Premium
Thermal and trophic stability of deeper Maine lakes in granite watersheds impacted by acid deposition
Author(s) -
Stauffer Robert E.,
Wittchen Bruce D.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr026i009p02143
Subject(s) - hypolimnion , trophic level , thermal stratification , stratification (seeds) , watershed , environmental science , deposition (geology) , hydrology (agriculture) , trophic state index , acid deposition , acid rain , eutrophication , spring (device) , oceanography , geology , ecology , sediment , nutrient , soil science , soil water , geomorphology , thermocline , biology , computer science , paleontology , germination , machine learning , seed dormancy , botany , geotechnical engineering , dormancy , engineering , mechanical engineering
Acid deposition can lead to lake and watershed acidification, increases in lake transparency, and reductions in thermal stability and hypolimnetic oxygen deficits. On the basis of lake surveys during August‐September 1985, we determined to what extent the deeper (maximum depth z m > 17 m) Maine lakes in acid‐sensitive granitic watersheds have registered changes in temperature and oxygen stratification, as compared to 1938–1942, when G. P. Cooper performed the earliest scientific surveys of the state's lakes. After correcting for small but geographically consistent interannual differences in summer hypolimnetic temperatures related to spring turnover, and weather‐dependent differences in mixed layer depth, there has been no significant change in thermal stratification in these Maine lakes over approximately 43 years. On the basis of specific historical contrasts in the late summer metalimnetic, hypolimnetic, and bathylimnetic oxygen concentrations there has been no significant change in lake trophic state or transparency.