Sources of trace metals in streams and headwater lakes in Finland

Abstract

Abstract. Distributions of Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Pb, As, and Cd in Finnish surface waters were studied by comparing two data sets: samples from 154 headwater lakes collected by the Water and Environment Administration in 1992 and samples from 1165 headwater streams collected during the environmental geochemical mapping program of the Geological Survey of Finland in 1990. It was expected that headwater lakes with catchments smaller than 1 km 2 and high lake percentage (ratio of lake area to catchment size) would be more influenced by atmospheric trace metal deposition than the streams, with average catchment size of 30 km 2.The lakes with highest arsenic concentrations lie in an area with greenstones and arsenic-rich black schists. The same lakes have high copper concentrations, which evidently are derived from the Cu-rich greenstones of the catchment. The high copper concentrations of streams and lakes in the industrialized region of the southwest coast are due to several anthropogenic sources.The highest concentrations of chromium occur in brown stream and lake waters rich in humic matter, while manganese and zinc concentrations, which are controlled by acidity, tend to be elevated in low-pH waters. The high nickel concentrations in lakes in southwestern Finland probably are due to anthropogenic input, while Ni anomalies in stream and lake water in eastern Finland are correlated with high Ni contents of glacial till. The lead concentrations in lakes are mainly of airborne anthropogenic origin.The pattern of atmospheric deposition is reflected in the concentrations of Cd, As, Cu, Zn, and Ni in headwater lakes, but land-use, the natural distribution of metals in the overburden, water acidity, and the amount of humic substances influence the distribution of trace metals in both lakes and streams. Thus the trace metal distribution in headwater lakes cannot be used alone to estimate the contribution of anthropogenic atmospheric deposition to metal anomalies in Finnish surface waters.

Trace Metals in Upland Headwater Lakes in Ireland

“…Cadmium [0.1 lg L -1 has been reported to affect the reproductive function of certain aquatic organisms (Tarvainen et al 1997). In the current study, 4 % of the lakes exhibited concentrations above this limit despite the high proportion below detection [96 % (note the detection limit was 0.1 lg L -1 )].…”

“…The concentration of trace metals in pristine surface waters is related to a number of factors including lithology of the terrestrial catchment, atmospheric inputs, and climatic conditions (Tarvainen et al 1997). Although metals are a natural component of the environment, human activities have greatly contributed to their elevated concentration in surface waters (Skjelkvåle et al 2001a), e.g., long-range atmospheric transport associated with the emission and deposition of acidifying compounds (Dickson 1980;Borg 1986;Steinnes 2001).…”

“…The potential toxic effect of elevated 'free' trace metals owing to acidic deposition has prompted lake surveys in Europe and North America, notably in regions dominated by acid-sensitive soils and geology [Finland (Verta et al 1990;Mannio et al 1995;Tarvainen et al 1997;Mannio 2001), Norway (Henriksen and Wright 1978;Skjelkvåle et al 2001b), Sweden (Borg 1983(Borg , 1986Borg and Johansson 1989), Italy (Tornimbeni and Rogora 2012), United States of America (Schindler 1988;Baker et al 1991), and Canada (Dillon et al 1988;Shotyk and Krachler 2009)].…”

Spatial patterns of some trace elements in four Swedish stream networks

“…Some studies estimating the spatial variability of trace elements in Scandinavia, at spatial scales from 10-100 km 2 , have been published (Tarvainen et al, 1997;Edén et al, 1999;Andersson et al, 2006;Dahlqvist et al, 2007;Reimann et al, 2009;Lidman et al, 2012). The novel focus in this study is on headwaters, < 2 km 2 , in combination with larger streams in the channel network of complete rivers, including the lakes embedded in those networks.…”

Evaluación De La Toxicidad De Los Sedimentos Del Curso Alto Del Río Lerma, México

“…Por ello, el análisis de los sedimentos juega un papel importante en estudios ambientales ya que son receptores de contaminantes, los cuales no permanecen fijos sino que pueden ser removidos por agentes biológicos y químicos (Hansen et al 1995, Tarvainen et al 1997, Pedroza et al 2010. En general, las sustancias potencialmente tóxicas presentes en el sedimento no producen un efecto tóxico agudo en los organismos bentónicos.…”