Mud Lake is a kettle lake, a remnant of the last glaciation, sitting on the top of a hill at approximately 1800 ft elevation in the Robert V. Riddell State Park near Davenport, NY. The lake is surrounded by a bog and no fish live in the lake. The only known water input to the lake is meteoric water and the only outlet is of anthropogenic origin. The bedrock is mainly sandstone and siltstone with some interbedded shale providing low acid buffering capacity. The goals of this study are to determine the inorganic geochemical properties of the lake water and surrounding sediment. Water samples were collected along a North-South cross-section of the lake at three depths and five locations. Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and total dissolved solids were measured on site using a handheld multi-probe. Cation and anion concentrations were determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and ion chromatography, respectively. Sediment core samples were collected using a split core sampler when the lake was still frozen. Sediment samples were analyzed for particle size distribution, mineralogical make up using XRD, and extractable anion and cation concentrations using UV-vis spectrometry and atomic absorption spectrometry, respectively. Water temperature decreases to 10 <sup>o</sup>C by 2.5 m depth and remains constant to maximum depth. Dissolved oxygen concentrations decrease rapidly, reaching nearly zero mg/L by 1.5 m depth. The pH values are between 4.2 and 5.3. Low values of the total dissolved solids, 12-18 mg/L, are consistent with the low cation and anion concentrations found in the lake water. Nitrate and sulfate are the dominant anions reaching 1.2 and 2.8 mg/L concentrations at the surface and decrease to 0.6 and 1.6 mg/L at the bottom of the lake, respectively. Chloride is below 1 mg/L in all samples, but it increases with depth. Calcium, sodium and magnesium are present below 1 mg/L concentrations and other metals are below 0.2 mg/L for all samples. The low amount of dissolved species support that the lake’s only water input comes from meteoric water and weathering processes of the surrounding bedrock and sediment only add small quantities of cations and anions to the water. Further investigation of the sediment can shed light on chemical processes between the lake water and the sediment, and provide additional information about sources of the chemical components of the lake water.

Sediment and water analysis of a glacially formed lake

249th National Meeting (2015)

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