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Chemical and algal relationships in a salinity series of Ethiopian inland waters

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Abstract

Most Ethiopian lakes are parts of closed drainage systems and collectively form an extensive salinity series, here treated comparatively for geographical, chemical and algal characteristics. Chemical data are presented for 28 lakes and numerous inflows, including original analyses for 15 lakes, in which total ionic concentration and electrical conductivity vary over 4 orders of magnitude. The principal determinant of a lake's position in the series is the open or closed nature of its individual drainage. At present there are three major closed systems (Awash R. — Afar drainage, northern rift lakes, southern rift lakes), numerous crater lakes with seepage -in and -out, and two cryptodepressions with marine inputs. Salinity is primarily determined by evaporative concentration, enhanced in lakes associated with past marine influence or recent volcanic activity by readily soluble materials in the catchment, and by some thermal-reflux pathways. However, anomalously dilute closed lakes exist, indicative of other processes of solute loss (e.g. past basin overflow, ‘reverse weathering’, seepage-out).

There are strong positive correlations between increasing salinity and the concentrations of Na+, alkalinity and Cl-. The last is used, in conjunction with other analyses of atmospheric precipitation, to estimate the marine and denudative contributions and the evaporative concentration factor, and to distinguish trends of ionic species during evaporative concentration. With several exceptions, affected by past penetration of sea water into the Danakil and L. Assal cryptodepressions, the most saline lakes are soda lakes with HCO3 - + CO sup2-inf3 and Na+ predominant and Ca2+ and Mg2+ largely eliminated. Soluble reactive silicate and phosphate tend to increase in concentration along the salinity series, but the unknown dynamics of algal growth are likely to introduce variance. Concentrations in some lakes are extremely high, e.g. > 40 mg SiO2 l-1 and > 1 mg PO4-P l-1.

Phytoplankters recorded from individual lakes are tabulated and where available the community biomass concentration as chlorophyll a is given. Lakes of high salinity-alkalinity are typically very productive in terms of phytoplankton biomass and photosynthetic rates (exceptions: the very deep L. Shala and the very saline L. Abhe), supported in part by relatively high concentrations of phosphorus and inorganic carbon. Many species are of restricted salinity-alkalinity range, being characteristic of waters where levels are low (e.g. desmids, Melosira spp.), intermediate (e.g. Planctonema lauterborni), or high (e.g. Spirulina platensis). Phytoflagellates are most strongly represented in waters with higher concentrations of the bivalent cations Ca2+ and Mg2+. The common cyanophyte Microcystis aeruginosa can tolerate a wide salinity range, here as elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Limnology Laboratory, University of Ulster, Magherafelt, Co. Derry, N. Ireland

    R. B. Wood

  2. Freshwater Biological Association, Ambleside, Cumbria, UK

    J. F. Talling

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  1. R. B. Wood
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Wood, R.B., Talling, J.F. Chemical and algal relationships in a salinity series of Ethiopian inland waters. Hydrobiologia 158, 29–67 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026266

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