Sediment Source Fingerprinting and Its Control Strategies of the Lakes in Jiuzhaigou World Natural Heritage Site
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors present the results of an investigation into the origins of sediments in two lakes in China which have been subjected to earth tremors and quakes. They have developed an approach to identifying the source of the sediments using geochemical signatures of the sediment to identify the likely source area as either lakeward of the encircling roadway or upland of the roadway. Their findings suggest that the majority of the sediment originated on the lakeward side of the road, which were likely to have subsided into the lake as a result of the earthquake activity.
Curiously, the authors have chosen to focus on potential remedial actions such as dredging (sediment removal) and aquatic plant management rather than on the methodology itself as suggested by the title. It seems as if much of the substance of the paper has been considered to be supplemental (e.g., Figs S1 and S2) while management suggestions have been included as a main focus of the discussion. It is suggested that this be reversed.
The authors should review the manuscript to ensure that the referencing style conforms to the Journal requirements: numeric versus the Harvard system. The first reference, Jones et al., 2018, should be [16] given the current numbers in the reference list. On p.2, the reference to Evrard et al, 2013, does not seem to have been included in the references. Owens et al, 2000, should be to Owens & Bennett as there are only two authors. On p.3, Deng et al is noted as 2011b, even though only one citation is given in the references; likewise on p.6 Collins et al appears at 1997a. This would be corrected by adopting the numeric referencing style of the Journal.
On p.2, "Ms > 6.6" should have magnitude spelled out and the scale specified (Richter scale?).
On p.9, the color coding (Forest, Road) of Figure 2 seems to have been reversed when compared with the text in section 3.3.
A number of references do not seem to have been cited in the text; namely, numbers 14, 23, 31, 36, 38, 39, and 46-48. The citation number 20 is duplicated as 21.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: The authors present the results of an investigation into the origins of sediments in two lakes in China which have been subjected to earth tremors and quakes. They have developed an approach to identifying the source of the sediments using geochemical signatures of the sediment to identify the likely source area as either lakeward of the encircling roadway or upland of the roadway. Their findings suggest that the majority of the sediment originated on the lakeward side of the road, which were likely to have subsided into the lake as a result of the earthquake activity. Curiously, the authors have chosen to focus on potential remedial actions such as dredging (sediment removal) and aquatic plant management rather than on the methodology itself as suggested by the title. It seems as if much of the substance of the paper has been considered to be supplemental (e.g., Figs S1 and S2) while management suggestions have been included as a main focus of the discussion. It is suggested that this be reversed.
Thank reviewer for your suggestions.
The research objective of this study is to provide scientific support for better and more effective sediment reduction of lakes. Our main findings indicated that “the contribution ratio of loose matter sources entering the lake on the road-side of Arrow Bamboo and Rhino lakes (16.5% and 21.8%, respectively) was far lower than that on the forest-side (83.5% and 78.2%, respectively), indicating that physical barriers such as roads can effectively reduce the sediment input, while the lake forest side contributes a large number of loose matter sources, which has not attracted attention in the past and requires protection.” Thus, in view of our main findings, we put forward the high standard protection principle of World Natural Heritage Site and the systematic scheme framework of lake siltation reduction. It should be noted that our system solution framework includes targeted measures applicable to the research results, such as buffer belt settings.
Figures S1~S3 only showed the basic information of the input parameters of fingerprint analysis method in this study, and only some parameters were input into the analysis model of this study after screening, which is not closely related to the core theme and main conclusions of this study. Therefore, we decided to maintain the original state, that is, it is more appropriate to still place the supplementary materials.
Point 2: The authors should review the manuscript to ensure that the referencing style conforms to the Journal requirements: numeric versus the Harvard system. The first reference, Jones et al., 2018, should be [16] given the current numbers in the reference list. On p.2, the reference to Evrard et al, 2013, does not seem to have been included in the references. Owens et al, 2000, should be to Owens & Bennett as there are only two authors. On p.3, Deng et al is noted as 2011b, even though only one citation is given in the references; likewise on p.6 Collins et al appears at 1997a. This would be corrected by adopting the numeric referencing style of the Journal.
The format of references has been revised one by one according to the format requirements of journals.
On p.2, the reference to Evrard et al, 2013 has been added in the references.
On p.3 and p.6, (Deng et al., 2011b) and (Collins et al., 1997a) have been revised.
Point 3: On p.2, "Ms > 6.6" should have magnitude spelled out and the scale specified (Richter scale?).
“Ms”refers to “surface wave magnitude”, which has been marked with full name in the text (Page 2).
In addition, it should be noted that this data was derived from the paper “On restoration of landscape vegetation of highway slope reconstructed in Jiuzhaigou scenic area (in Chinese with English abstract)”, in which only " fifteen earthquakes with Ms (surface wave magnitude) ≥ 6.0 have been recorded in the middle segment of the north-south seismic tectonic belt " was record, and no specific scope was found. We also searched for other data, because the statistical range is different, and it is difficult to unify the data. Therefore, we decided to use the original data and representation. Thank you for your advice, please know and understand.
Point 4: On p.9, the color coding (Forest, Road) of Figure 2 seems to have been reversed when compared with the text in section 3.3.
The color coding (Forest, Road) of Figure 3 (previous Figure 2) was indeed reversed and has been corrected in Figure 3.
Point 5: A number of references do not seem to have been cited in the text; namely, numbers 14, 23, 31, 36, 38, 39, and 46-48. The citation number 20 is duplicated as 21.
Thank reviewer for your careful inspection.
The list of citations and references has been carefully checked, and the citations not cited have been removed from the list (previous numbers 14, 23, 31, 36, 38, 39, and 47-49).
The duplicate reference has been deleted (previous number 21).
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors
The article is interesting. The work is well conducted and informative. The methodology is sound, and the results seem to be reliable. Before publication, the article requires only technical proofreading:
1. Citations should be adjusted in accordance with the requirements of the journal.
2. In Fig. 1 a linear scale should be introduced at the lakes
3. The numbering of figures in the text of the article should be ordered.
Author Response
回复审稿人 1 条评论
The article is interesting. The work is well conducted and informative. The methodology is sound, and the results seem to be reliable. Before publication, the article requires only technical proofreading:
Point 1: Citations should be adjusted in accordance with the requirements of the journal.
The citations have been adjusted according to the requirements of the journal.
Point 2: In Fig. 1 a linear scale should be introduced at the lakes
In Fig. 1 a linear scale has been introduced at the lakes.
Point 3: The numbering of figures in the text of the article should be ordered.
The numbering of figures in the text has been corrected according to the order of occurrence. The previous Figure 2 has been adjusted to Figure 3, while the previous Figure 3 has been adjusted to Figure 2.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
