Lake stratification

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lake stratification is the separation of lakes into three layers:

  1. Epilimnion - top of the lake.
  2. Metalimnion (or Thermocline) - middle layer that may change depth throughout the day.
  3. Hypolimnion - the bottom layer.

The thermal stratification of lakes is a change in the temperature at different depths in the lake. Temperatures change from season to season to create a cyclic pattern that is repeated from year to year.

If the stratification of water lasts for extended periods, the lake is meromictic. Conversely, for most of the time, a mere is unstratified; that is, its water is all epilimnion.

[edit] External links

Other links related- http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/lakes/chchem.htm

Languages