UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Acidification in the Cairngorms and Lochnagar: a palaeoecological assessment

Jones, VJ; Battarbee, RW; Appleby, PG; Richardson, N; Rippey, B; Rose, NL; Stevenson, AC; (1993) Acidification in the Cairngorms and Lochnagar: a palaeoecological assessment. (ECRC Research Paper 7 ). UCL Environmental Change Research Centre: London, UK. Green open access

[thumbnail of ecrc_research_paper_7_Jones etal._1993_Cairngorms & Lochnagar_acidification_OCR.pdf]
Preview
Text
ecrc_research_paper_7_Jones etal._1993_Cairngorms & Lochnagar_acidification_OCR.pdf

Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

Sensitive lakes in areas of the United Kingdom with moderate to high sulphur deposition have been acidified since the middle of the nineteenth century- (Battarbee et al. 1988). Regions such as Galloway, south west Scotland (eg. Flower and Battarbee 1983, Flower et al. 1987), Wales (eg. Battarbee et al. 1988, Fritz et aL 1990), Cumbria (eg. Battarbee et al 1988, Atkinson and Haworth 1990), and Rannoch Moor in the central Scottish Highlands (eg. Flower et al 1988) have been affected. This study extends the geographical survey of lake acidification to the Caimgorm and Lochnagar regions of north east Scotland (Figure 1). The Caimgorms and Lochnagar are areas of considerable conservation value, forming the largest single area of land over 1000 m in the UK. The Caimgorm mountain plateau is a National Nature Reserve, noted for its alpine flora and fauna, whilst the Lochnagar range is a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve. A secondary- aim of the study was to evaluate the 11land-use 11 hypothesis (eg. Rosenqvist 1977, 1978, 1981) as a mechanism for lake acidification by examining high altitude sites with no active land-management. Sites selected are all remote, lie above the tree line and have undisturbed catchments. Lochnagar and the Caimgorms are situated on sensitive granite geology (Kinniburgh and Edmunds 1986, Wells et al. 1986) in an area of moderate acid deposition (c. 0.95 g S yr-1 ). It can be predicted that sensitive lakes in this area (those having Ca2 + values of <60 μeq i-1 ) will have acidified (Battarbee 1989).

Type: Report
Title: Acidification in the Cairngorms and Lochnagar: a palaeoecological assessment
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: https://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/research/research-centr...
Language: English
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10110034
Downloads since deposit
29Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item