Appraisal of some current hypotheses describing acidification of watersheds
There is an increasing awareness of the complexity of biogeochemistry and the resultant difficulties associated with modeling water chemistry and watershed acidification. The simple comparison of change in acidity over time is insufficient to prove an acid rain effect. The Henriksen model uses modern water chemistry data to estimate acidification by acid rain: base cations are the surrogate for preacidification alkalinity and nonmarine SO/sub 4/ is the surrogate for anthropic acid input. Both assumptions tend to overestimate the effect of acid rain; the errors can be particularly large for sensitive: water. Ion exchange and SO/sub 4/ leaching models use inorganic chemistry to describe landscapes that give acid runoff. But these landscapes usually contain organic-rich acid soils and peats, hence these models overestimate the effect of acid rain by assuming that all export is ionic. Sensitive watersheds tend to have humic colored waters, and the assumption that waters consist of only inorganic solutions overestimates acidification. A hypothesis of the determining role of organic buffering and solubility in such cases is described and illustrated with preliminary data.
- Research Organization:
- Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven
- OSTI ID:
- 5830000
- Journal Information:
- J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States), Vol. 35:2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Identification of fresh waters susceptible to acidification
Regional survey of the chemistry of headwater lakes and streams in New England: vulnerability to acidification
Related Subjects
ACID RAIN
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
WATERSHEDS
ACIDIFICATION
ION EXCHANGE
LEACHING
SOILS
SULFATES
WATER CHEMISTRY
WATER POLLUTION
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CHEMISTRY
DISSOLUTION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
RAIN
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
520200* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)