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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 60(7)

Diurnal sediment resuspension and settling: impact on the coupled physical and biogeochemical dynamics of dissolved oxygen and carbon in a shallow water body

Brett F. Branco A C D and Thomas Torgersen B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Environmental Systems Engineering, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

B Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT 06340, USA.

C Present address: Department of Geology, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA.

D Corresponding author. Email: BBranco@brooklyn.cuny.edu

Marine and Freshwater Research 60(7) 669-679 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08113
Submitted: 8 April 2008  Accepted: 15 February 2009   Published: 28 July 2009

Abstract

Small, shallow, inland water bodies are ubiquitous on the landscape and may be significant hotspots for biogeochemical transformations. However, the coupled physical and biogeochemical dynamics of these systems have received little attention compared with larger and deeper systems. Here, we examine the coupling between physical dynamics, sediment dynamics and oxygen–carbon dynamics in Mirror Lake, a small shallow pond in Storrs, CT, USA, using high frequency monitoring data and a simple coupled physical–biogeochemical model. The physical dynamics are characterised by a diurnal pattern of daytime thermal stratification and nighttime mixing. Observations show that the distribution of oxygen is tightly coupled with both the diurnal physical dynamics and photosynthesis–respiration reactions. Two 24-h periods in the summer of 2003 with similar meteorological conditions but distinctly different oxygen dynamics were simulated with a coupled physical–biogeochemical model. The model results suggest that the dynamics of sediment resuspension during nighttime convective overturn and subsequent settling during daytime stratification are critical in explaining the observed oxygen and dissolved inorganic carbon distributions. The diurnal dynamics provide a biogeochemical hot spot and hot moment by coupling meterologic forcing, resuspension of sediments, physical mixing and biological activity to hypoxia and anoxia in Mirror Lake.

Additional keywords: biogeochemical hotspots, modelling, shallow lakes, stratification, suspended sediments.


Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. EAR-0002993 and Grant No. EAR-0003408. BFB also thanks the University of Western Australia for hosting his NSF post doc funded by Grant No. OISE-0601917. Support was also provided by the Connecticut Institute of Water Resources and the University of Connecticut. John Bean, Peter Rich, Jeffrey Saunders, Suzanne Auer, Heather Pugh, and David Banker contributed to the field work. Steve Olsen graciously provided access to the weather data from the University of Connecticut’s Plant Science Farm. We also thank the editor, associate editor and three anonymous referees for their thoughtful comments, critiques and suggestions, which have improved the manuscript significantly.


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