Paleolimnological diatom studies of acidification of lakes by acid rain: An application of quaternary science

The methods of Quaternary paleoecology have proven useful for understanding the effects of anthropogenic acid deposition on lakes. The pH history of lakes has been inferred from diatom remains in ²¹⁰Pb dated cores of sediment. In several of these studies, the cores have also been analysed for chrysophyte scales, trace metals (Pb, Zn, V, Cu), soot, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Combined with historical studies of watershed vegetation and disturbance, these approaches have produced important insights relating to the effects on lakes of acid deposition: (1) certain clear water lakes with present pH 4.3–5.0 have rapidly acidified in recent decades; (2) these lakes were acidic (pH 5.0–6.4) prior to the acidification; (3) the most likely cause of the acidification is acid deposition; (4) the acidification began decades after high levels of acid deposition had been reached; and (5) in certain lakes acidification may have caused a marked decrease in humics, reducing the availability of organic ligands for ‘detoxification’ of metal ions (e.g. Al) mobilized by acidification. Diatom analyses have also revealed long term lake acidification in Late-glacial and Holocene time before the Industrial Revolution. This acidification is much slower than the modern acidification. The present pHs in anthropogenically acidified lakes are unprecedentedly low.