scholarly journals Oxygen depletion in subarctic peatland thaw lakes

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 406-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany N. Deshpande ◽  
Frédéric Maps ◽  
Alex Matveev ◽  
Warwick F. Vincent

Permafrost thawing and erosion results in the enrichment of northern lakes by soil organic matter. These allochthonous inputs favour bacterial decomposition and may cause the draw-down of dissolved oxygen to anoxic conditions that promote methanogenesis. Our objective in the present study was to determine the seasonal variations in dissolved oxygen in a set of permafrost peatland lakes in subarctic Quebec, Canada, and to relate these changes to metabolic rates, ice cover, and mixing. The lakes had high dissolved organic carbon concentrations, and their surface waters in summer had greenhouse gas concentrations that were up to one (CO2) to three (CH4) orders of magnitude above air-equilibrium values, indicating their strongly heterotrophic character. Consistent with these observations, the peatland lakes had elevated rates of bacterial production and oxygen consumption. Continuous measurements of oxygen by in situ sensors and of ice cover by automated field cameras showed that the lakes became fully anoxic shortly after freeze-up. The waters were partially re-oxygenated by mixing events in spring and fall, but in one lake, the bottom waters remained anoxic throughout the year. These observations provide a foundation for subsequent biogeochemical and modelling studies of peatland thaw lakes as an abundant class of Arctic freshwater ecosystems.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Zhou ◽  
Zhuo-Yi Zhu ◽  
Huan-Ting Hu ◽  
Gui-Ling Zhang ◽  
Qian-Qian Wang

The Changjiang Estuary and its adjacent East China Sea are among the largest coastal hypoxic sites in the world. The oxygen depletion in the near-bottom waters (e.g., meters above the seabed) off the Changjiang Estuary is caused by water column respiration (WCR) and sedimentary oxygen respiration (SOR). It is essential to quantify the contributions of WCR and SOR to total apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) to understand the occurrence of hypoxia off the Changjiang Estuary. In this work, we analyzed the δ18O and O2/Ar values of marine dissolved gas samples collected during a field investigation in July 2018. We observed that the δ18O values of dissolved oxygen in near-bottom waters ranged from 1.039 to 8.457‰ (vs. air), generally higher than those of surface waters (−5.366 to 2.336‰). For all the sub-pycnocline samples, the δ18O values were negatively related to O2 concentrations (r2 = 0.97), indicating apparent fractionation of δ18O during oxygen depletion in the water column. Based on two independent isotope fractionation models that quantified the isotopic distillation of dissolved oxygen concentration and its δ18O, the mean contributions of WCR and SOR to total near-bottom AOU were calculated as 53 and 47%, respectively. Beneath the pycnocline, the WCR contribution to the total AOU varied from 24 to 69%, and the SOR contribution varied from 31 to 76%. The pooled samples beneath both the pycnocline and upper mixed layer indicated that WCR contributions (%) to total AOU increased with increasing AOU (μmol/L), whereas SOR% – AOU had the reverse trend. We propose that the WCR% and SOR% contributions to the total AOU of the sub-pycnocline waters are dynamic, not stationary, with changes in ambient environmental factors. Under hypoxic conditions, we observed that up to 70% of the total AOU was contributed by WCR, indicating that WCR is the major oxygen consumption mechanism under hypoxia; that is, WCR plays a vital role in driving the dissolved oxygen to become hypoxic off the Changjiang Estuary.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ximena Flores Melo ◽  
Jacobo Martín ◽  
Lounes Kerdel ◽  
François Bourrin ◽  
Cristina Beatriz Colloca ◽  
...  

This study examines the distribution and seasonal evolution of hydrographic, hydrodynamic, and nepheloid layers in Ushuaia Bay and the submerged glacial valley that connects it to the Beagle Channel. The hydrographic structure is highly seasonal, with a total mixing of the water column in winter and the appearance of a pycnocline between 50 and 70 m deep from spring to late autumn, mainly due to desalination. A counter-clockwise current sweeps the entire bay regardless of the season or phase of the tide. This current is at its maximum in the surface layer, allowing the rapid renewal of the bay’s waters, while deep currents are weak and imply a slow renewal of the valley’s waters. Turbid and oxygen-depleted structures are observed in summer in the valley. The combination of seasonal stratification, high organic matter inputs from planktonic production, oxygen consumption for remineralization, and sluggish circulation results in a decrease in near-bottom oxygen concentration in the glacial valley at the end of the stratified season, before mixing and re-oxygenation of the water column during the southern winter. The possible impact of dissolved oxygen depletion in the bottom waters of the valley on benthic organisms, like crustaceans, is discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Pratima Pandey ◽  
S. Nawaz Ali ◽  
Vikram Sharma ◽  
Prashant K. Champati Ray

Thermokarst (Thaw) lakes are landforms found in topographic depressions created by thawing ground ice in permafrost zones. They play an important role in the regulation of climatic functions. These lakes are a manifestation of warming surface temperatures that accelerates the ice-rich permafrost to degrade by creating marshy hollows/ponds. In the current global warming scenario, the thermokarst lakes in the high mountain regions (Himalaya) are expected to grow further. This accelerate permafrost thawing which will affect the carbon cycle, hydrology and local ecosystems. This phenomenon has attracted huge scientific attention because it has led to a rapid mass change of glaciers in the region, including extensive changes occurring on peri-glacial environments. The most striking fact is the release of an enormous amount of greenhouse gases, including methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide that is locked in these lakes. The present study delves into the thermokarst lakes in the upper reaches of Chandra Valley and Western Himalaya. The study also aims at designating the impact of their changes on the ecosystem, particularly their influence on the atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.


1979 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-88
Author(s):  
S.E. Penttinen ◽  
P.H. Bouthillier ◽  
S.E. Hrudey

Abstract Studies on the chronic low dissolved oxygen problems encountered under winter ice in the Red Deer River have generally been unable to account for dissolved oxygen depletion in terms of known manmade inputs. An experimental program was developed to assess the possible nature and approximate bounds of oxygen demand due to natural organic runoff carried to the Red Deer River by a small tributary stream, the Blindman River. The study employed an electrolytic respirometer on stream water samples subjected to prior concentration by vacuum evaporation. Evaluation of carbon and nitrogen budgets in conjunction with the measured oxygen demand indicate that biochemical oxygen demand is originating with natural organic runoff in tributaries of the Red Deer River. The results provide a basis for estimation of the possible contribution to the observed oxygen demand in the Red Deer River originating from natural organic runoff.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 2408
Author(s):  
Steven C. Chapra ◽  
Luis A. Camacho ◽  
Graham B. McBride

For rivers and streams, the impact of rising water temperature on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) assimilative capacity depends on the interplay of two independent factors: the waterbody’s dissolved oxygen (DO) saturation and its self-purification rate (i.e., the balance between BOD oxidation and reaeration). Although both processes increase with rising water temperatures, oxygen depletion due to BOD oxidation increases faster than reaeration. The net result is that rising temperatures will decrease the ability of the world’s natural waters to assimilate oxygen-demanding wastes beyond the damage due to reduced saturation alone. This effect should be worse for nitrogenous BOD than for carbonaceous BOD because of the former’s higher sensitivity to rising water temperatures. Focusing on streams and rivers, the classic Streeter–Phelps model was used to determine the magnitude of the maximum or “critical” DO deficit that can be calculated analytically as a function of the mixing-point BOD concentration, DO saturation, and the self-purification rate. The results indicate that high-velocity streams will be the most sensitive to rising temperatures. This is significant because such systems typically occur in mountainous regions where they are also subject to lower oxygen saturation due to decreased oxygen partial pressure. Further, they are dominated by salmonids and other cold-water fish that require higher oxygen levels than warm-water species. Due to their high reaeration rates, such systems typically exhibit high self-purification constants and consequently have higher assimilation capacities than slower moving lowland rivers. For slow-moving rivers, the total sustainable mixing-point concentration for CBOD is primarily dictated by saturation reductions. For faster flowing streams, the sensitivity of the total sustainable load is more equally dependent on temperature-induced reductions in both saturation and self-purification.


Author(s):  
Johnathan Daniel Maxey ◽  
Neil David Hartstein ◽  
Dorathy Penjinus ◽  
Alan Kerroux

Stratified estuaries are home to expanding aquaculture activities whose ecological footprints can be observed through trends in microbial community respiration in the water column. Bottle incubations are widely used to measure water column community respiration in marine and freshwater ecosystems by measuring the flux of dissolved oxygen occurring in the bottle over a period of time. When in situ dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations are markedly different than DO concentration of the incubation medium the potential for diffusion of oxygen across the bottle opening is great and may be especially pronounced in strongly stratified systems with relatively low rates of pelagic oxygen consumption. We incubated 60 Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) bottles filled with sterilized water with DO concentrations ranging from 2.51 mg O2 L-1 to 10.03 mg O2 L-1 for 24 hours in a temperature controlled water bath. There was a significant relationship when DO flux was set as a function of initial DO (DO Flux = -0.0017x + 0.0085, r2 = 0.72, p < 2.2 e-16). DO fluxes ranged from -0.012 mg O2 L-1 hour-1 to 0.005 mg O2 L-1 hour-1 for bottles incubated with initial DO ranging from 10.03 mg O2 L-1 to 3.31 mg O2 L-1, respectively. These results suggest that diffusion across the ground glass seal of BOD bottles is possible and that extra precaution through parallel diffusion controls should be considered when measuring pelagic respiration using BOD bottle incubations in systems with relatively low or relatively high in situ DO concentrations.


Author(s):  
Jolanta Grochowska ◽  
Renata Brzozowska ◽  
Michał Łopata ◽  
Julita Dunalska

AbstractThe study was conducted on Lake Długie, located in the city of Olsztyn, which for 20 years received raw domestic sewage (400 m3 per day). After preliminary conservation operations, the lake was restored by artificial circulation and phosphorus inactivation methods. During artificial circulation, water temperature in the whole lake volume was equalized. The disconnection of the compressor stimulated the return to typical thermal parameters in the lake. Phosphorus inactivation did not affect the thermal regime in the lake. Artificial circulation caused an increase in the oxygen content in the whole lake, lowered the oxygen-depletion rate during stagnation, and shortened the duration of anaerobic conditions in the near-bottom waters. Phosphorus inactivation did not directly affect the content of oxygen. However, after the coagulant was added to the lake, the oxygenation of the water was further improved owing to the depressed photosynthesis caused by drastically reduced availability of phosphate for primary producers.


1980 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 589 ◽  
Author(s):  
CM Finlayson ◽  
TP Farrell ◽  
DJ Griffiths

The stratification characteristics of Lake Moondarra (24�34'S.,139�35'E.), a man-made lake in north- western Queensland, have been studied. Evidence is presented that the lake approximates the warm polymictic type in which no persistent thermal stratification ever develops. During the cooler months, thermal stratification breaks down during the night; in the warmer months, the intense rainstorms prevent the establishment of a persistently stratified water column. The shallowness of the lake relative to its surface areaand the prevailing environmental conditions ensure that extensive periods of oxygen depletion do not develop in the water column. It is concluded that a strong and prolonged period of thermal stratification, with subsequent serious effects of the availability of dissolved oxygen in the deeper layers, would only arise if, in a particular year. there were no significant rainstorms.


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