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Limnology of Garrow Lake, NWT, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

M. Dickman  and
M. Ouellet
M. Dickman
Affiliation:
Biological Sciences Department, Brock University, St Catherines, Ontario, L2S 3A1Canada
M. Ouellet
Affiliation:
Universite du Quebec, Ste Foy, Quebec, G1V 4C7Canada
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Abstract

Garrow Lake (area 418 ha, greatest depth 47 m), Little Cornwallis Island, NWT, Canada, is the northernmost recorded hypersaline meromictic lake, Covered 11 months annually with ice up to 2.4 m thick and internally stratified, its waters at 20 m reach temperatures of 9.1°C from solar heating throughout the year. Salinity varies from less than 0.01% at the surface to over 75% at the bottom. Isostatic uplift isolated the lake from the sea about 3000 BP. Isotope dating indicates that the bottom water has been unmixed for nearly 2500 years. An advancing permafrost wedge appears to have forced brine from pores in rock strata below the watershed into a talik (chimney) in the lake centre. From November 1981 the lake has received approximately 100 tonnes/hr of mine tailings rich in lead and zinc. Dissolved oxygen introduced along with the slurry may be important in reducing anaerobic photosynthetic bacteria. Biotic diversity is low. Only one vertebrate, Myoxocephalus quadricornis (four-horned sculpin), occurs in the lake. The zooplankton consists of only one species, Limnocalanus macruras; phytoplankton includes 51 taxa dominated by flagellates.

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Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 23 , Issue 146 , May 1987 , pp. 531 - 549
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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