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Science 29 March 1985:
Vol. 227. no. 4694, pp. 1576 - 1578
DOI: 10.1126/science.227.4694.1576
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Articles

Ground Water as a Silica Source for Diatom Production in a Precipitation-Dominated Lake

JAMES P. HURLEY 1, DAVID E. ARMSTRONG 1, GALEN J. KENOYER 2, and CARL J. BOWSER 2

1 Water Chemistry Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706
2 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wisconsin

The short-term, seasonal input of ground water to a small, precipitation-dominated oligotrophic lake in northern Wisconsin amounts to less than 10 percent of the annual water budget of the lake but accounts for nearly all the external silica loading. Silica is a necessary nutrient for diatoms. A large spring diatom bloom occurs coincident with high silica inputs from ground water when other possible silica sources are low. The mass budgets of ground water and silica in the lake system demonstrate the importance of ground-water solute inputs to the lake.

Submitted on August 7, 1984
Accepted on December 17, 1984

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)