Geochemistry of the water column of southern lake Baikal during 1967-2005

At present, when the influence of human economic activity is progressively increasing, significant attention is devoted to the state of water ecosystems. All researchers engaged in these problems agree that the state of the water system (pollution and eutrophication) can only be estimated on the basis of long-term researches. Systemic monitoring (at least once per month) of ionic components (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, bicarbonates, sulfates, and chlorides) in unfiltered water of Lake Baikal and its tributaries had been carried out under the supervision of Votintsev since 1947. Based on the analysis of systematic data on trophic components obtained during 1965-2005, we tried to estimate the present-day trophic status of the pelagic zone in the lake, define the trend of long-term changes of trophic components and understand the reasons of the distortion of cyclicity in the development of spring diatom algae, which create a favorable environment in any water basin. It should be noted that the station near Cape Polovinnyi is located 20 km away from the town of Baikal'sk. Wastewaters of the Baikal'sk pulp and paper mill is the main source of dioxins and furans in Baikal. Based on the significant difference between sulfate contents in wastewaters of the plant (>300 mg/l), tributaries of Baikal (7.5 mg/l), and waters in the southern part of the lake (3.9 mg/l), we defined the following periods: (i) period of natural seasonal patterns until 1967-1968 (prior to putting the Baikal'sk Mill into operation; (ii) period of weak anthropogenic pollution (1969-1985); and (iii) period of strong anthropogenic pollution since 1986.