Calcium declines in northeastern Ontario lakes

Abstract

Thousands of lakes in northeastern Ontario, Canada, have been acidified by sulphur deposition associated with emissions from the Sudbury area metal smelters. However, water quality improvements including increased pH and reduced sulphate concentrations have followed large reductions in Sudbury emissions that were implemented, beginning in the 1970s. Substantial decreases in Ca concentrations accompanied these other changes in lakewater chemistry. Monitoring of 38 lakes 20–128 km from Sudbury showed declines in Ca concentrations, averaging 2.7 µeq·L–1·year–1, over the period 1981–1999. Declines were particularly apparent during the 1990s, averaging 3.8 µeq·L–1·year–1. Paleolimnological reconstructions of the long-term Ca patterns in six lakes suggest that general lakewater Ca declines occurred through much of the 20th century. Comparison of recent measured Ca concentrations in 16 lakes with diatom-inferred pre-industrial Ca concentrations indicates that overall decreases in Ca have been large, averaging 74.6 µeq·L–1 or 46%. Long-term Ca patterns may reflect a combination of factors including climatic changes, forest harvesting activities, and leaching by acid deposition, the effects of which we can not separate. Calcium declines have biological implications that will need to be considered in the development of appropriate targets as these lakes continue to recover from acidification.