Sedimentation Patterns of Multiple Finnish Lakes Reveal the Main Environmental Stressors and the Role of Peat Extraction in Lake Sedimentation
Human land-use activities, especially in the peatlands, are under consideration as the mitigation and lowering of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from land-use practices is needed to address climate change. In Finland, approximately one third of the land surface is covered by peatlands, and aro...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Geosciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/8/313 |
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| author | Tuija Vähäkuopus Tommi Kauppila Jari Mäkinen Antti E. K. Ojala Samu E. Valpola |
| author_facet | Tuija Vähäkuopus Tommi Kauppila Jari Mäkinen Antti E. K. Ojala Samu E. Valpola |
| author_sort | Tuija Vähäkuopus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human land-use activities, especially in the peatlands, are under consideration as the mitigation and lowering of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from land-use practices is needed to address climate change. In Finland, approximately one third of the land surface is covered by peatlands, and around 50% of peatlands are ditched for forestry. Another 3% of peatlands are used for agriculture and approximately 1% for peat extraction. The effects of these different land-use practices, including changes in sediment depositional rates and sediment quality, need to be identified. This study analyzed 51 lakes that were subdivided into two groups: (1) a group of impacted lakes in which peat was recently extracted from the catchments and (2) a reference group consisting of lakes where peat had not been extracted from the basin, but in which other land-use activities had occurred. The overall aim of the study was to investigate if peat extraction caused excessive delivery and deposition of dry and organic matter in lakes that are located in their immediate downstream catchment areas. Differences in sediment accumulation were defined by comparing the overall sediment thickness and recent (post 1986) sedimentation levels to identify if there were differences in the sediment chemical composition or rate of organic matter deposition between groups and to identify possible land-use stressors that could explain the possible differences in sediment chemical assemblages or sedimentation rates. The results show moderate (cm scale) sedimentation rates in both impacted and reference lakes after 1986, while sediment chemical assemblages indicated the erosion and input of mineral soils to all of the studied lakes, rather than the input of organic materials. No statistically significant correlations were observed between selected environmental variables and the recent accumulation rates of carbon and dry matter. Moreover, significant changes in the stressors potentially affecting the chemical assemblages of pre- and post-disturbance sediments were not observed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:31:03Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3263 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:31:03Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geosciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-d393ff04a69a412780cbe219fc19ce4b2023-11-20T10:01:02ZengMDPI AGGeosciences2076-32632020-08-0110831310.3390/geosciences10080313Sedimentation Patterns of Multiple Finnish Lakes Reveal the Main Environmental Stressors and the Role of Peat Extraction in Lake SedimentationTuija Vähäkuopus0Tommi Kauppila1Jari Mäkinen2Antti E. K. Ojala3Samu E. Valpola4Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 97, 67101 Kokkola, FinlandGeological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 1237, 70211 Kuopio, FinlandGeological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 1237, 70211 Kuopio, FinlandGeological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 96, 02151 Espoo, FinlandGeological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 97, 67101 Kokkola, FinlandHuman land-use activities, especially in the peatlands, are under consideration as the mitigation and lowering of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from land-use practices is needed to address climate change. In Finland, approximately one third of the land surface is covered by peatlands, and around 50% of peatlands are ditched for forestry. Another 3% of peatlands are used for agriculture and approximately 1% for peat extraction. The effects of these different land-use practices, including changes in sediment depositional rates and sediment quality, need to be identified. This study analyzed 51 lakes that were subdivided into two groups: (1) a group of impacted lakes in which peat was recently extracted from the catchments and (2) a reference group consisting of lakes where peat had not been extracted from the basin, but in which other land-use activities had occurred. The overall aim of the study was to investigate if peat extraction caused excessive delivery and deposition of dry and organic matter in lakes that are located in their immediate downstream catchment areas. Differences in sediment accumulation were defined by comparing the overall sediment thickness and recent (post 1986) sedimentation levels to identify if there were differences in the sediment chemical composition or rate of organic matter deposition between groups and to identify possible land-use stressors that could explain the possible differences in sediment chemical assemblages or sedimentation rates. The results show moderate (cm scale) sedimentation rates in both impacted and reference lakes after 1986, while sediment chemical assemblages indicated the erosion and input of mineral soils to all of the studied lakes, rather than the input of organic materials. No statistically significant correlations were observed between selected environmental variables and the recent accumulation rates of carbon and dry matter. Moreover, significant changes in the stressors potentially affecting the chemical assemblages of pre- and post-disturbance sediments were not observed.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/8/313peatlandland uselakesedimentationorganic matterFinland |
| spellingShingle | Tuija Vähäkuopus Tommi Kauppila Jari Mäkinen Antti E. K. Ojala Samu E. Valpola Sedimentation Patterns of Multiple Finnish Lakes Reveal the Main Environmental Stressors and the Role of Peat Extraction in Lake Sedimentation Geosciences peatland land use lake sedimentation organic matter Finland |
| title | Sedimentation Patterns of Multiple Finnish Lakes Reveal the Main Environmental Stressors and the Role of Peat Extraction in Lake Sedimentation |
| title_full | Sedimentation Patterns of Multiple Finnish Lakes Reveal the Main Environmental Stressors and the Role of Peat Extraction in Lake Sedimentation |
| title_fullStr | Sedimentation Patterns of Multiple Finnish Lakes Reveal the Main Environmental Stressors and the Role of Peat Extraction in Lake Sedimentation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sedimentation Patterns of Multiple Finnish Lakes Reveal the Main Environmental Stressors and the Role of Peat Extraction in Lake Sedimentation |
| title_short | Sedimentation Patterns of Multiple Finnish Lakes Reveal the Main Environmental Stressors and the Role of Peat Extraction in Lake Sedimentation |
| title_sort | sedimentation patterns of multiple finnish lakes reveal the main environmental stressors and the role of peat extraction in lake sedimentation |
| topic | peatland land use lake sedimentation organic matter Finland |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/8/313 |
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