『Abstract
We determined 15N/14N ratios of total nitrogen
in surface sediments and dated sediment cores to reconstruct the
history of N-loading of the North Sea. The isotopic N composition
in modern surface sediments is equivalent to and reflects the
isotopic mixture of oceanic nitrate on the one hand (δ15N=5‰)
and the imprint of river-borne nitrogen input into the SE North
Sea (δ15N up to 12‰ in estuaries of the SE North Sea)
on the other hand. we compare the results with δ15N
records from pre-industrial sediment intervals in cores from the
Skagerrak and Kattegat areas, which both constitute significant
depositional centres for N in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea/North
Sea transition. As expected, isotopically enriched anthropogenic
nitrogen was found in the two records from the Kattegat area,
which is close to eutrophication sources on land. Enrichment of
δ15N in cores from the Skagerrak - the largest sediment
sink for nitrogen in the entire North Sea - was not significant
and values were similar to those found in sediment layers representing
pre-industrial conditions. We interpret this isotopic uniformity
as an indication that most riverine reactive nitrogen with its
characteristic isotopic signature is removed by denitrification
in shallow-water sediments before reaching the main sedimentary
basin of the North Sea.
Keywords: North Sea; Skagerrak; Kategat; eutrophication; nitrogen
isotopes; sediments』
1. Introduction
2. Working area
3. Materials and methods
3.1. Surface sediments
3.2. Multicores and gravity cores
3.3. Chemical and isotopic analyses of sediment samples
3.4. Dating
4. Results
4.1. Regional patterns of δ15N in surface sediments
and multicores
4.2. The pre-industrial situation: gravity cores
5. Discussion
5.1 Isotopic composition of N-sources: relation to surface
sediments
5.2. A view to the past? The sediment record
5.2.1. Isotopic enrichment in the Kattegat
5.2.2. Isotopic uniformity in the Skagerrak
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References