THE INTERSTITIAL WATER COMPOSITION IN THE SEDIMENTS OF THE GREAT LAKES. I. WESTERN LAKE ONTARIO

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Abstract
Four stations in the western end of Lake Ontario were cored and the interstitial water together with the water lying immediately above it were analyzed for the major ions, soluble reactive phosphate, nitrate, silica, iron, and manganese.The interstitial waters are enriched relative to lake waters in all components except chloride, fluoride and sodium and strongly depleted with respect to sulfate. The Eh was generally negative and the pH was around 7.4. No changes from May to August could be observed, but in most cases, silica, alkalinity, manganese, and iron increased with depth in the sediment; chloride, fluoride, sulfate, sodium, and calcium decreased and the other parameters remained more or less constant.The major factors governing the chemistry of the interstitial waters are diffusion, bacterial reduction of sulfate, and equilibrium with various minerals in the sediments. There is evidence that the iron concentration is governed by FeCO3 but no firm conclusions could be drawn concerning manganese.

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