CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF RIVERS AND LAKES 



G23 



Table 34. — Analyses, in parts per million, of water from rivers in 



Britain 



[These data are from Suckling (1943, p. 339, 341, 342)] 



A. Holyford River, Devon. 



B. Avon River, Caine, Wiltshire. 



C. Taff River, Glamorganshire. 



D. Windrush River, Oxfordshire. 



E. Newbourne Stream, Suffolk. 



F. Colne River, Hertfordshire. 



G. Roach River, Lancashire. 

 H. MuUingar Stream, Ireland. 



The dilute waters, particularly of lakes on resistant 

 rocks, have a composition not very different from that 

 of rain water, as has been pointed out by Gorham 

 (1958). Bicarbonate is not detectable in some of these 

 waters, which tend to be solutions of sodium sulfate 

 and chloride. In the western part of the British Isles, 

 where sea-spray influence is strong, sodium and chloride 

 are the dominant ions — notice particularly the composi- 

 tion of water from the blanket bog pools of Gowlan 

 East in western Ireland. All the waters of western 

 Ireland show the same tendency, and it is detectable 

 in Scotland even as far from the sea as the Cairn Gorms 

 (Loch Bubh a' Chadha, for example) where direct sea 

 spray cannot be of significance and the sodium chloride 

 is carried in the rain. 



For the rest of western Europe we must depend on 

 the old analyses, except for Ohle's 1935 analysis of 

 Tonteich, although there exists a huge body of more 

 recent data that does not include all of the major ions. 

 The papers by Lohammar (1938), and Ohle (1934, 

 1940) may be mentioned in particidar. A sample of 

 the old analyses is presented in table 35 and others are 

 presented or referred to in earlier editions of this book. 

 Most of these are waters with several hundred parts per 

 million of total salt, most of it calcium bicarbonate. 

 The deep water of Lac Ritom however, shows the kind 

 of dissolved salt accumulation that may be expected 

 in the waters of a meromictic lake. 



Some analyses from the Rhine (A-D) and Elbe 

 (E-H) systems are presented in table 36 and some from 

 the Danube system (A-E) and several other rivers are 

 presented in table 37. All are normal calcium bicar- 

 bonate waters. 



A few analyses for Sweden and Estonia are presented 

 in table 38. There is considerable variation in the con- 

 centration of Swedish waters, those from lowland sedi- 

 mentary rocks being more concentrated than those from 

 upland hard rocks. Although they lack a few major 

 ions and so are not reproduced here, the analyses by 

 Lohammar (1938) of the waters of Sweden contain 

 much useful information, and, as they provide uniform 

 analyses for many waters from various geological en- 

 vironments, they have formed the factual basis for a 

 number of geochemical discussions (Rodhe, 1949; 

 Gorham, 1955). The Koverjarv near Jussi in Estonia 

 is noteworthy for the extreme dilution of its waters. 



Table 35. — Some analyses, in parts per million, of waters from west Europe 

 [All these data except H are recalculated from Clarke (1924b), after various authors] 



' Computed from oxides on the basis that only Fe20i was present. 



A. The Seine at Berey, France. Analysis by H. Sainte-Claire Deville, 1848. 



B. The Loire near Orleans, France. Analysis by Deville, 1848. 



C. The Garonne at Toulouse, France. Analysis by Deville. 1848. 



D. The Rhone at Geneva, Switzerland. Analysis by Deville, 1848. 



E. Lac Leman, Switzerland. Analysis by R. Brandenbourgh cited in Forel (1S84). 



F. Lac Ritom, above Airolo, Canton Ticino, Switzerland. Surface water. Anal- 



ysis by F. E. Bourcart, 1906. 



G. Lac Ritom, lower layer of water, below 13 m depth. Analysis by Bourcart, 



1906. 

 H. Tonteich near Reinbeck, Germany. 0.5 m depth, Apr. 25, 1935. Data from 



Ohle, 1936. 

 I. Kochelsee, Germany. 

 J. Hallstattersee, Upper Austria. Mean of two analyses, summer and winter. 



Analyses by N. von Lorenz, 1898. 



