Patterns of water chemistry among twenty-seven oligotrophic lakes in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia

Abstract

A cluster analysis was used to apportion 27 oligotrophic lakes in southwestern Nova Scotia into five multivariate groups on the basis of patterns of covariation of 11 chemical variables (Cl, SO4, Gran alkalinity, organic anions, Ca, Mg, K, Na, H+, and color). These groups are described in terms of the average values of the chemical variables. The relationships among the groups were investigated by an ordination by detrended correspondence analysis. The first, and by far the strongest axis of the ordination separated lakes with relatively large concentrations of alkalinity, from strongly colored lakes with large concentrations of H+ and organic anions. Axis 2 separated acidic lakes, from lakes with large concentrations of Ca and alkalinity.