Abstract
A combination of both water chemistry and sedimentological information was used to investigate the carbonate-producing mechanism in Littlefield Lake, a small lake located in Isabella County, central Michigan. Data on temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, calcium carbonate (CaCO3) saturation, alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium were obtained on a monthly basis over a 13-month period, with each parameter determined at 1m intervals over a depth range of 20m. The loss of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) from warm surface waters during direct degassing, and to a lesser extent during photosynthetic uptake by lacustrine macrophytes and phytoplankton during the summer, results in massive precipitation of the low-magnesium calcite which predominates in all Littlefield Lake sedimentary facies However, despite the fact that carbonate precipitation in this rather typical temperate-region marl lake is directly related to, and may be driven by, seasonal variation in these physiochemical parameters, most calcite forms as encrustations around cyanophytic and chlorophytic macrophytes. Such relationships demonstrate that carbonate precipitation in marl lakes may result from complex interactions between both biochemical and physiochemical processes. As such, marl formation in this, and probably many other calcareous lake systems, can not be simply ascribed to one or the other of these two general mechanisms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Binkley, K. L., B. H. Wilkinson, and R. M. Owen, 1980, Vadose beachrock cementation along a southeastern Michigan marl lake: J. Sed. Petrol. v. 50:953–962.
Brunskill, G. J., 1968, Fayetteville Green Lake, New York. I. Physical and chemical limnology. II. Precipitation and sedimentation of calcite in a meromictic lake with laminated sediments: Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 172 p.
Brunskill, G. J., 1969, Fayetteville Green Lake, New York. II. Precipitation and sedimentation of calcite in a meromictic lake with laminated sediments: Limnol. Oceanogr., v. 14(6):830–847.
Brunskill, G. J., and S. D. Ludlam, 1969, Fayetteville Green Lake, New York. I. Physical and chemical limnology: Limnol. Oceanogr., v. 14(6):817–829.
Cloud, P. E., Jr., 1962, Environment of calcium carbonate deposition west of Andros Island, Bahamas: U.S. Geol. Survey, Prof. Pap. No. 350, 138 p.
Culver, D. A., and G. J. Brunskill, 1969, Fayetteville Green Lake, New York. V. Studies of primary production and zooplankton in a meromictic marl lake: Limnol Oceanogr. v. 14(6):862–873.
Davis, C. A., 1900a, A contribution to the natural history of marl: J. Geol., v. 8(6):485–497.
Davis, C. A., 1990b, A remarkable marl lake: J. Geol., v. 8(6):498–503.
Davis, C. A., 1901, A second contribution to the natural history of marl: J. Geol. v. 9(6):491–506.
Dean, W. E., 1981, Carbonate minerals and organic matter in sediments of north temperature hard-water lakes.In F. G. Ethridge and R. M. Flores, eds., Recent and ancient non-marine depositional environments: models for exploration: SEPM Spec. Pub. No. 31, p. 213–231.
Drever, J. I., 1982, The Geochemistry of Natural Waters: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 388 p.
Duston, N. M., 1984, Water chemistry, sediment chemistry, and carbonate sedimentation in Littlefield Lake, Michigan: implications for production and diagenesis of lacustrine carbonates: Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 151 p.
Eggleston, J. R., and W. E. Dean, 1976, Freshwater stromatolitic bioherms in Green Lake, New York.In M. R. Walter, ed., Stromatolites: Amsterdam, Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co., p. 479–488.
EPA, 1971, Onodaga (N.Y.) Lake study: Water Pollution Control Research Series, Environmental Protection Agency, Water Quality Offie, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 461 p.
Gilbert, R., and S. M. Lask, 1981, Factors affecting marl deposition in Knowlton Lake, Southeastern Ontario: J. Great Lakes Res., v. 7(3):286–289.
Imboden, D. M., and A. Lerman, 1978, Chemical models of lakes.In A. Lerman, ed., Lakes: chemistry, geology, physics: New York, Springer-Verlag, p. 341–356.
Kelts, K., and K. J. Hsu, 1978, Freshwater carbonate sedimentation.In A. Lerman, ed., Lakes: physics, chemistry, geology: New York, Springer-Verlag, p. 295–323.
Megard, R. O., 1967. Limnology, primary productivity, and carbonate sedimentation of Minnesota lakes: Univ. Minn. Limnol. Res. Center Inter. Rept. No. 1, 69 p.
Megard, R. O., 1968, Planktonic photosynthesis and the environment of calcium carbonate deposition in lakes: Univ. Minn. Limnol. Res. Center Inter. Rept. No. 2, 47 p.
Muller, B., 1968, Exceptionally high Sr concentrations in freshwater onkolites and mollusk shells of Lake Constance.In G. Muller and G. M. Friedman, eds. Recent developments in carbonate sedimentology in Central Europe: New York, Springer Verlag, p. 116–127.
Murphy, D. H., and B. H. Wilkinson, 1980, Carbonate deposition and facies distribution in a central Michigan marl lake: Sedimentol. v. 27:123–135.
Neumann, A. C., and L. S. Land, 1975, Lime mud deposition and calcareous algae in the Bight and Abaco, Bahamas: a budget: J. Sed. Petrol. v. 50:953–962.
Newcombe, C. L., and J. V. Slater, 1950, Environmental factors of Sodon, Lake—a dichothermic lake in Southeastern Michigan: Ecol. Monographs v. 20(3):207–227.
Owen, R. M., and B. H. Wilkinson, 1983, Mineralogical and biological controls on the Fe/Ca and Mn/Ca ratios of lacustrine carbonate allochems: Chem. Geol. v. 38:175–181.
Pytkowicz, R. M., 1965, Rates of inorganic calcium carbonate nucleation: J. Geol. v. 73(1):196–199.
Ragotzkie, R. A., 1978, Heat budgets of lakes.In A. Lerman, ed., Lakes: chemistry, geology, physics: New York, Springer-Verlag p. 1–20.
Reynolds, R. C., Jr., 1978, Polyphenol inhibition of calcite precipitation in Lake Powell: Limnol Oceanogr., v. 23(4):585–597.
Rich, P. H., R. G. Wetzel, and N. Van Thuy, 1971, Distribution, production and role of aquatic macrophytes in a southern Michigan marl lake: Freshwat. Biol., v. 1:3–21.
Strong, A. E., and B. J. Eadi, 1978, Satellite observations of calcium carbonate precipitations in the Great Lakes: Limnol Oceanogr. v. 23(5):877–887.
Takahashi, T., W. Broecker, Y. H. Li, and D. Thruber, 1968. Chemical and isotopic balances for a meromictic lake: Limnol. Oceanogr., v. 13:272–292.
Terlecky, P. M., Jr., 1974, The origin of a late Pleistocene and Holocene marl deposit: J. Sed. Petrol., v. 44(2):456–465.
Treese, T. N., R. M. Owen, and B. H. Wilkinson, 1981, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in polygenetic carbonate allochems from a Michigan marl lake: Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. v. 45:439–445.
Wetzel, R. G., 1960, Marl encrustations on hydrophytes in several Michigan lakes. Oikos v. 11(2):223–236.
Wetzel, R. G., 1970, Recent and postglacial production rates of a marl lake. Limnol. Oceanogr. v. 15(4):491–503.
Wetzel, R. G., 1975, Limnology: Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders, 743 p.
Wetzel, R. G., P. H. Rich, M. C. Miller, and H. L. Allen, 1972, Metabolism of dissolved and particulate detrital carbon in a temperate hardwater lake: Mem. Ist. Ital. Idrobiol., Suppl. v. 29:185–243.
Wilkinson, B. H., B. N. Popp, and R. M. Owen, 1980, Near-shore ooid formation in a modern temperate region marl lake: J. Geol. v. 88:697–704.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Duston, N.M., Owen, R.M. & Wilkinson, B.H. Water chemistry and sedimentological observations in littlefield lake, michigan: Implications for lacustrine marl deposition. Environ. Geol. Water Sci 8, 229–236 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02524950
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02524950