Current Ecological State of the Volkhov Bay of the Ladoga Lake
Ecological Chemistry. St. Petersburg, THESA Russia Current ecological state of the Volkhov Bay of the Ladoga Lake. M.A. Naumenko, V.A. Avinsky, M.A. Barbashova, V.V. Guzivaty, S.G. Karetnikov, L.L. Kapustina, G.I. Letanskaya, G.F. Raspletina, I.M. Raspopov, M.A. Rychkova, T.D. Slepukhina, and O.A. Chernykh Institute of Limnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia (Accepted for publication January 25, 2000) Abstract The Volkhov Bay, the largest estuary bay of Ladoga Lake, is characterized. It is shown that owing to special hydrophysical conditions (higher water temperature during ise-free period, low water transparency, and intensive sediments transport) the ecological state of the bay differs considerably from that of other coastal parts of the lake. With respect to economical importance, the catchment area of the Volkhov Bay, is the most developed territory of the Ladoga basin. As a result of increasing nutrient load, eutrophication processes in the bay are obvious. The effect of the waste waters of industrial enterprises favours additional deterioration of water quality in the southern part of the Ladoga Lake. Key words: Ladoga Lake, hydrophysics, bottom sediments, oxygen regime, phosphorus, heavy metals, water pollution, plankton, higher aquatic vegetation, zoobenthos, eutrophication, water quality. Introduction most serious situation occurred in December 1998 The water quality of the Ladoga Lake undergoes when the dam constructed as long ago as in 1928 for considerable changes caused by anthropogenic ef- sewage collection at the purification works of the fect. This mainly concerns the coastal zones of res- Syas pulp and paper mill broke, and unpurified waste ervoir.
[Show full text]