ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some basic factors regulating sediment variability, namely bottom dynamic conditions, sediment contamination, lake size, and lake bottom irregularity, based on empirical data from Swedish lakes. It addresses some of the factors that affect the variability of sediment samples. The chapter focuses on the role of bottom dynamic conditions, lake size, lake irregularity, and sediment contamination on sediment variability. The classical approach to studying variability would be to first estimate the number of samples necessary to obtain a certain sampling precision. It has been difficult to obtain good data sets on relative standard deviation, lake area, lake irregularity (F), and sediment contamination. Sediment contamination also seems to influence variability. Since there exist causal links between the organic content and many sediment parameters, one may a priori conclude that variability in IG means variability in all parameters linked to IG.
