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The characteristics of natural organic matter (NOM), which affect its interactions with and therefore the transport of colloids and particles, depend on the evolution of its individual components. Information on the temporal variations of the components of the organic matter of a well-studied eutrophic lake (Bret, VD, Switzerland) was extracted using pyrolysis/ gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The influence of aquagenic organic matter was found to be at a maximum in summer. The soil-derived organic matter, on the other hand, was found in larger proportions in winter and spring. The appearance of hydroxypropanone in the pyrolysis fragments in the summer months indicates that this portion of the organic matter is aquagenic and very fresh. The dominance of furaldehyde in pyrolysates during the rest of the year indicates the presence of polysaccharides may be of either aquagenic or pedogenic origin. The absence of lignin fragments found in the NOM in this lake suggests that lignin-containing components of terrestrial organic matter are not leached out from the soil in significant quantities. A correlation was found between 3-day cumulative rainfall and the proportion of terrestrial components in the identified organic matter in the spring. This correlation disappeared in the summer, probably because of a higher vegetal cover and the masking effect of the high aquagenic productivity. These factors are also likely to be of importance in more complicated lacustrine systems.

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