LAUSR

Abstract. Sedimentary organic matter (OM) analyses along a 130 km-long transect of the Mkhuze River from the Lebombo Mountains to its outlet into Lake St. Lucia, Africa’s most extensive estuarine system, revealed the present active trapping function of a terminal freshwater wetland. A combination of organic bulk parameters, thermal analyses, and determination of plant waxes, and their corresponding stable carbon (δ13C) and hydrogen (δD) isotopic signatures in surface sediments and local plant species enabled characterization and comparison of sedimentary OM in terms of stability, degradation status, sources, and sinks within and among the respective sub-environments of the Mkhuze Wetland System. This approach showed that fluvial sedimentary OM originating from inland areas is mainly deposited on the floodplain and Mkhuze Swamps. In contrast to samples from upstream areas, a distinctly less degraded signature characterizes the sedimentary OM in the northern section of Lake St. Lucia. Although lake sedimentary plant waxes are similar in the observed wax distribution pattern and δ13C values, they exhibit considerably higher δD values. This offset in δD indicates that lakeshore vegetation dominates plant-derived sedimentary OM in the lake, elucidating the effective capturing of OM and its fate in a sub-tropical coastal freshwater wetland. These findings raise important constraints for environmental studies assuming watershed-integrated signals in sedimentary archives retrieved from downstream lakes or offshore.