title: Distribution and nature of sedimentary organic matter in a tropical estuary: An indicator of human intervention on environment.
abstract: Sediment texture controls the spatial distribution of sedimentary organic matter (SOM) in the Vembanad Lake. Influences of marine derived organic matter (OM) on SOM decreased inner-wards in the northern part of the lake. However, SOM from the southern part of the lake was dominated by terrestrial OM. Marine-derived OM showed the highest affinity for the clay-sized fraction (<2 μm) of the sediment in the northern part of the lake. However, aged and humified soil-derived OM was predominant in the clay-sized fractions from the southern part. Alteration of sediment texture led to a change in the distribution pattern of SOM in the lake after bund construction. Human intervention and changes in land-use pattern were also found to influence the SOM content in the southern part of the lake.
authors.affiliation: Geological Oceanography Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa 403004, India.
authors.forename: Arindam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.affiliation: Geological Oceanography Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa 403004, India. Electronic address: arin.psb@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Parthasarathi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.affiliation: Geological Oceanography Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa 403004, India.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nagender Nath
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D060106:Lakes; D010316:Particle Size; D012987:Soil; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Anthropogenic influence; Hydrodynamic change and texture; Land-use pattern; Sediment size fractions; Source of sedimentary organic matter; Vembanad Lake