals, especially Cd, were predominantly derived from anthropogenic sources. In the past century, anthropogenic accumulation fluxes of Pb, Zn and Hg increased by 0.147.3 mg/（cm2-yr）, 2.4-398.1 mg/（cm2.yr）, and 3.7-110.3 ng/（m2.yr）, respectively, accounting for most inputs of HMs entering the sediment. The contamination state of HMs varied with industrial development of the catchment, which demonstrated that contamination started in the early 20th century, reached the maximal level between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s, and decreased a little after the implementation of constraints on high contamination industries, although the contamination of some HMs, such as Cd, Zn and Hg, is still at high levels.

Speciation of organic phosphorus in a sediment profile of Lake Taihu Ⅱ.Molecular species and their depth attenuation

The understanding of organic phosphorus（P） dynamics in sediments requires information on their species at the molecular level,but such information in sediment profiles is scarce.A sediment profile was selected from a large eutrophic lake,Lake Taihu（China）,and organic P species in the sediments were detected using solution phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy（31 P NMR） following extraction of the sediments with a mixture of 0.25 mol/L NaOH and 50 mmol/L EDTA（NaOH-EDTA） solution.The results showed that P in the NaOH-EDTA extracts was mainly composed of orthophosphate,orthophosphate monoesters,phospholipids,DNA,and pyrophosphate.Concentrations of the major organic P compound groups and pyrophosphate showed a decreasing trend with the increase of depth.Their half-life times varied from 3 to 27 years,following the order of orthophosphate monoesters 〉 phospholipids DNA 〉 pyrophosphate.Principal component analysis revealed that the detected organic P species had binding phases similar to those of humic acid-associated organic P（NaOH-NRP HA）,a labile organic P pool that tends to transform to recalcitrant organic P pools as the early diagenetic processes proceed.This demonstrated that the depth attenuation of the organic P species could be partly attributed to their increasing immobilization by the sediment solids,while their degradation rates should be significantly lower than what were suggested in previous studies.