1 GEOTOP and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke West, Montreal, QC H4B 1R6, Canada.
2 INRS-Eau Terre Environnement, 490 rue de la Couronne, Université du Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada.
3 GEOTOP and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke West, Montreal, QC H4B 1R6, Canada. Electronic address: yves.gelinas@concordia.ca.

The biogeochemical cycles of iron and organic carbon (OC) are closely interconnected in terrestrial and aquatic systems. In ocean waters, the concentration of reactive Fe is tightly controlled by soluble organic ligands. In soils, Fe stabilizes OC by forming aggregates that shield OC from degradation. In lake sediments however, the role of Fe in the preservation of OC has not been explored as extensively yet. We investigated Fe-OC interactions in sediment collected from Lake Tantaré, in which two basins are characterized by contrasting redox conditions. These contrasting redox conditions provide an opportunity to assess their importance in the formation of stable Fe-OC complexes. On average, 30.1 ± 6.4 % of total OC was liberated upon reductively dissolving reactive iron. The Fe-associated and the non-Fe-associated OC pools were characterized at the elemental (OC, TN), isotopic (d¹³C, d¹⁵N) and functional group (FTIR) levels. Large differences in OC:Fe and TN:Fe ratios between the two basins were found which were not linked to OM chemical composition but rather to differences in reactive iron concentrations stemming from the higher abundance of iron sulfides in the anoxic basin. Nevertheless, since the affinity of OM for iron sulfides is lower than that for iron hydroxides, using OC:Fe and TN:Fe ratios as a diagnostic tool for the type of OM-Fe interactions should be done with care in anoxic environment. Same caution should be considered for oxic sediments due to the variation of the proportion of iron hydroxides associated with OM from sample to sample.