Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

A Prehistorical Record of Cultural Eutrophication from Crawford Lake, Canada

Journal Article · · Geology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/G20496.1· OSTI ID:15014541
; ; ; ; ; ;
Cultural eutrophication--the process by which human activities increase nutrient input rates to aquatic ecosystems and thereby cause undesirable changes in surface-water quality--is generally thought to have begun with the start of the industrial era. The prehistoric dimension of human impacts on aquatic ecosystems remains relatively undescribed, particularly in North America. Here we present fossil plankton data (diatoms and rotifers), organic and inorganic carbon accumulations, and carbon isotope ratios from a 1000-yr sediment core record from Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada. The data documents increased nutrient input to Crawford Lake caused by Iroquoian horticultural activity from A.D. 1268 to 1486 and shows how this increased nutrient input elevated lake productivity, caused bottom-water anoxia, and irreversibly altered diatom community structure within just a few years. Iroquoian settlement in the region declined in the fifteenth century, yet diatom communities and lake circulation never recovered to the predisturbance state. A second phase of cultural eutrophication starting in A.D. 1867, initiated by Canadian agricultural disturbance, increased lake productivity but had comparatively less of an impact on diatom assemblages and carbon-storage pathways than the initial Iroquoian disturbance. This study deepens our understanding of the impact of cultural eutrophication on lake systems, highlights the lasting influence of initial environmental perturbation, and contributes to the debate on the ecological impacts of density and agricultural practices of native North American inhabitants.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
15014541
Report Number(s):
UCRL-JRNL-205853
Journal Information:
Geology, Journal Name: Geology Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 32; ISSN 0091-7613; ISSN GLGYBA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (17)

Lake Development and Limnological Response to Prehistoric and Historic Land-Use in Diss, Norfolk, U.K. journal March 1989
Pre-Columbian purslane (Portulaca oleracea L) in the New World journal February 1975
Spatial heterogeneity of diatom stratigraphy in varved and non-varved sediments of a small, boreal-forest lake journal January 1994
From Greenland to green lakes: Cultural eutrophication and the loss of benthic pathways in lakes journal July 2003
A new method for the estimation of absolute microfossil numbers, with reference especially to diatoms journal July 1973
The Holocene paleolimnology of Lake S�mbosj�n, southwestern Sweden journal January 1993
INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP journal January 1998
Diatom Production Responses to the Development of Early Agriculture in a Boreal Forest Lake-Catchment (Kassjon, Northern Sweden) journal October 1995
Extended 14 C Data Base and Revised CALIB 3.0 14 C Age Calibration Program journal January 1993
Preservation of elemental and isotopic source identification of sedimentary organic matter journal June 1994
Paleoecological reconstruction of changes in the productivity of a small, meromictic lake in Southern Ontario, Canada journal November 1988
Prehistoric increases in the pH of acid-sensitive Swedish lakes caused by land-use changes journal April 1993
The Precontact Iroquoian Occupation of Southern Ontario journal January 2000
Prehistoric Inuit whalers affected Arctic freshwater ecosystems journal January 2004
Ecosystems, paleoecology and human disturbance in subtropical and tropical america journal January 1987
Mayan Urbanism: Impact on a Tropical Karst Environment journal October 1979
Transformation of a northern hardwood forest by aboriginal (Iroquois) fire: charcoal evidence from Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada journal March 1995

Similar Records

Eutrophication. [Water pollution]
Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1982 · J. - Water Pollut. Control Fed.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6857989
Nutrient enrichment and eutrophication of Lake Michigan. Final report, November 1 1969-September 30, 1981
Technical Report · · OSTI ID:5213178
Eutrophication
Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1980 · J. Water Pollut. Control Fed.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6946992

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
CARBON
CARBON ISOTOPES
EUTROPHICATION
LAKES