Abstract
A lake survey consisting of 987 randomly selected lakes was conducted in Finland in autumn 1987. The survey covered the whole country, and the water quality of the lakes can be considered as representative of the approximately 56 000 lakes larger than 0.01 km2 in Finland. The median TOC concentration is 12 mg L-1 and the median pH 6.3. The proportion of lakes with TOC concentrations > 5 mg L-1 in the whole country is 91 %. Organic anion is the main anion in the full data set (median 89 μeq L-1). The high organic matter concentrations in Finnish lakes are associated with catchment areas containing large proportions of peatlands and acid organic soils under coniferous forest. The survey demonstrated that organic matter strongly affects the acidity of lakes in Finland. The decreasing effect of organic matter on the pH values was demonstrated by both regression analysis and ion balances. At current deposition levels of *SO4 the pH of humic lakes in Finland is determined to a greater extent by high TOC concentrations than by *SO4 in most areas. In lakes with pH values lower than 5.5 the average organic anion contribution is 56 % and non-marine sulfate contribution 39 %. However, in the southern parts of the country, where the acidic deposition is highest, the minerogenic acidity commonly exceeds the catchment derived organic acidity.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brakke, D.F., Henriksen, A., and Norton, S.A.: 1987, Nature 329, 432.
Brakke, D.F., Landers, D.H., and Eilers, J.M.:1988, Environ. Sci. Technol. 22, 155.
Eilers, J.M., Brakke, D.F., and Landers, D.H.: 1988a, Environ. Sci. Technol. 22, 164.
Eilers, J.M., Landers, D.H., and Brakke, D.F.: 1988b, Environ. Sci. Technol. 22, 172.
Engstrom, D.R.: 1987. Can J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 44, 1306.
Eshleman, K.N., and Hemond, H.F.: 1985, Water Resour. Res. 21, 1503.
Forsius, M., Kenttamies, K., and Kamari, J. 1987: ‘Regional extent of lake acidification in Finland’, in Int. Symposium on acidification and water pathways, The Norwegian National Committee for Hydrology in cooperation with Unesco and WMO, the IHP National Committees of Denmark, Finland and Sweden, Bolkesjø, Norway. Vol II: 177.
Forsius, M., Kämäri, J., Kortelainen, P., Mannio, J., Verta, M., and Kinnunen, K. 1989: ‘Statistical lake survey in Finland: Regional estimates of lake acidification’, Acidification in Finland, Springer-Verlag (in press).
Gorham, E., Underwood, J.K., Martin, F.B., and Odgen, J.G.: 1986, Nature 324, 451.
Henriksen, A., Brakke, D.F., and Norton, S.A.: 1988a, Environ. Sci.Technol. 22, 1103.
Henriksen, A., Lien, L., Traaen, T.S., Sevaldrud, I.S., and Brakke, D.F.: 1988b, Ambio 17, 259.
Järvinen, 0.: 1987, The Quality of deposition in Finland 1971–1982 (in Finnish). Mimeographed report 408, National Board of Waters, Helsinki.
Jeffries, D.S., Wales, D.L., Kelso, J.R.M., and Linthurst, R.A.: 1986, Water, Air, and Soil Pollut. 31, 551.
Kämäri, J.: 1985, Aqua Fennica, 15, 11.
Kenttämies, K., Haapaniemi, S., Hynynen, J., Joki-Heiskala, P., and Kamari, J.: 1985 Aqua Fennica, 15, 21.
Kerekes, J., Beauchamp, S., Tordon, R., and Pollock, T.: 1986a. Water, Air, and Soil Pollut. 31, 207.
Kerekes, J., Beauchamp. S., Tordon, R., Tremblay, C., and Pollock, T.: 1986b, Water, Air, and Soil Pollut. 31, 165.
Kortelainen, P. and Mannio, J. 1988.: Water and Soil Pollut. 42, 341.
Landers, D.H., Overton, W.S., Linthurst, R.A. and Brakke, D.F.: 1988, Environ. Sci. Technol. 22, 128.
Oliver, B.G., Thurman, E.M., and Malcolm, R.L.: 1983, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 47, 2031.
Perdue, E.M., Beck, K.C., and Reuter, J.H.: 1976, Nature 260, 418.
Rapp, G. Jr., Allert, J.D., Liukkonen, B.W., Ilse, J.A., Loucks, O.L., and Glass, G.E.: 1985, Environ. Int. 11, 425.
Røgeberg, E.J.S., and Henriksen, A.: 1985, Vatten 41, 48.
SFT (The Norwegian State Pollution Control Authority): 1988, Monitoring of long range transport air pollutants and acid precipitation, report 333/88, Oslo (in Norwegian, English summary).
Simola, H., Kenttämies, K., and Sandman, 0.: 1985, Aqua Fennica 15, 245.
Stumm, W., and Morgan, J.J.: 1981, Aquatic Chemistry. An Introduction Emphazing Chemical Equilibria in Natural Waters, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Swedish Environmental Protection Board: 1986, Monitor 1986, Acid and acidified waters. Swedish Environmental Protection Board, Solna, Sweden (in swedish).
The Finnish Forest Research Institute: 1987, Yearbook of forest statistics, Official Statistics of Finland XVII A:19, Folia Forestalia 715.
The Sulfur Comission of Finland: 1987, the Ministry of the Environment, Series C 22, Helsinki.
Tolonen, K., and Jaakkola, T: 1983, Ann. Bot. Fennici 20, 57.
Tolonen, K., Liukkonen, M., Harjula, R., and Pätilä, A.: 1986, Developments in Hydrobiology 29, 169.
Verta, M., Rekolainen, S., Mannio, J., and Surma-Aho, K.: 1986, Publications of the Water Research Institute. National Board of waters, Helsinki, Finland No. 65, p. 21.
Verta, M., Tolonen, K. and Simola, H.: 1989, Sci. Tot. Environ., History of heavy metal pollution in Finland as recorded by lake sediments (in press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kortelainen, P., Mannio, J., Forsius, M. et al. Finnish lake survey: the role of organic and anthropogenic acidity. Water Air Soil Pollut 46, 235–249 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00192860
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00192860