Deposition, burial and sequestration of carbon in an oligotrophic, tropical lake

Submitted: 22 April 2013
Accepted: 31 October 2013
Published: 25 February 2014
Abstract Views: 3109
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The amount of biogenic carbon that may be deposited, buried and eventually preserved (sequestered) in the sediments of a tropical, oligotrophic lake, was evaluated based on i) the temporal variation of the particulate organic carbon (POC) concentration in the superficial sediments in the deep zone of lake Alchichica, Puebla, Mexico; and ii) the POC accumulation and preservation in a 210Pb-dated sediment core from the lake. In lake Alchichica the POC concentration in the surficial sediments ranged between 12 and 60 mg POC g-1 (25 ± 12 mg POC g-1 dry weight). The magnitude of the sedimented POC in Alchichica was high and mostly of autochthonous origin. The POC concentrations recorded in the sediment core (16.6 to 31.6 mg g-1 dry weight) were comparable to the concentration range observed in the surface sediment samples collected during the study period, which signaled a high POC preservation capacity in the sedimentary column of lake Alchichica. The POC fluxes, estimated from the 210Pb-dated sediment core, varied between 14.9 and 35.3 g m-2 year-1 within the past century; and the maximum POC losses through diagenesis during this period were estimated to be lower than 25%. This study concludes that deep tropical lakes, exemplified by lake Alchichica, accumulate and preserve most of the POC deposited, playing an important role in regional carbon balances.

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Supporting Agencies

This project was financially supported by CONACYT project 103332 and INFRA2013-01/204818, DGAPA-PAPIIT-UNAM projects IN221009, IN215512, and IN105009.
Javier Alcocer, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala. Proyecto de Investigación en Limnología Tropical
Head of the Proyecto de Limnología Tropical, FES Iztacala, UNAM
Elva Escobar, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología; Ecología Marina y Biodiversidad; Laboratorio de Biodiversidad y Macroecología
Head of Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología

How to Cite

Alcocer, Javier, Ana C. Ruiz-Fernández, Elva Escobar, Libia H. Pérez-Bernal, Luis A. Oseguera, and Vilma Ardiles-Gloria. 2014. “Deposition, Burial and Sequestration of Carbon in an Oligotrophic, Tropical Lake”. Journal of Limnology 73 (2). https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2014.783.