Geografie 2010, 115, 96-112
Manifestations and causes of meromixis in lakes resulting from mineral extraction in Czechia
Anthropogenic lakes (lakes that have developed in mined-out pits as a consequence of mineral raw material mining) exhibit many interesting phenomena. Specific water features are the most remarkable, including physical, chemical and the biological characteristics. Other very specific morphometric feature of anthropogenic lake basins include the unusual location of the lake’s water surface: often several dozen meters below the adjacent terrain and the specific character of the mined-out raw materials. All of these factors affect the qualitative characteristics of lake’s water, even decades after flooding. The interaction of the factors mentioned above has resulted in the creation of a permanent meromixis in some anthropogenic lakes. The author’s primary objectives are to present some physical and chemical symptoms of meromixis at selected localities, to discuss the mutual interaction between the physical and chemical characteristics of lake water and to explore some probable causes of the origin of meromixis at the selected localities.
Keywords
anthropogenic lakes, pit lakes, meromixis, water quality, water chemistry.
