Long-term patterns of vegetation and salinity change in the Lake Pontchartrain region, Louisiana

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Abstract

Palynomorph, ostracode, and benthic foraminiferal assemblages from Lake Pontchartrain sediment cores were analyzed to reconstruct long-term trends in regional vegetation and salinity in the lake. Pollen assemblages from two short cores (9-7-96-7 and 9-7-96-9), mostly deposited after 1950 AD, indicate dominance ofPinus pollen and the common occurrence of Pediastrum, a colonial green alga typically indicative of eutrophication, throughout this time. A longer core (3.47 m), LP 97-la, includes middle Holocene sediments (5.5-4.2 ka), characterized by higher salinities and greater abundance of Quercus pollen. Younger sediments in this core record a transition to meso-to oligohaline conditions and wetter conditions later in the Holocene. The upper 30-40 cm of LP 97-la represents sediment deposition after 1950 AD. These sediments are characterized by oligohaline to limnic ostracode faunas and unprecedented abundance of colonial green algae indicative of eutrophication. This may represent the response of phytoplankton and benthic communities to the introduction of Mississippi River water and sediment resuspension resulting from openings of the Bonnet Carre' spillway during the last half of the 20th century.

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