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Spatial heterogeneity in lipid biomarker distributions in the catchment and sediments of a crater lake in central India

  • The basin-scale spatial variability in lipid biomarker proxies in lacustrine sediments, which are established tools for studying continental environmental change, has rarely been examined. It is often implicitly assumed that a lake sediment core provides an average integral of catchment sources. Here we evaluated the distribution of lipid biomarkers in a modern ecosystem and compared it with the sedimentary record. We analyzed lipid biomarkers in terrestrial and aquatic organisms and in lake surface sediments from 17 locations within the saline-alkaline Lonar crater lake in central India. Terrestrial vegetation and lake surface sediments were characterized by relatively high average chain length (ACL) index values (29.6-32.8) of leaf wax n-alkanes, consistent with suggestions that plants in drier and warmer climates produce longer chain alkyl lipids than plants in cooler and humid areas. A heterogeneous spatial distribution of ACL values in lake surface sediments was found: at locations away from the shore, the values were highest (31The basin-scale spatial variability in lipid biomarker proxies in lacustrine sediments, which are established tools for studying continental environmental change, has rarely been examined. It is often implicitly assumed that a lake sediment core provides an average integral of catchment sources. Here we evaluated the distribution of lipid biomarkers in a modern ecosystem and compared it with the sedimentary record. We analyzed lipid biomarkers in terrestrial and aquatic organisms and in lake surface sediments from 17 locations within the saline-alkaline Lonar crater lake in central India. Terrestrial vegetation and lake surface sediments were characterized by relatively high average chain length (ACL) index values (29.6-32.8) of leaf wax n-alkanes, consistent with suggestions that plants in drier and warmer climates produce longer chain alkyl lipids than plants in cooler and humid areas. A heterogeneous spatial distribution of ACL values in lake surface sediments was found: at locations away from the shore, the values were highest (31 or more), possibly indicating different sources and/or transport of terrestrial biomarkers. In floating, benthic microbial mats and surface sediment, n-heptadecane, carotenoids, diploptene, phytol and tetrahymanol occurred in large amounts. Interestingly, these biomarkers of a unique bacterial community were found in substantially higher concentrations in nearshore sediment samples. We suggest that human influence and subsequent nutrient supply resulted in increased primary productivity, leading to an unusually high concentration of tetrahymanol in the nearshore sediments. In summary, the data showed that substantial heterogeneity existed within the lake, but leaf wax n-alkanes in a core from the center of the lake represented an integral of catchment conditions. However, lake level fluctuation may potentially affect aquatic lipid biomarker distributions in lacustrine sediments, in addition to source changes.show moreshow less

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Author details:Saswati Sarkar, Heinz Wilkes, Sushma PrasadORCiD, Achim BrauerORCiDGND, Nils Riedel, Martina Stebich, Nathani Basavaiah, Dirk SachseORCiDGND
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2013.11.009
ISSN:0146-6380
Title of parent work (English):Organic geochemistry : the international journal for rapid publication of current research in organic geochemistry and biochemistry
Publisher:Elsevier
Place of publishing:Oxford
Publication type:Article
Language:English
Year of first publication:2014
Publication year:2014
Release date:2017/03/27
Volume:66
Number of pages:12
First page:125
Last Page:136
Funding institution:DFG-Graduate School 1364/1 of the University of Potsdam; German Science Foundation (DFG); Emmy-Noether Grant of the DFG [SA1889/1-1]
Organizational units:Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geowissenschaften
Peer review:Referiert
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