The long-term nutrient accumulation with respect to anthropogenic impacts in the sediments from two freshwater marshes (Xianghai Wetlands, Northeast China)

Sediment cores, representing a range of watershed characteristics and anthropogenic impacts, were collected from two freshwater marshes at the Xianghai wetlands (Ramsar site no. 548) in order to trace the historical variation of nutrient accumulation. Cores were 210Pb- and 137Cs-dated, and these data were used to calculate sedimentation rates and sediment accumulation rates. Ranges of dry mass accumulation rates and sedimentation rates were 0.27–0.96 g m−2 yr−1 and 0.27–0.90 cm yr−1, respectively. The effect of human activities on increased sediment accumulation rates was observed. Nutrients (TOC, N, P, and S) in sediment were analyzed and nutrient concentration and accumulation were compared in two marshes with different hydrologic regime: an “open” marsh (E-0) and a partly “closed” marsh (F-0). Differences in physical and chemical characteristics between sediments of “open” and partly “closed” marsh were also observed. The “open” marsh sequestered much higher amounts of TOC (1.82%), N (981.1 mg kg−1), P (212.17 mg kg−1), and S (759.32 mg kg−1) than partly “closed” marsh (TOC: 0.32%, N: 415.35 mg kg−1, P: 139.64 mg kg−1, and S: 624.45 mg kg−1), and the “open” marsh indicated a rather large historical variability of TOC, N, P, and S inputs from alluvial deposits. Nutrient inputs (2.16–251.80 g TOC m−2 yr−1, 0.43–20.12 g N m−2 yr−1, 0.39–3.03 g P m−2 yr−1, 1.60–15.13 g S m−2 yr−1) into the Xianghai wetlands of China are in the high range compared with reported nutrient accumulation rates for freshwater marshes in USA. The vertical variation, particularly for N, P, and S indicated the input history of the nutrients of the Xianghai wetlands developed in three periods—before 1950s, 1950–1980s, and after 1980s. The ratios between anthropogenic and natural inputs showed that the relative anthropogenic inputs of TOC, N, P, and S have been severalfold (TOC: 1.68–11.21, N: 0.47–3.67, P: 0.24–1.36, and S: 1.46–2.96) greater than values of their natural inputs after 1980s. The result is probably attributable, in part, to two decades of surface coal mining activities, urban sewage, and agriculture runoff within the upstream region of the Huolin River. Our findings suggest that the degree of anthropogenic disturbance within the surrounding watershed regulates wetland sediment, TOC, N, P, and S accumulation.