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Sulfur and oxygen isotope ratios in sulfate during an acidification reversal study at Lake Gårdsjön, Western Sweden

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Abstract

The reversibility of acidification is being investigated in a full scale catchment manipulation experiment at Lake Gårdsjön on the Swedish west coast using isotopes as environmental tracers. A 6300 m2 roof over the catchment enables researchers to control depositional variables. Stable S isotope values were determined in bulk deposition, throughfall, runoff, groundwater and soil-extracted water during one year prior to and two years of experimental control. Data collected prior to experimental control suggest that the inorganic SO 2−4 pool within the catchment has a homogeneousδ 34S value of about+5.5‰. Sprinkling of water spiked with small amounts of sea-water derived SO 2−4 started in April 1991. Theδ 34S value of this SO 2−4 is around+19.5‰. Since April 1991, the SO 2−4 concentration in runoff has decreased by some 30%, however, theδ 34S value have increased by only 0.5‰. This suggests mixing of sprinkling water S with a large reservoir of S in the catchment. Oxygen isotopes in SO 2−4 suggest that less than one third of the SO 2−4 in runoff is secondary SO 2−4 formed within the soil profile. This is, however, no evidence for net mineralization of S. The SO 2−4 in runoff in the roofed catchment is a mixture of SO 2−4 previously adsorbed in the soil, mineralized organic S and SO 2−4 from the sprinkler water. Calculations based on isotope data indicate that the turnover time of S within the catchment is on the order of decades. Since SO 2−4 facilitates base cation flow, the acidification reversal will take a much longer time than concentration decreases of SO 2−4 would suggest.

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  1. Dept. of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University, S-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Carl -Magnus Mörth & Peter Torssander

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  1. Carl -Magnus Mörth
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  2. Peter Torssander
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Mörth, C.M., Torssander, P. Sulfur and oxygen isotope ratios in sulfate during an acidification reversal study at Lake Gårdsjön, Western Sweden. Water Air Soil Pollut 79, 261–278 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01100441

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