Lake Bonney is a permanently ice-covcrcd lake of 3.2 km2 in upper Taylor Valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica.The mean depth, without ice cover, is 18.7 m. Thk lake probably occupies a glacially ovcrdccpcncd valley. The lake is meromictic. The maxirhal temperature of 7C coincides with the chcmoclinc at about 15 m; the tempcraturc decreases to a range of +2 to -4C in the bottom waters and to less than 1C bcncath the ice. Calculations of supcrficial water inflow and of water loss by sublimation of ice indicate that the lake is slowly shrinking.Old shorelines above the prcscnt lake level attest to shrinkage. Part of the difference between water gain and water loss is made up by inflow of warm-spring water at depth. Such springs are probably the major source of heat for the lake. Total solids in the monimolimnion range up to 407.3 g/liter, Sodium and magnesium chloride account for 96,s of the dissolved salts. An analysis of ionic ratios suggests that the lake waters may consist of trapped scawatcr highly modified by subscqucnt concentration by evaporative processes, by addition of ions from surrounding soils, and by addition of warm-spring water. The ionic concentrations arc altcrcd in part by the precipitation of CaSOe, CaC03, and Na2SOh.
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