Radiocarbon measurements of archived fish scales reconstruct past carbon cycle changes in a peri-alpine lake

Climate change and other anthropogenic impacts such as nutrient pollution result in perturbations to freshwater systems that alter aquatic carbon cycling. In the alpine Rhine basin, for example, long-term monitoring over the past four decades has documented increasing water temperatures that cause a decrease in the solubility of CO₂. However, this same dataset records a small increase in the concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) over the same period. This requires increasing inputs of DIC to aquatic systems and an acceleration of the carbon cycle, but the source of this additional carbon is not clear. Possible explanations include increased weathering of bedrock or increased soil organic matter respiration, with sharply contrasting implications for carbon storage and turnover. Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) is an ideal tool to distinguish between these different scenarios, as bedrock weathering will contribute ¹⁴C-depleted (fossil) DIC whereas increased soil respiration will contribute DIC that is more ¹⁴C-enriched (younger). Furthermore, large changes in the atmospheric radiocarbon content over the past century resulting from the testing of nuclear weapons provide a strong signal with which to track the exchange between aquatic and atmospheric carbon pools by examining how lake water DI¹⁴C changes through time. Here we focus on Lake Constance, a large peri-alpine lake fed mostly by the alpine Rhine River. We measured natural abundance radiocarbon in archived fish scales collected from Lake Constance over the past 100 years to reconstruct changes in lake water DI¹⁴C. These fish scales come from young fish caught in the lake who feed primarily on phytoplankton and thus reflect the ¹⁴C of the lake DIC pool. Preliminary measurements of fish scales from the pre-bomb period were 0.78 to 0.79 Fm, reflecting the addition of ¹⁴C dead rock-derived carbon from the dissolution of carbonate rocks within the catchment. These values are ¹⁴C-depleted compared to present day water column DIC values of 0.82 to 0.84 Fm, where the bomb spike signal persists. Results from fish scales will ultimately be compared with other archives of water column DI¹⁴C currently in development, including ¹⁴C of chlorophyll degradation products and zooplankton exoskeletons isolated from varved lake sediments. These records permit us to investigate how carbon cycling in the lake and its catchment has responded to anthropogenic perturbations such as warming and nutrient pollution over the past century, with the eventual goal of calibrating isotope enabled carbon cycle models.