Assessment of acidity of lakes and precipitation in the Sierra Nevada

Technical Report · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983

OSTI ID:6112178

Melack, J M

The east central Sierra Nevada received acid precipitation (pH 3.7 to 4.9) during the convective storms interspersed through the dry seasons of 1981 and 1982. In contrast, late autumn, winter and early spring snow (1981-1982) ranged in pH from 5.2 to 6.1 (mean 5.7) and had low ammonium, nitrate and sulfate concentrations. As of 1981 most of the alpine lakes of the Sierra Nevada remain very weakly buffered, bicarbonate lakes that receive a small loading of acid precipitation and a large annual input of snowmelt uncontaminated by strong acids. These lakes contain low concentrations of orthophosphate, nitrate and ammonium and are oligotrophic. The zooplankton communities fall into two major groups, those dominated by large-bodied species in the absence of fish, and those dominated by smaller species where fish are present. If the acidity of the precipitation increases the pH of the lakes will decrease rapidly with adverse biological impacts because the lakes and their basins have extremely low buffer capacity and the biota cannot tolerate acidic water. 65 references, 14 figures, 6 tables.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Santa Barbara (USA). Marine Science Inst.
• OSTI ID: 6112178
• Report Number(s): PB-83-255521; OWRT-A-080-CAL(1)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACID RAIN
ACIDIFICATION
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BUFFERS
CALIFORNIA
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
ECOSYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FEDERAL REGION IX
LAKES
MOUNTAINS
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
PLANKTON
RAIN
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SIERRA NEVADA COLORADO
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
VARIATIONS
ZOOPLANKTON