Historical pond systems as long-term composite archives of anthropogenic contamination in the Vrchlice River, Czechia

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F44555601%3A13520%2F21%3A43896114" target="_blank" >RIV/44555601:13520/21:43896114 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/61989592:15310/21:73610763

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213305421000060" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213305421000060</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2021.100283" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.ancene.2021.100283</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Historical pond systems as long-term composite archives of anthropogenic contamination in the Vrchlice River, Czechia

Original language description

River damming has numerous benefits and adverse consequences. Unlike large dam reservoirs whose construction peaked in the twentieth century, historical ponds and their accumulated legacy sediments span much longer time periods. Small ponds in many areas worldwide are sinks for anthropogenic pollutants and affect sediment delivery to downstream river reaches. Thousands of ponds cover an area of &gt;0.2 % of the territory of Czechia, equal to the area of its ten largest dam reservoirs. This paper reports a sequence of constructed and removed pond dams along the Vrchlice River, Czechia, and their use as sedimentary archives, in order to reconstruct the long-term (&gt;200 yr) history of contamination. Historical maps, geophysical profiles, activities of caesium-137 isotope, grain size, and sediment geochemistry in 16 sediment cores enabled the reconstruction of contamination in the pond, dam reservoir, and floodplain sediments since ?1780. Contamination by lead, copper, zinc, arsenic, and cadmium from atmospheric, geogenic and agricultural sources increased since ?1850 peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, and then decreased slightly. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides polluted post-1970 sediments, reflecting their use in agriculture. The removal of dams resulted in the rapid incision of newly formed river channels into the old pond deposits. Following the reinstatement of dams, channels filled rapidly (up to 5.2 cm/yr) with new lacustrine sediment, whereas sediment accumulated slowly (&lt;0.4 cm/yr) outside the channels. Upon dam removal, contaminated channel-fill sediment likely redistributed into the water course. As ponds are complex depositional systems with the heterogeneous distribution of sediment and associated contaminants, active and extinct ponds are promising long-term sedimentary archives that can extend understanding of human interactions with Earth systems.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA17-06229S" target="_blank" >GA17-06229S: Sedimentary history of dam reservoirs as anthropogenic barriers in river systems: from sediment budget to fate of pollutants</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Anthropocene

ISSN

2213-3054

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

33

Issue of the periodical within the volume

100283

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

11

Pages from-to

1-11

UT code for WoS article

000632441900009

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85101115345