Analysis of organic and inorganic sulfur constituents and34S-isotopes in dated sediments of Forest Lakes in southern Finland

✍ Scribed by Pertti Kokkonen; Kimmo Tolonen

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 711 KB
• Volume: 35
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0049-6979
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00183851

✦ Synopsis

A modification of the Jonson-Nishita digestion-distillation apparatus was used to determine the S constituents of sediments from three forest lakes (Munaj~trvi, Orajarvi, and Sorvalampi) in southern Finland. Lakes Munaj~rvi and Oraj~rvi had undergone marked acidification during the past 30 yr or so presumably due to acid deposition as revealed from sedimentary diatom and chrysophycean remains. Organic S constituted a major part of the total S, and during the recent years the portion of C-bonded S increased in the Lakes Munaj~irvi and Sorvalampi more strongly than the portion of sulfate esters. In the case of Lake Orajarvi the concentration of total S increased by a factor of 2.3 from its preindustrial level which seems to be due to an increase of both C-bonded S and SO4 2. Coincidentally with the up core increase in total S, the sediment cores of Oraj~irvi and Munaj~irvi were strongly depleted of the 3~S-isotope (r = -0.83 in Oraj/irvi, n = 15, and r = -0.84 in Munaj/irvi n = 10). This implies that the recent changes in sedimentary S are related to the increasing input of airborne pollutant S since about 1850 in Oraj/irvi and 1950 in Munaj/irvi, provided that the 21°pb dating of the cores is correct and diagenetic changes have not greatly altered the vertical distribution of S in these sediments.