Sed2K: Modeling Lake Sediment Diagenesis in a Management Context

Abstract

The development of a vertically-segmented, mechanistic mass balance model (Sed2K) for particulate organic matter (POM) diagenesis in lake sediments is described. The model is parsimonious in its requirements for input data and versatile in its accommodation of kinetic formulations. An application is provided for hypereutrophic Lake Alice, Minnesota, which includes a well-constrained calibration to downcore POM constituents (carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus) and their efflux at the sediment-water interface. The application then considers the system response to a reduction in POM deposition to the sediments (i.e., addressing the critical “when and to what extent” question fundamental to lake restoration programs).