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Freeze‐out of salts in hard‐water lakes 1
Author(s) -
Canfield Daniel E.,
Bachmann Roger W.,
Hoyer Mark V.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1983.28.5.0970
Subject(s) - alkalinity , hard water , dilution , precipitation , soft water , environmental science , volume (thermodynamics) , eutrophication , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental chemistry , mineralogy , chemistry , geology , nutrient , meteorology , geography , physics , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
A 15‐year series of daily measurements of pH and total alkalinity recorded at the water intake of a municipal water‐treatment plant on Clear Lake, Iowa, demonstrated that rapid chemical changes occur annually as the ice cover melts. Additional measurements of total and calcium hardness on this and three other eutrophic, hard‐water lakes showed that total and calcium hardness concentrations declined rapidly as the main ice mass was destroyed. This decline was not caused by chemical or biological precipitation of carbonates, but by a dilution effect of melting ice. The magnitude of the declines could be predicted from measurements of hardness under the ice, lake volume, and volume of ice.