Quantification of changes in lake-water chemistry in response to acidic deposition
Lakewater acidification in New York's Adirondack Mountains was quantified based on paleolimnological reconstructions of pre-1850 chemistry for 49 lakes. Paleolimnology provides a more accurate assessment of regional acidification than was previously possible using water chemistry and model calculations alone. Historical depletion of lakewater acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and increase in labile monomeric Al have been restricted to lakes that are currently low in ANC. Most currently acidic lakes have acidified recently and were not acidic prior to 1850. The percentage of lakes affected and magnitude of the inferred acidification are substantially smaller than generally believed. The results agree, however, with short-term recovery rates previously documented and with spatial patterns in lakewater chemistry across a depositional gradient, and illustrate the importance of watershed and/or in-lake processes in neutralizing acidic atmospheric inputs.
- Research Organization:
- Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR (United States). Environmental Research Lab.
- OSTI ID:
- 5110027
- Report Number(s):
- PB-91-240481/XAB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ACID NEUTRALIZING CAPACITY
ACID RAIN
ACIDIFICATION
ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
AIR POLLUTION
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CHEMISTRY
DEPOSITION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DISTRIBUTION
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FEDERAL REGION II
LAKES
LIMNOLOGY
MOUNTAINS
NEW YORK
NORTH AMERICA
POLLUTION
RAIN
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WATER CHEMISTRY
WATER POLLUTION
WATERSHEDS