Fluxes and concentrations of a phorbins and major algal carotenoids were quantified in sediment trap material and sediment cores from two basins of Trout Lake, Wisconsin (TrDH and TrAB). The basins were chosen to contrast the influence of oxygen content at the sediment–water interface (TrDH, oxic and TrAB, reducing), sediment accumulation rate, and focusing. Pigment diagenesis occurred in both basins, but transformations and destruction were more extensive in TrDH. Although untransformed chlorophyll a was the major phorbin deposited at the sediment surface of both basins (51–64 mol%), pigment destruction, coupled with transition to pheophytin, accounted for substantial losses, especially in oxic TrDH sediments. Fucoxanthin, peridinin, and diadinoxanthin, despite representing > 70% of the deposited carotenoid flux, were substantially degraded or transformed in both basins. However, preservation was relatively high for secondary carotenoids, such as diatoxanthin and β-carotene, and for a major cryptomonad pigment, alloxanthin. Residual profiles in sediments show that pigment sedimentation from the epilimnion and accumulation in the permanent sediments are not directly related and that diagenesis must be considered in interpreting sedimentary pigments.
