Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A note on the effects of an individual large rainfall event on saline Lake Alchichica, Mexico

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Geology

Abstract

The present study reports on perturbations of the water column by large rainfall at Lake Alchichica, a saline lake in Central Mexico. Alchichica is located in the “Llanos de San Juan,” a high-altitude plateau with a minimum elevation of 2,300 m above sea level. The climate is arid with annual precipitation less than 400 mm and annual evaporation of 500–600 mm. A single day large rainfall event delivered 1,810,000 m3 of water to the basin, raising the lake’s water level by about 1 m. Temperature and salinity profiles showed an atypical temperature inversion up to 1°C in the upper layer accompanied by salinity decrease up to 0.5 g l−1. Transparency and pH were slightly altered, but dissolved oxygen, nutrients and chlorophyll a concentrations were not changed. In spite of the heavy rainfall and associated wind, the effects of the event were limited to the upper half of the epilimnion. After 2 days, the lake water level returned to its original level. The rapid leakage of the runoff minimized any long-term effects of the large rainfall.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alcalá A (2004) Estudio Hidrogeológico de Alchichica, Estado de Puebla (Hydrogeological study of Alchichica, State of Puebla) Geological Engineering Degree Undergraduate Thesis (in Spanish), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

  • Alcocer J, Escobar E (2006) On the ecology of Caecidotea williamsi Escobar-Briones and Alcocer (Crustacea: Isopoda: Asellidae) from Alchichica saline lake, Central Mexico. Hydrobiologia. doi:10.1007/s10750-006-0297-7

  • Alcocer J, Hammer UT (1998) Saline lake ecosystems of Mexico. Aquat Ecosyst Health Manage 1:291–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alcocer J, Lugo A, Sánchez MR, Chávez M, Escobar E (1998) Threats to the saline lakes of the Oriental basin, Mexico, by human activities. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie 26:1383–1386

    Google Scholar 

  • Alcocer J, Lugo A, Escobar E, Sánchez MR, Vilaclara G (2000) Water column stratification and its implications in the tropical warm monomictic Lake Alchichica, Puebla, Mexico. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie 27:3166–3169

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson MP, Woessner WW (1992) Applied groundwater modeling: Simulation of flow and advective transport. Academic, US, p 381

    Google Scholar 

  • Baez AP, Belmont RD, Padilla HG (1997) Chemical composition of precipitation at two sampling sites in Mexico: a 7-year study. Atmos Environ 31:915–925

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunn SE, Edward DHD (1984) Seasonal meromixis in three hypersaline lakes on Rottnests Island, Western Australia. Aust J Mar Freshwater Res 35:261–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrick HJ, Aldridge FJ, Schelske CL (1993) Wind influences phytoplankton biomass and composition in a shallow, productive lake. Limnol Oceanogr 38:1179–1192

    Google Scholar 

  • Dirnberger JM, Threlkeld ST (1986) Advective effects of a reservoir flood on zooplankton abundance and dispersion. Freshw Biol 16:387–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domenico PA, Schwartz FW (1998) Physical and chemical hydrogeology. Wiley, New York, p 506

    Google Scholar 

  • Filonov AE, Alcocer J (2002) Internal waves in a tropical crater-lake: Alchichica, Central Mexico. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie 28:1857–1860

    Google Scholar 

  • Filonov AE, Tereshchenko I, Alcocer J (2006) Dynamic response to mountain breeze circulation in Alchichica, a crater lake in Mexico. Geophy Res Lett 33: L07404. doi:10.1029/2006GL025901

  • García E (1988) Modificaciones al sistema de clasificación climática de Köppen (Para Adaptarlo a las Condiciones de la República Mexicana). (Modifications to the Köppen’s climate classification system to adapt it to the conditions of the Mexican Republic), García, p 217

  • Gellis A (1993) The effects of hurricane Hugo on suspended-sediment loads, Lago Loiza basin, Puerto Rico. Earth Surf Process Landform 18:505–517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammer UT (1986) Saline lake ecosystems of the world, Junk, p 616

  • Havens KE, Jin K, Rodusky AJ, Sharfstein B, Brady MA, East TL, Iricanin N, James RT, Harwell MC, Steinman AD (2001) Hurricane effects on a shallow lake ecosystem and its response to a controlled manipulation of water level. Sci World 1:44–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson GE (1937) A contribution to the limnology of arid regions primarily founded on observations made in the Lahonton Basin. Trans Conn Acad Arts Sci 33:47–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson GE (1957) A treatise on limnology. Wiley, New York, p 1015

    Google Scholar 

  • Jellison R, Melack JM (1993) Meromixis in hypersaline Mono Lake, California. 1. Stratification and vertical mixing during the onset, persistence, and breakdown of meromixis. Limnol Oceanogr 38:1008–1019

    Google Scholar 

  • Jellison R, Romero J, Melack JM (1998) The onset of meromixis during restoration of Mono Lake, California: unintended consequences of reducing water diversions. Limnol Oceanogr 43:706–711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luettich Jr RA, Harleman DRF, Somlyódy L (1990) Dynamic behavior of suspended sediment concentrations in a shallow lake perturbed by episodic wind events. Limnol Oceanogr 35:1050–1067

    Google Scholar 

  • Lugo A, González ME, Sánchez MR, Alcocer J (1999) Distribution of Leptodiaptomus novamexicanus (Copepoda: Calanoida) in a Mexican hyposaline lake. Rev Biol Trop 47:141–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Lugo A, Alcocer J, Sánchez MR, Escobar E, Macek M (2000) Temporal and spatial variation of bacterioplankton abundance in a tropical, warm-monomictic, saline lake: Alchichica, Puebla, Mexico. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie 27:2968–2971

    Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre S, Melack JM (1982) Meromixis in an equatorial African soda lake. Limnol Oceanogr 27:595–609

    Google Scholar 

  • Mallin MA, Posey MH, Shank GC, McIver MR, Ensign SH, Alphin TD (1999) Hurricane effects on water quality and benthos in the cape fear watershed: natural and anthropogenic impacts. Ecol Appl 9:350–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliva MG, Lugo A, Alcocer J, Peralta L, Sánchez MR (2001) Phytoplankton dynamics in a deep, tropical, hyposaline lake. Hydrobiologia 466:299–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satoh Y, Sasaki M, Miyamori Y, Sugawara K, Nishi T, Nishizuka M, Inamura K, Yamagami Y (2001) Perturbations of a water column of Lake Ogogawa by local heavy rainfall. Limnology 2:11–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schelske CL, Lowe EF Lawrence, Battoe LE, Brenner M, Coveney MF, Kenney WF (2005) Abrupt biological response to hydrologic and land-use changes in Lake Apopka, Florida, USA. Ambio 34:192–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vilaclara G, Chávez M, Lugo A, González H, Gaytán M (1993) Comparative description of crater-lakes basic chemistry in Puebla state, Mexico. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie 25:435–440

    Google Scholar 

  • Yount JL (1961) A note on stability in Central Florida lakes, with discussion of the effect of hurricanes. Limnol Oceanogr 6:322–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This investigation was partially supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT-34893-T & 41667). The authors thank L. Peralta and L.A. Oseguera (FES Iztacala, UNAM) for field assistance and M. Merino and S. Castillo (ICMyL, UNAM) for nutrient analysis. L. Marin (Instituto de Geofísica, UNAM) and O. Escolero (Instituto de Geología, UNAM) are acknowledged for helpful hints on Alchichica’s hydrogeology. The authors express a special recognition to Professor Brian V. Timms (The University of Newcastle) and Patricia Beddows (McMaster University) for helpful suggestions and comments that greatly improved this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Proyecto de Investigación en Limnología Tropical, UIICSE, FES Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Av. de los Barrios No. 1. Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, 54090, Estado de Mexico, Mexico

    Javier Alcocer

  2. Departamento de Física, Universidad de Guadalajara, Avenida Revolución 1500, Guadalajara, 44840, Jalisco, Mexico

    Anatoliy E. Filonov

Authors
  1. Javier Alcocer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anatoliy E. Filonov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Javier Alcocer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Alcocer, J., Filonov, A.E. A note on the effects of an individual large rainfall event on saline Lake Alchichica, Mexico. Environ Geol 53, 777–783 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0690-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0690-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation