Multi-proxy sediment core record from Lagoon 3, Rutland Water Nature Reserve, UK, 1976-2023: nutrient fractions, stable isotopes, photosynthetic pigments and microcystins

This dataset comprises an annually interpolated, multi-proxy geochemical and biological record from a sediment core sequence collected from Lagoon 3 (LG3), Rutland Water Nature Reserve, Rutland, UK, spanning 1976 to 2023 CE. LG3 is a shallow (3-4 m) constructed lagoon that has received water exclusively from the final treated effluent of Oakham Water Recycling Centre since 1979, with no other surface inflows or storm overflow inputs. The site therefore constitutes a controlled natural experiment for attributing sedimentary and ecological change to documented changes in wastewater tertiary treatment, specifically the operation of a Natural Filtration System (1991-2015) and the introduction of Chemical Phosphorus Removal (ferric sulphate dosing) in 2001. Stable isotope ratios are given in conventional delta notation, in units of per mil (parts per thousand). The dataset contains 28 variables: bulk organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations (C %, N %) and C/N ratio; bulk stable isotope ratios (δ15N per mil vs AIR, δ13C per mil vs VPDB); four sequentially extracted sedimentary phosphorus fractions (labile-P, microbial-P, NaOH-P, HCl-P; micrograms P per gram dry sediment) and their sum as total P; phosphate oxygen isotope ratios measured on the HCl-extractable (Ca-bound) phosphorus fraction (δ18O-PO4, per mil vs VSMOW); fifteen sedimentary photosynthetic pigments quantified by HPLC (including chlorophyll-a and -b, phaeophorbide-a, phaeophytin-a and -b, canthaxanthin, myxoxanthophyll, lutein and zeaxanthin (co-eluted), fucoxanthin, diatoxanthin, diadinoxanthin, violaxanthin, alloxanthin and crocoxanthin), expressed as nmol per microgram organic matter; and sedimentary microcystin-LR flux (ng per square centimetre per year).

Date (Creation): 2026-07-27

Citation identifier: http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13608752

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
University of Loughborough	Savannah Worne	not available	Originator
Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust	T Sexton	not available	Originator
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science	A D Turner	not available	Originator
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science	D Hartnell	not available	Originator
University of Nottingham	V N Panizzo	not available	Originator
University of Loughborough	T Stanton	not available	Originator
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	enquiries@bgs.ac.uk	Distributor
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	enquiries@bgs.ac.uk	Originator
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	not available	Distributor
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	not available	Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency: notApplicable

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

Stable isotopes
Core sampling
Lacustrine sediments
Isotopes
Phosphorus
Waste water
Eutrophication

dataCentre

Keywords

NERC_DDC

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: licenceOGL

Other constraints: Available under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced NERC materials "Contains NERC materials ©NERC [year]"

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.

Other constraints: Available under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced NERC materials "Contains NERC materials ©NERC [year]"

Language: English

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Begin date: 2023-04-01

End date: 2024-09-30

Reference System Information

No information provided.

Distribution format

Name	Version
Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file (.csv)

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	enquiries@bgs.ac.uk	Distributor

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	not available	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download	https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/accessions/index.html#item192885	Data

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--related	https://doi.org/10.5285/4e11cb0e-7aee-49b2-a5bc-bc292db27d89	Citation Information - Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Hierarchy level: Non geographic dataset

Other: non geographic dataset

Conformance result

Title: INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology

Date (Publication): 2011

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Explanation: See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF

Pass: No

Statement: Two gravity cores (LG3-A, 44 cm; LG3-C, 40 cm) were collected at 3.6 m water depth in August 2023 using a UWITEC corer and extruded at 1 cm intervals. Chronology was established by Pb-210 gamma spectrometry on LG3-C, with the core base constrained to 1976; LG3-A was correlated to LG3-C using eight d13C tie-points. Mean accumulation rates were 1.04 and 0.96 cm per year (age model error 1.1 +/- 0.6 years), and both records were unified by linear interpolation at annual resolution. C, N, δ13C and δ15N were determined by EA-IRMS (δ13C on acid-treated subsamples). Four P pools were sequentially extracted and quantified by molybdenum blue UV-VIS spectrophotometry. HCl-P was purified to Ag3PO4 and analysed for δ18O-PO4 by pyrolysis-IRMS. Pigments were solvent-extracted and separated by HPLC against DHI standards. Microcystins were extracted in 80% methanol and quantified by UHPLC-MS/MS.