EXERCISE 1

Lake Basin Characteristics and Morphometry

Limnological analyses of a lake or stream very often require a detailed knowledge' of morphometry, particularly of the volume characteristics of the body of fresh water. Depth analyses, including measurement of areas of sediments and of water strata at various depths, volumes of strata, and shoreline characteristics, are often critical to detailed analyses of biological, chemical, and physical properties of fresh waters. Morphometric parameters are needed, for example, to evaluate erosion, nutrient loading rates, chemical mass, heat content and thermal stability, biological productivity and effectiveness of growth, and many other structural and functional components of the ecosystem. Management techniques, such as the loading capacity for effluents and the selective removal of undesirable components of the biota, are also heavily dependent on a detailed knowledge of the morphometry and water retention times in freshwater ecosystems. Accurate hydrographic maps of lakes and streams are rarely available in sufficient detail for the limnologist. It is a characteristic feature that the morphometry of lakes and streams changes with time, so even if bathymetric (i.e., depth contour) maps are available from governmental or other sources, their accuracy should be checked carefully. It is essential, therefore, that the rudiments of the construction of bathymetric maps and the computation of morphometric parameters be understood.

LOCATION WITHIN PROJECTIONS: GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES Latitude, Longitude, and Bearings

A level surface, such as the surface of a lake, is parallel everywhere to the mean surface of the earth and so is essentially spherical. A level line is the arc of a circle whose radius varies according to the elevation above or below mean sea level. In the surygy of small areas, or when sight lines are short, level surfaces are assumed to be planes, and level lines are assumed to be straight lines. A great circle is the trace of a level line on a vertical plane and may be illustrated by imagining a vertical plane passing through the polar axis of the earth. The trass of the earths surface on this vertical plane is considered to be a great circle. Geographic meridians and parallels of latitude are a system of spherical coordinates by which it is possible to locate points or to describe precisely the locations of points onTtHe surface of the earth. Geographic meridians (longitudes) are of great