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Intrusion of saline groundwater into Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, New York
Author(s) -
Wing Michael R.,
Preston Amy,
Acquisto Nadine,
Ahrnsbrak William F.
Publication year - 1995
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.1995.40.4.0791
Subject(s) - thermocline , geology , hypolimnion , groundwater , hydrology (agriculture) , sediment , oceanography , salt lake , surface water , structural basin , saline water , intrusion , marine transgression , geochemistry , geomorphology , salinity , environmental science , ecology , geotechnical engineering , environmental engineering , nutrient , eutrophication , biology
Seneca and Cayuga Lakes have chloride levels 2–10 times higher than the other Finger Lakes. Approximately 170 × 10 6 kg of salt appear to be added to Seneca Lake from within the basin each year. The region is underlain by Silurian beds of commercial‐grade rock salt ∼450–600 m below the surface. It has been proposed that Seneca and Cayuga Lakes are saltier than the others because their basins intersect some of these beds. Fieldwork supports this hypothesis. A deep water mass up to 10% saltier than the rest of Seneca Lake was observed to expand and partially fill the hypolimnion from the bottom up during summer 1991 and 1992. The saltier water was mixed into the rest of the lake in early winter, only to reappear after the thermocline was established. Sediment interstitial water profiles in both lakes reveal large regions of saline groundwater several meters below the sediment surface, and NaCl concentrations as high as 30‰ have been found.