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Labile aluminium chemistry downstream a limestone treated lake and an acid tributary: effects of warm winters and extreme rainstorms.

Andersen DO

Department of Natural Sciences, Agder University College, Serviceboks 422, N-4604 Kristiansand, Norway.

The outlet from the limestone treated Lake Terjevann consisted mainly of well-mixed lake water (mean pH 6.1) during the ice-free seasons including the unusually warm winters of 1992 and 1993. However, during the ice-covered period acidic water (mean pH 4.8, mean inorganic aluminium (Al(i)) about 160 microg/l) from the catchment draining under the lake ice dominated. A downstream tributary was generally acid and rich in aluminium (mean pH 4.6, Al(i) about 230 microg/l). After an extreme rainstorm loaded with sea-salts cation exchange in the soil resulted in more than a doubling of the Al(i) concentration (reaching about 500 microg/l). It took 3-4 months until the Al(i) concentration returned to pre-event levels. During the ice-covered period, the acidic outlet and tributary waters resulted in acidic conditions below the confluence (pH<4.8, Al(i) about 150 microg/l) while during the ice-free periods the more neutral outlet water resulted in higher pH and lower Al(i) concentrations (pH>5.2, Al(i) about 95 microg/l). However, during the latter climatic conditions the water was most probably more harmful to fish due to hydrolysing and polymerizing aluminium. After the sea-salt event, the increased Al(i) concentration in the tributary made the zone below the confluence potentially more toxic (pH approximately 5, Al(i) approximately 250 microg/l). Expected global warming resulting in winter mean temperatures above 0 degrees C may eliminate the seasonal acidification of the outlet from limestone-treated lakes creating permanent toxic mixing zones in the confluence below acidic aluminium-rich tributaries. Besides, more frequent rainstorms as a consequence of global warming may increase the frequency of sea-salt events and the Al(i) concentrations in the mixing zones.

Published 17 July 2006 in Sci Total Environ, 366(2): 739-48.
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