MARKFÖRSURNING OCH KOPPLINGEN TILL YTVATTENKVALITET / Soil Acidification and its Relation to Surface Water Quality
Soil acidification has not as yet been observed in upper Norrland. Possibly the investigations mostly carried out in well drained soils may not be relevant however as an early stage of surface water acidification should concern the discharge zones. In these zones the flow is channelled to restricted soil volumes both depthwise and sideways. This may cause that small volumes of soil affected by large fluxes of water may become acidified. This restricted soil acidification may be difficult to observe. Areas with a large fraction of soligenous mires are examples of this. Snowmelt causes surface runoff and as soon as the surface layer of the peat is acidified acid surges are found to occur at spring flood. Anion adsorption may be a phenomenon that buffers against surface water acidification in Norrland in certain flow situations when the runoff water touches the B-horizon of podsols.