Hydrology and Earth System Sciences www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net 1027-5606 1607-7938 11 6 2007 10.5194/hess-11-1747-2007 http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/1747/2007/ http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/1747/2007/hess-11-1747-2007.html http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/1747/2007/hess-11-1747-2007.pdf 1747 1756 2007-11-06 Determination of the historical variation of the trophic state in lakes using sediment stratigraphies G. Olli gull.olli@natgeo.su.se Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden Biogenic silica (BSi) and phosphorous (P) accumulation were investigated in sediment cores from Karlskärsviken, a bay of Lake Mälaren. The aim was to make use of BSi and P relations in sediment stratigraphies in order to investigate the historical nutrient trophy in a near shore lake environment since the Middle Ages, with focus on industrial times, and to evaluate anthropogenic influences on the bay's trophic state. The BSi accumulation in the sediments is a better indicator of former nutrient pelagic trophy than P accumulation in sediments and for this reason a BSi inferred P (BSi-P) water concentration is calculated. This method enables the determination of the background total phosphorous (TP) concentration (which is related to the reference conditions) in the investigated bay; this background TP is determined equal to 0.020–0.022 mg L^−1. There is an increasing trend of BSi-P concentration in the bay since the Middle Ages to the present, about 0.025 mg L^−1, with a small decrease in the inner bay section during the last decades. The P accumulation rate is not found to have changed since the 1960s and 1970s, which indicates that the P loading to Karlskärsviken has not decreased. 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