On lake bottom dynamics—the energy–topography factor

Abstract

It is suggested that the areal distribution of erosion and transportation (aE + T) or accumulation (aA = 100 − aE + T) at the bottom of lakes is governed by: (1) an energy factor, [Formula: see text], where a is the lake area (km2), Dmax is the maximum depth (m); (2) a slope factor, [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the mean depth (m); and (3) a form factor, [Formula: see text]. This relationship may be given as: aE + T = 52.0ET + 19.3 where ET is the energy–topography factor; or[Formula: see text]This relationship is important since it provides a means by which to determine the percentage of a given lake area that is dominated by erosion and transportation processes (aE + T) or accumulation processes (aA) from only three morphometric standard parameters: lake area (a), mean depth ([Formula: see text]), and maximum depth (Dmax). The relationship may also be used as a tool to gain better insight into the difficult problem of distinguishing between net and total deposition, i.e., the resuspension problem, since resuspension in a lake depends on the energy, slope, and form factors.