Abstract
This chapter reviews the sedimentation history of Lake Kivu back to 14,000 years before present (BP). Similar to other African lakes, the water level of Lake Kivu was lower during the dry period before 12,000 years BP. Maximum lake levels due to a more humid climate were recorded between 10,000 and 8,000 years BP. The Lake Kivu basin was probably closed between 8,000 and 6,800 years BP. The sediment record of Lake Kivu revealed dramatic changes around 5,000 years BP. The more recent past sedimentation (∼200 years) is investigated with a short core from the main basin. The sediment core revealed an abrupt change ∼50 years ago, when carbonates started to precipitate. Since the 1960s, the sedimentation fluxes of nutrient and soil minerals have increased considerably, while diatom frustules have decreased. These modifications are probably underlain by three non-mutually exclusive processes, namely: (1) the reduced top-down control over phytoplankton following the introduction of the non-native Tanganyika sardine, (2) bottom-up effects due to increased external nutrient inputs caused by the fast-growing population, and/or (3) increased rainfall leading to higher discharge of the subaquatic springs and thus enhanced upwelling of nutrient-rich deep water. These alterations might have induced a higher productivity in the lake, leading to increased sedimentation and to the onset of carbonate precipitation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This uncertain taxon is presently assigned to Stephanodiscus rotula Kützing, renamed Stephanodiscus neoastraea Håkansson & Hickel.
- 2.
Another uncertain taxon, usually referred to Nitzschia fonticola Grunow.
- 3.
Nitzschia bacata and Nitzschia tropica are the dominant diatoms in the present mixolimnion. However, the separation between N. bacata and N. lancettula is not clear, the same is true forN. fonticola versus N. tropica.
References
Appleby PG, Oldfield F (1978) The calculation of lead-210 dates assuming a constant rate of supply of un-supported 210Pb to the sediment. Catena 5:1–8. doi:10.1016/S0341-8162(78)80002-2
Battarbee RW, Jones VJ, Flower RJ, Cameron NG, Bennion H, Carvalho L, Jugging S (2001) Tracking environmental change using lake sediment. In: Smol JP, Birks HJB, Last WM (eds) Diatoms, vol 3: terrestrial, algal and siliceous indicators. Kluwer, Dordrecht
Degens ET, Kulbicki G (1973) Hydrothermal origin of metals in some east African rift lakes. Min Depos 8:388–404. doi:10.1007/BF00207520
Degens ET, Von Herzen RP, Wong H-K, Deuser WG, Jannasch HW (1973) Lake Kivu: structure, chemistry and biology of an East African rift lake. Geol Rundsch 62:245–277. doi:10.1007/BF01826830
Dittrich M, Obst M (2004) Are picoplankton responsible for calcite precipitation in lakes? Ambio 33:559–564. doi:10.1579/0044-7447-33.8.559
Dumont HJ (1986) The Tanganyika sardine in Lake Kivu: another ecodisaster for Africa? Environ Conserv 13:143–148. doi:10.1017/S0376892900036742
Felton AA, Russell JM, Cohen AS, Baker ME, Chesley JT, Lezzar KE, McGlue MM, Pigati JS, Quade J, Stager JC, Tiercelin JJ (2007) Paleolimnological evidence for the onset and termination of glacial aridity from Lake Tanganyika, Tropical East Africa. Palaeogeogr Palaeocl 252:405–423. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.04.003
Haberyan KA, Hecky RE (1987) The late pleistocene and holocene stratigraphy and paleolimnology of Lakes Kivu and Tanganyika. Palaeogeogr Palaeocl 61:169–197. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(87)90048-4
Johnson TC, Brown ET, McManus J, Barry S, Barker P, Gasse F (2002) A high-resolution paleoclimate record spanning the past 25,000 years in Southern East Africa. Science 296:113–132. doi:10.1126/science.1070057
Kilham P, Kilham SS, Hecky RE (1986) Hypothesized resource relationships among African planktonic diatoms. Limnol Oceanogr 31:1169–1181
Kling GW, Clark MA, Compton HR, Devine JD, Evans WC, Humphrey AM, Koenigsberg EJ, Lockwood JP, Tuttle ML, Wagner GN (1987) The 1986 Lake Nyos gas disaster in Cameroon, West Africa. Science 236:169–175. doi:10.1126/science.236.4798.169
Lotter AF (2001) The palaeolimnology of Soppensee (Central Switzerland), as evidenced by diatom, pollen, and fossil-pigment analyses. J Paleolimnol 25:65–79. doi:10.1023/A:1008140122230
Muvundja FA, Pasche N, Bugenyi FWB, Isumbisho M, Müller B, Namugize JN, Rinta P, Schmid M, Stierli R, Wüest A (2009) Balancing nutrient inputs to Lake Kivu. J Great Lakes Res 35:406–418. doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2009.06.002
Nicholson SE, Flohn H (1980) African environmental and climatic changes and the general atmospheric circulation in late pleistocene and holocene. Clim Change 2:313–348. doi:10.1007/BF00137203
Nicholson SE, Yin X (2001) Rainfall conditions in equatorial East Africa during the nineteenth century as inferred from the record of Lake Victoria. Clim Change 48:387–398. doi:10.1023/A:1010736008362
Pasche N, Dinkel C, Müller B, Schmid M, Wüest A, Wehrli B (2009) Physical and biogeochemical limits to internal nutrient loading of meromictic Lake Kivu. Limnol Oceanogr 54:1863–1873. doi:10.4319/lo.2009.54.6.1863
Pasche N, Alunga G, Mills K, Muvundja F, Ryves DB, Schurter M, Wehrli B, Schmid M (2010) Abrupt onset of carbonate deposition in Lake Kivu during the 1960s: response to recent environmental changes. J Paleolimnol 44:931–946. doi:10.1007/s10933-010-9465-x
Stabel H-H (1986) Calcite precipitation in Lake Constance: chemical equilibrium, sedimentation, and nucleation by algae. Limnol Oceanogr 31:1081–1093
Stager JC, Cumming B, Meeker L (1997) A high-resolution 11,400-yr diatom record from Lake Victoria, East Africa. Quat Res 47:81–89. doi:10.1006/qres.1996.1863
Stager JC, Cocquyt C, Bonnefille R, Weyhenmeyer C, Bowerman N (2009) A late Holocene paleoclimatic history of Lake Tanganyika, East Africa. Quat Res 72:47–56. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2009.04.003
Stoffers P, Hecky RE (1978) Late Pleistocene-Holocene evolution of the Kivu Tanganyika basin. Int Assoc Sedimentol Spec Publ 2:43–55
Talbot MR, Laerdal T (2000) The Late Pleistocene – Holocene palaeolimnology of Lake Victoria, East Africa, based upon elemental and isotopic analyses of sedimentary organic matter. J Paleolimnol 23:141–164. doi:10.1023/A:1008029400463
Wong H-K, Von Herzen RP (1974) A geophysical study of Lake Kivu, East Africa. Geophys J R Astr Soc 37:371–389. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1974.tb04091.x
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation under grant 207021-109710 (Nutrient cycling and methane production in Lake Kivu).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pasche, N. (2012). Paleolimnology of Lake Kivu: Past Climate and Recent Environmental Changes. In: Descy, JP., Darchambeau, F., Schmid, M. (eds) Lake Kivu. Aquatic Ecology Series, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4243-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4243-7_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4242-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4243-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)