Adirondack, lake waters

Driscoll, C.T., V. Blette, C. Yan, C.L. Schofield, R. Munson, and J. Holsapple. 1995. The role of dissolved organic carbon in the chemistry and bioavailability of mercury in remote Adirondack lakes. Water Air Soil Pollut. 80 499-508. 

Heit M, Klusek CS. 1985. Trace element concentrations in the dorsal muscle of white suckers and brown bullheads from two acidic Adirondack lakes. Water Air Soil Pollut 25 87-96. 

Munson R. K. and Gherini S. A. (1993) Influence of organic acids on the pH and acid-neutralizing capacity of Adirondack lakes. Water Resour. Res. 29, 891-899. 

Figure 12.25 (a) Plot of log 1AP versus pH for 64 samples from a drainage basin affected by acid mine waters from the Leviathan mine, Cali-fornia-Nevada. Points shown as open squares have pH <4.6, plus symbols are those with pH >4.9. The solid lines are theoretical solubilities of amorphous AI(0H)3 and microcrystalline gibbsite. (b) Plot similar to (a) for acid mine drainage from Appalachia (solid circles) and Adirondack lake waters affected by acid precipitation (open circles). From Science 232 54-56, D. K. Nordstrom and J. W. Ball, The geochemical behavior of aluminum in acidified surface waters. Copyright 1986 by Science-AAAS. Used by permission. 

Driscoll, C.T. and van Dreason, R. (1993). Seasonal and long-term temporal patterns in the chemistry of Adirondack lakes. Water Air Soil Pollut, 67, 319-344. 

While an exact number of site clusters has not been proposed, the authors consider from approximately 3 to 10 clusters of sites to be appropriate. These clusters should represent different ecoregions with different ecological characteristics as well as different loadings (both in amount and source) of mercury deposition. Care should be taken to monitor different types of water bodies and watersheds (e.g., seepage lakes, drainage lakes, old reservoirs, rivers, and estuaries). Areas that should be considered as potential cluster site locations include lakes in northern New England/the Adirondacks, lakes in the upper Midwest, rivers and streams in the southeastern coastal plain, lakes in south-central and southeastern Canada, western... 

Driscoll et al. (1994) have studied the mercury species relationships among water, sediments, and fish (yellow perch) in a series of Adirondack lakes in New York state, USA. In most lakes, approximately 10% of the total mercury loading was in the form of C2HsHg+. Mercury concentrations increased as pH fell, but the best correlation was found between [dissolved Al] and [dissolved Hg] suggesting that the same factors are responsible for mobilizing both these metals. Methylmercury concentrations correlated strongly with the dissolved organic carbon content in the water. Fish muscle tissue was analyzed for mercury and showed an increase with age. However, the study was unable to resolve the question of whether the principal source of mercury to these lakes was atmospheric deposition or dissolution from bedrock due to acid rains. 

Heit M, Schofield C, Driscoll CT, et al. 1989. Trace element concentrations in fish from three Adirondack lakes New York USA with different pH values. Water Air Soil Pollut 44 9-30. 

Figure 10. Temporal patterns in lake-water N03, acid-neutralizing capacity (ANC), base cations (Ca + + Mg2+ + Na+ + K+), S042, and inorganic monomeric aluminum (Al ) at Constable Pond, a long-term monitoring site in the Adirondack Mountains. Trend lines are shown for variables with significant trends (p < 0.10 in seasonal Kendall tau test). Seasonal pattern is typical of Adirondack lakes, with seasonal minima in ANC coincident with seasonal maxima in NOf and Ah. Many Adirondack lakes exhibited upward trends in N03 in the 1980s the primary increase was in episodic N03 concentrations.

Methe, B.A., and J. P. Zehr. 1999. Diversity of bacterial communities in Adirondack lakes Do species assemblages reflect lake water chemistry Hydrobiologia 401 77-96. 

Driscoll C. T., Lehtinen M. D., and Sullivan T. J. (1994) Modeling the acid-base chemistry of organic solutes in Adirondack, New York, lakes. Water Resour. Res. 30, 297-306. 

Baker, J. P, W. J. Warren-Hicks, J. Gallagher, and S. W. Christensen. 1993. Fish population losses from Adirondack lakes The role of surface water acidity and acidification. Water Resources Research 29(4) 861-74. 

Decreases in pH and increases in dissolved inorganic aluminum concentrations have diminished the species diversity and abundance of plankton, invertebrates, and fish in acid-impacted surface waters. For example, in the Adirondacks a significant positive relationship exists between the pH and ANC levels in lakes and the number of fish species present in those lakes (see Figure 3.8). The Adirondack Lakes Survey showed that 24% of lakes (i.e., 346) in this region do not support fish. These lakes had consistently... 

Table 3.2. Biological effects of surface water acidification (after Baker et al. 1990, an Adirondack lake survey)...

Baker, J.P., Gherini, S.A., Christensen, S.W., Driscoll, C.T., Gallagher, J., Munson, R.K. and Newton, R.M. (1990). Adirondack Lake Survey An interpretive analysis offish communities and water chemistry, 1984-87. Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation Ray Brook, NY. 

Driscoll, C.T., Postek, K.M., Kretser, W. and Raynal, DJ. (1995). Long-term trends in the chemistry of precipitation and lake water in the Adirondack region of New York, USA. Water Air Soil Pollut.. 85, 583-588. 

Acid rain has resulted in the widespread acidification of lakes and forests around the world. The areas most sensitive to acid rain are those without limestone deposits, such as the Adirondack region of New York State. The effect of acid rain is species-specific many species cannot adapt to lowered pH environments. Most fish species, for example, cannot survive in water with pH levels below 5.0. A detailed survey of 1469 Adirondack lakes and ponds in the mid-1980s showed that 352 lakes or ponds had pH values of 5.0 or less. In 346 of the identified lakes and ponds, no fish were found (Jenkins 2005). 

During the period 24-27 June, 1975 a water chemistry survey was conducted on 219 Adirondack lakes above 610 meters elevation. 

Oxidant residuals in the form of total residual chlorine were first reported by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in rainfall and lake waters of the Western Adirondacks of New York State in 1976-77. Chlorine residuals analyzed by the orthotoline colorimetric procedure developed by Palin (1957) were detected in rainfall at Boonville and Stillwater, New York and in Echo Lake, Hinckley Reservoir and Stillwater Reservoir (Figure 2. Total residual chlorine in rainfall near Boonville, New York... 

Abernathy and Cumbie 1977). Mercury concentrations greater than 0.5 mg/kg (but less than l.Omg/kg) FW have been reported in trout from several wilderness lakes in northern Maine (Akielaszak and Haines 1981) and from the Adirondacks region of New York (Sloan and Schofield 1983) these values are considerably higher than might be expected for fish inhabiting remote lakes. These elevated concentrations were usually associated with lakes of low pH, low calcium, low dissolved organic carbon concentrations, and low water hardness and alkalinity. 

Acid rain primarily affects sensitive bodies of water, that is, those that rest atop soil with a limited ability to neutralize acidic compounds (called buffering capacity ). Many lakes and streams examined in a National Surface Water Survey (NSWS) suffer from chronic acidity, a condition m which water lias a constant low (acidic) pH level. The survey investigated tlie effects of acidic deposition in over 1,000 lakes larger than 10 acres and in thousands of miles of streams believed to be sensitive to acidification. Of the lakes and streams surveyed in the NSWS, arid rain has been determined to cause acidity in 75 percent of the acidic lakes and about 50 percent of tlie acidic streams. Several regions in the U.S. were identified as containing many of the surface waters sensitive to acidification. They include, but are not limited to, the Adirondacks. the mid-Appalachian highlands, the upper Midwest, and the high elevation West. 

In some sensitive lakes and streams, acidification has completely eradicated fish species, such as the brook trout, leaving these bodies of water barren. In feet, hundreds of the lakes in the Adirondacks surveyed in the NSWS have aridity levels indicative of chemical conditions unsuitable for the survival of sensitive fish species. 

Acid rain control will produce significant benefits in terms of lowered surface water acidity. If acidic deposition levels were to remain constant over the next 50 years (tlie time frame used for projection models), the acidification rate of lakes in the Adirondacks that are larger than 10 acres would rise by 50 percent or more. Scientists predict, however, that the decrease in SO emissions required by the Acid Rain Program will significantly reduce acidification due to atmospheric sulfui Without the reductions in SO2 emissions, the proportions of aquatic systems in sensitive ecosystems that are acidic would remain high or dramatically worsen. 

Heit M, Tan Y, Klusek C, et al. 1981. Anthropogenic trace elements and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels in sediment cores from two lakes in the Adirondack acid lake region. Water Air Soil Pollut 15 441-464. 

---