Paleoecological investigation of recent lake acidification in the Adirondack Mountains,N.Y. |
| |
| Authors: | Donald F Charles Michael W Binford Edward T Furlong Ronald A Hites Myron J Mitchell Stephen A Norton Frank Oldfield Michael J Paterson John P Smol Allen J Uutala Jeffrey R White Donald R Whitehead Robert J Wise |
| |
| Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, Indiana University, 47405 Bloomington, IN, USA;(2) Present address: U.S. EPA Environmental Research Laboratory, 97333 Corvallis, OR, USA;(3) Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, 02138 Cambridge, MA, USA;(4) School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 47405 Bloomington, IN, USA;(5) Present address: National Water Quality Laboratory, U.S. Geological Survey, 5293 Ward Road, 80002 Arvada, CO, USA;(6) Faculty of Environmental and Forest Biology, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 13210 Syracuse, NY, USA;(7) Department of Geological Sciences, University of Maine, 04469 Orono, ME, USA;(8) Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, L69 3BX Liverpool, UK;(9) Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, B3H 4J1 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;(10) Department of Biology, Queen's University, K7L 3N6 Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
| |
| Abstract: | Paleoecological analysis of the sediment record of 12 Adirondack lakes reveals that the 8 clearwater lakes with current pH < 5.5 and alkalinity < 10  eq l-1 have acidified recently. The onset of this acidification occurred between 1920 and 1970. Loss of alkalinity, based on quanitative analysis of diatom assemblages, ranged from 2 to 35 eq l-1. The acidification trends are substantiated by several lines of evidence including stratigraphies of diatom, chrysophyte, chironomid, and cladoceran remains, Ca:Ti and Mn:Ti ratios, sequentially extracted forms of Al, and historical fish data. Acidification trends appear to be continuing in some lakes, despite reductions in atmospheric sulfur loading that began in the early 1970s. The primary cause of the acidification trend is clearly increased atmospheric deposition of strong acids derived from the combustion of fossil fuels. Natural processes and watershed disturbances cannot account for the changes in water chemistry that have occurred, but they may play a role. Sediment core profiles of Pb, Cu, V, Zn, S, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, magnetic particles, and coal and oil soot provide a clear record of increased atmospheric input of materials associated with the combustion of fossil fuels beginning in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The primary evidence for acidification occurs after that period, and the pattern of water chemistry response to increased acid inputs is consistent with current understanding of lake-watershed acidification processes.This is the second of a series of papers to be published by this journal which is a contribution of the Paleoecological Investigation of Recent Lake Acidification (PIRLA) project. Drs. D.F. Charles and D.R. Whitehead are guest editors for this series. |
| |
| Keywords: | acid deposition Adirondacks diatoms lake acidification paleoecology sediment chemistry |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
