Treatise on Geochemistry

0436181 - BC 2015 eng M - Monography Chapter
Norton, S. A. - Kopáček, Jiří - Fernandez, I. J.
Acid Rain - Acidification and Recovery.
Treatise on Geochemistry. 2. Elsevier, 2014 - (Holland., H.; Turekian, K.), s. 379-414
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : acidification * nitrogen * nutrients * sulfur * trace metals
Subject RIV: DJ - Water Pollution ; Quality

Acidification of streams and lakes occurs over timescales ranging from hours to millennia. Acidification is caused by multiple forces including chemical weathering of soils, production of dissolved organic carbon from decaying vegetation, input of marine aerosols, dilution by rain water or snowmelt, oxidation of previously reduced sulfur and nitrogen, and acid rain (largely sulfur- and nitrogen-related). Major symptoms of acidifying water include decreased pH and alkalinity, and increased Al, P, Ca, Mg, K, and other trace metals. Aquatic biota and forest health are negatively impacted by acidification. The major processes of acidification of soils and runoff have been identified with (1) spatial and temporal empirical studies, and (2) bench scale to ecosystem scale experiments, and have been modeled with static empirical and dynamic process-oriented models. These models provide hindcasts as well as forecasts of the acidification status of soils and surface water. Recovery from anthropogenically driven acidification is underway in North America and Europe. However, physical climate change alters a number of the forcing variables, providing a complex recovery pattern from acidification, as North America and Europe decrease their emissions of sulfur and nitrogen.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0239967