Diel patterns of total suspended solids,

L. LAGOMARSINO; N. DIOVISALVI; J. BUSTINGORRY; R. ESCARAY; H. ZAGARESE

HYDROBIOLOGIA

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2015 vol. 752 p. 21 - 31

0018-8158

The effects of external physical forcingvariables (solar radiation and winds) on short-termdynamics of total suspended solids (TSS), Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), turbidity levels, and water transparencywere studied during 15 days in a highly turbid,shallow lake (Laguna Chascomu´ s, Argentina). Watersamples were taken three times per day (8, 14 and20 h.). Solar radiation and wind velocity showed arepeatedly bell-shaped diurnal pattern, with significanthigher values during morning and afternoon, respectively.TSS and turbidity displayed a general decreasingtrend during the sampling period, while watertransparency showed the opposite trend. Also Chladisplayed a decreasing trend and was closelycorrelated to TSS levels. We assayed a first-orderkinetics model to detrend the series, obtaining the rateof change during the night, morning, and afternoon.We observed higher values on afternoon compared tomorning for TSS, Chl-a, and turbidity levels and theopposite pattern for water transparency. We concludethat this pattern may result from a combination ofbiological activity, as it took place after a period ofintense photosynthetic activity, together with resuspensionby winds during the afternoon, (windiest timeof the day).