Comparative Summer Limnology of Inner Long Point Bay, Lake Erie, and its Major Tributary

Abstract

Long Point Bay, on the north shore of Lake Erie, is 28.2 square miles (7278 hectares) in area, with a maximum depth of approximately 10 ft (3.05 m). Big Creek, the major tributary, drains a watershed of 317 square miles (81,818 hectares), and discharges 4700 million cubic feet (127,000 million liters) of water into the Bay annually. Summer water temperatures in the Creek and the Bay were positively correlated with air temperatures in 1962. The water in the Bay was subject to considerable seiche action. Levels of nutrients and suspended materials were characteristically higher in the Creek than in the Bay. Gross reductions in levels of turbidity, total dissolved solids, nitrates, and phosphates occurred in the lower section of Big Creek and the adjacent area of the Bay. For example, phosphate levels of bottom samples were inversely correlated with those of water samples in lower Big Creek and its estuary. The path of Big Creek discharge through the Bay to Lake Erie was defined by an analysis of total dissolved solids and soil phosphate data.