The management of recreational lakes in the prairie region of Canada requires that their physical, chemical and biological setting be clearly defined . This study relates the major ion chemistry of two lakes to significant ion contributions from groundwater, surface runoff and snow . The major ion concentrations in addition are related to several important limnological processes .Lake Wabamun is a 84.6 km' lake with a basin set in Cretaceous bedrock. Groundwater studies in the watershed indicate that rather large quantities of groundwater enter the lake from fractured coal and bedrock units . Hastings Lake has a considerably smaller surface area and is formed in a shallow depression in glacial drift. Generally, smaller quantities of groundwater enter this lake because the glacial drift has a low permeability .Evaluation of the data indicates that relative quantity and quality of groundwater inflow is probably the most important factor controlling the major ion chemistry of the lakes . Other factors are mineral precipitation, freezing out and the timing of major water inflows.
The physical and chemical aspects of Lake Wabamun have been described . Modifications to the thermal and dissolved oxygen regimes through the discharge of thermal effluent into the eastern region of the lake are discussed . This discharge has, therefore, changed the environmental conditions under which the biota exists in the eastern portion of the lake . It was also shown that this discharge of heated water had no effect upon the water chemistry while the power station itself contributed silica, in the form of fly ash, to the system . Tables of the phytoplankton, zooplankton, aquatic macrophytes, and fish are provided . From a biological and limnological stand point the lake can be classified as a moderately eutrophic lake, especially in the eastern portion .
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