How Much Acidification Has Occurred in Adirondack Region Lakes (New York, USA) since Preindustrial Times?

1992 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. F. Cumming ◽  
J. P. Smol ◽  
J. C. Kingston ◽  
D. F. Charles ◽  
H. J. B. Birks ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Lake Water ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Acid Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Lake Water Chemistry ◽  
Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Average Rainfall ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
Adirondack Lakes

Preindustrial and present-day lake water pH, acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), total monomeric aluminum (Alm), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were inferred from the species composition of diatom and chrysophyte microfossils in the tops (present-day inferences) and bottoms (pre-1850 inferences) of sediment cores collected from a statistically selected set of Adirondack lakes. Results from the study lakes were extrapolated to a predefined target population of 675 low-alkalinity Adirondack region lakes. Estimates of preindustrial to present-day changes in lake water chemistry show that approximately 25–35% of the target population has acidified. The magnitude of acidification was greatest in the low-alkalinity lakes of the southwestern Adirondacks, an area with little geological ability to neutralize acidic deposition and receives the highest annual average rainfall in the region. We estimate that ~80% of the target population lakes with present-day measured pH [Formula: see text] and 30–45% of lakes with pH between 5.2 and 6.0 have undergone large declines in pH and ANC, and concomitant increases in [Alm]. Estimated changes in [DOC] were small and show no consistent pattern in the acidified lakes. This study provides the first statistically based regional evaluation of the extent of lake acidification in the Adirondacks.

When Did Acid-Sensitive Adirondack Lakes (New York, USA) Begin to Acidify and Are They Still Acidifying?

1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 1550-1568 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. F. Cumming ◽  
K. A. Davey ◽  
J. P. Smol ◽  
H. J. B. Birks
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Transfer Function ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Acidic Deposition ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Scaled Chrysophytes ◽  
Sulfate Deposition ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
Adirondack Lakes

A transfer function was used to reconstruct pH values of 20 low-alkalinity Adirondack Park lakes based on the species composition of scaled chrysophytes (Chrysophyceae, Synurophyceae) in stratigraphie intervals from 210Pb-dated sediment cores. Approximately 80% of the lakes acidified since preindustrial times. Four categories of lake response to acidic deposition were identified: (i) lakes that showed little or no evidence of acidification since preindustrial times, (ii) lakes with preindustrial pH values between 5 and 6 that began to acidify ca. 1900, (iii) "naturally" acidic lakes that acidified even further ca. 1900, and (iv) lakes with preindustrial pH values around 6 that acidified ca. 1930–50. Lakes that acidified ca. 1900 were generally smaller, higher elevation lakes with lower preindustrial pH values than lakes in category i or iv. These patterns are consistent with the acidic deposition hypothesis of recent lake acidification. Our results indicated that "critical" sulfate deposition loads for Adirondack lakes that started to acidify ca. 1900 and ca. 1950 are between 5–10 and 20–25 kg∙ha−1∙yr−1, respectively. Post-1970 trends in lake water pH have been small and variable, suggesting that low-alkalinity Adirondack lakes have been relatively unresponsive to the post-1970 declines in sulfate deposition.

Assessment of Changes in Lake Water Chemistry in Sudbury Area Lakes since Preindustrial Times

1992 ◽  
Vol 49 (S1) ◽  
pp. 8-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sushil S. Dixit ◽  
Aruna S. Dixit ◽  
John P. Smol
Keyword(s):  
Lake Water ◽  
Acidic Ph ◽  
Prevailing Wind ◽  
Alkaline Ph ◽  
Sediment Samples ◽  
Ion Concentrations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lake Water Chemistry ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
Inferred Ph

Surface (recent) and bottom (pre-1880s) sediment samples from each of 72 Sudbury area lakes were analyzed for diatom valves and chrysophyte scales, and using these microfossils, we inferred changes in lake water pH, [Al], [Ni], conductance, and [Ca]. The study shows that extensive acidification has occurred in presently acidic (pH < 6.0) Sudbury lakes. Inferred [Al] has also increased in these lakes. The region also contains a few naturally acidic lakes; however, even these lakes have acidified further since the bottom sediments were deposited. Lakes that have current measured pH between 6.0 and 7.0 have either declined or increased in inferred pH in the past, whereas all lakes that are presently alkaline (pH > 7.0) have become more alkaline. The increase in inferred [Ni] in most of the study lakes indicates that Ni inputs are mainly atmospheric. Our data suggest that, in general, ion concentrations have increased in Sudbury lakes. The extent of acidification or alkalification in Sudbury lakes was primarily a function of proximity of the lakes to the smelters, orientation of prevailing wind patterns, and differences in watershed geology.

Short-Term Changes in the Acid/Base Chemistry of Two Acidic Lakes Following Calcium Carbonate Treatment

1989 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. F. Fordham ◽  
C. T. Driscoll
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Initial Perturbation ◽  
Acid Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Acidic Lakes ◽  
Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Rapid Dissolution ◽  
Additional Release ◽  
Woods Lake

Woods Lake and Cranberry Pond, two chronically acidic lakes located in the Adirondack region of New York, USA, were intensively monitored following CaCO3 treatment in May 1985 to evaluate the mechanisms controlling short-term changes in water column chemistry. Immediately following base application (24 h), both lakes responded like systems closed to atmospheric CO2, because the dissolution of very small CaCO3 particles (median diameter 2 μm) exceeded the rate of atmospheric CO2 intrusion. Rapid dissolution of CaCO3 coupled with very low concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) prior to treatment, resulted in pH increases in the upper mixed waters from 4.9 to 9.4 in Woods Lake and from 4.6 to 9.1 in Cranberry Pond, as waters readily became saturated with CaCO3. pH increases were accompanied by stoichiometric increases in dissolved Ca2+, acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), and DIC. Following this initial perturbation, the upper mixed waters equilibrated with atmospheric CO2 over a 4 wk period, facilitating additional release of dissolved Ca2+ and ANC due to dissolution of suspended CaCO3. The amount of CaCO3 that dissolved during the 4 wk immediately following treatment, calculated from Ca2+ budgets, was very high; 86% in Woods Lake and 79% in Cranberry Pond.

Analysis of the mineral acid-base components of acid-neutralizing capacity in Adirondack Lakes

1993 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 881-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Munson ◽  
S. A. Gherini
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Acid ◽  
Acid Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Acid Base ◽  
Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Adirondack Lakes

Chemical Response of Lakes Treated with CaCO3 to Reacidification

1989 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles T. Driscoll ◽  
William A. Ayling ◽  
G. F. Fordham ◽  
Leah M. Oliver
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Acid Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Water Columns ◽  
Decreasing Ph ◽  
Woods Lake ◽  
Dissolution Efficiency ◽  
Hydrologic Inputs ◽  
Mixed Water

The reacidification of two lakes in the Adirondack region of New York treated by CaCO3 application was evaluated. Base treatment resulted in a very high immediate dissolution efficiency in both lakes (78–82%), increasing acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) to values of 450–550 μeq∙L−1. During the fall following manipulation, completely mixed water columns and elevated hydrologic inputs greatly facilitated reacidification, decreasing pH and diluting Ca2+ concentrations. Cranberry Pond effectively reacidified within 7 mo of treatment, while the ANC of Woods Lake decreased to near 0 μeq∙L−1 15 mo after application. In Cranberry Pond, pH values decreased below 5.5 resulting in transport of elevated concentrations of inorganic Al through the lake. Annual ANC budgets suggest that little CaCO3 penetrated to the sediments, limiting long-term release of ANC from sediment dissolution. Hydrolysis of Al, due to the elevated lake pH, served to consume ANC and there is evidence to indicate limited exchange of water column Ca2+ with sediments shortly after treatment followed by release of this Ca2+ during reacidification. However these processes did not significantly accelerate or attenuate the rate of reacidification. The rate of acidification could largely be explained by the flushing of ANC from the lakes by hydrologic inputs.

Aquatic macrophytes in Adirondack (New York) lakes: patterns of species composition in relation to environment

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 1449-1460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen T. Jackson ◽  
Donald F. Charles
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Aquatic Vegetation ◽  
Aquatic Macrophyte ◽  
Detrended Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Color Transparency ◽  
Softwater Lakes ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
Adirondack Lakes

A study of aquatic vegetation of 31 small, dilute, and unproductive lakes in the Adirondack Mountains of New York shows that macrophyte species composition is primarily related to variation in pH and associated factors. Among the lakes, surface water pH ranged from 4.5 to 7.8; conductivity ranged from 11.9 to 58.7 μS/cm. Relationships between aquatic vegetation and environmental factors were studied using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). Submersed and floating-leaved taxa were analyzed separately from emergent taxa. Correlations between DCA axis 1 and pH-related factors (pH, alkalinity, Ca, Mg, Na, Al, conductivity, elevation) were strong for both submersed plus floating-leaved and emergent taxa. No significant correlations were found with water color, transparency, or trophic status indicators (total P and chlorophyll a). Between-lake variation in composition of aquatic vegetation in Adirondack lakes follows a pH "complex-gradient." Influences of elevation, morphometry, and substrate are secondary. Our results indicate that acidification of softwater lakes could be accompanied by significant changes in aquatic macrophyte assemblages.

scholarly journals The complementary power of pH and lake water organic carbon reconstructions for discerning the influences on surface waters across decadal to millennial time scales

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 2439-2466 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Rosén ◽  
R. Bindler ◽  
T. Korsman ◽  
T. Mighall ◽  
K. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Lake Water ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Reference Conditions ◽  
Acid Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Element Geochemistry ◽  
Neutralizing Capacity

Abstract. Lake Lysevatten has experienced both acidification and recent changes in the amount of lake water organic carbon (TOC) over which is causing concern across Europe and North America. A range of paleolimnological tools – diatom inferred pH, inferred lake water TOC from visible-near-infrared spectroscopy (VNIRS), multi-element geochemistry and pollen analysis, combined with geochemical modeling were used to reconstruct the lake's chemistry and surroundings back to the most recent deglaciation 12 500 years ago. The results reveal that the recent anthropogenic impacts are similar in magnitude to the long-term variation driven by natural catchment changes and early agricultural land use occurring over centuries and millennia. The combined reconstruction of both lake water TOC and lithogenic element delivery can explain the major changes in lake-water pH and modeled acid neutralizing capacity during the past 12 500 years. The results raise important questions regarding what precisely comprises ''reference'' conditions (i.e., free from human impacts) as encapsulated in the European Water Framework Directive.

Sediment pH in Profundal Core Samples from the Turkey Lakes (Algoma, Ontario)

1988 ◽  
Vol 45 (S1) ◽  
pp. s155-s158
Author(s):  
J. R. Morris ◽  
W. Kwain
Keyword(s):  
Lake Water ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Water Interface ◽  
Surficial Sediments ◽  
Northern Ontario ◽  
Core Sediments ◽  
Core Samples ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
Sediment Ph ◽  
Ph Profiles

Vertical pH profiles were recorded in sediment cores from four of the Turkey Lakes in the Algoma region of northern Ontario. In the three upper lakes of the chain, median down-core pH, which should be correlated with historic lake water pH, was below the median down-core pH for other lakes in northeastern Ontario. The Turkey lakes had probably been relatively acidic, therefore, since pre-industrial times. Down-core pH tended to be lower in upstream lakes. While a pH minimum was typically observed at the sediment–water interface, the surficial sediments were not acidified relative to down-core sediments.

Influence of organic acids on thepH and acid-neutralizing capacity of Adirondack Lakes

1993 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 891-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Munson ◽  
S. A. Gherini
Keyword(s):  
Organic Acids ◽  
Acid Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Neutralizing Capacity ◽  
Adirondack Lakes
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