Lake sediment is where nutrients are most affected by aeration.

According to G. Dennis Cooke et al. in Restoration and Management of Lakes and Reservoirs, "Depletion of oxygen in the hypolimnia of eutropic lakes is one of the first signs of eutrophication. If enrichment becomes sufficent to exhaust all or a substantial portion of the hypolimnetic oxygen reserve before autumn destratification occurs, anoxia will result. Anoxia can produce several undesirable changes in lake quality, including accelerated internal recycling of nutrients (and) solubilization of metals" (403).

These undesirable changes result when the sediment-water interface changes from an oxidized to a reduced state.