Hydrology of Two Headwater Lakes in the Adirondack Mountains of New York

Abstract

Cranberry Pond and Woods Lake are small, acidic headwater lakes in the west-central Adirondack region of New York State. The lakes differ in size and depth but have similar watershed characteristics. Both watersheds contain thin eolian and sandy till deposits overlying granitic gneiss and have limited capacity to store and transmit groundwater. Total lake inflow was calculated as a residual of a monthly hydrologic balance based on measured precipitation, lake outflow, change in lake storage, and estimated evaporation; surface-water and groundwater inflow to each lake also were estimated. Results indicate that the lakes are hydrologically similar and are dominated by surface-water systems with highly variable runoff that responds rapidly to precipitation. Groundwater, which constituted about 16% of the total inflow to Cranberry Pond and from 31 to 38% of the total inflow to Woods Lake in 1984–86, moves through a shallow flow system that provides little stabilizing influence on the hydrology or water chemistry of the lakes. Error analysis of the hydrologic balance indicated that total annual inflow, calculated as a residual of the hydrologic balance, is accurate to within 12%. Calculated monthly inflow values are subject to greater potential error that ranges up to 46%.