/sup 210/Pb fluxes in acidified lakes

The acidification of softwater lakes by atmospheric deposition of strong acids has occurred in several regions of the world; however, the rate of acidification of freshwater systems is generally unknown. The authors have tested the hypothesis that the /sup 210/Pb technique can be used to establish the chronologies of sediments in acidified lakes, with the purpose of establishing the rate of change of the chemical and perhaps biological composition of the water. Sediment cores were collected from four lakes near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, that either were acidic (pH 4.2 to 4.4) or had been acidic, but were recently neutralized by the addition of calcium carbonate/calcium hydroxide. /sup 210/Pb flux was measured at five sites per lake. The whole lake fluxes in the Sudbury lakes were significantly lower than those of 11 nonacidic lakes -- 250 km to the southeast. Because it is unlikely that lead (Pb) is leached from the sediments, it is hypothesized that acidification results in alteration of the sedimentation mechanism, leading to reduced /sup 210/Pb (and stable Pb) retention in acidic lakes. Therefore, the /sup 210/Pb method is not suitable for establishing sediment chronologies in recently acidified lakes using existing models