Jellison, R., Anderson, R.F., Melack, J.M., Heil, D.-1997
Limnology and Oceanography, 41 (7) : 1539-1544
Abstract:
Finely laminated sediments of Mono Lake provide a detailed paleolimnological record of organic matter accumulation during a period of large fluctuations in salinity that resulted from climatic variation and water diversions. In sedimentary profiles representing the last 170 yr, organic carbon content of the sediments varied from 6.6 to 16.1%. The accumulation rate of organic carbon at a sedimentation rate of 0.7 cm/yr varied from 76 to 164 gC/m^ 2/yr. The most notable change was a gradual increase in 5 yr mean accumulation rate from 87 to 153 gC/m^2/yr as salinity increased from similar to 48 to 97 g/liter during the recent period of water diversions (1941 1982). Although the correlation between organic matter accumulation and salinity during the recent period may be due in part to the slow decay of organic matter under hypersaline conditions, a positive correlation between accumulation rates and estimated lake salinities at time of burial exists throughout the 170 yr record.
(Univ Calif Santa Barbara, Inst Marine Sci, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 USA)
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