Episodic acidification capacity

Figure 16. Outflow chemistry from two snowmelt seasons (1986 and 1987) at Emerald Lake, a high-elevation lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Maximum N03 concentrations are coincident with ANC minima during the early stages of snowmelt in 1986 and with a rain-on-snow event in 1987. Nitrate episodes are smaller in magnitude than at sites in the eastern United States, hut western lakes may he more susceptible to episodic acidification because they have a lower baseline acid-neutralizing capacity than most eastern lakes. (Reproduced with permission from reference 180. Copyright 1991 American Geophysical Union.)...

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