The Effects of Liming On Soil Chemistry at Loch Fleet, Scotland

An experiment to investigate how the water quality of acid lakes can be improved by liming the surrounding catchment was begun at Loch Fleet, Scotland in 1984. the effects on the soils of three sectors of the catchment where limestone was added in 1986 are reported here, following analysis of soils sampled in 1987, 1988 and 1991. the effect of the lime on soil chemistry was still evident in 1991, with about 15% of free lime remaining in the hydrochemical reaction zone of sectors IV and VI and nearly 50% in sector VII. However, this free lime appeared to be dissolving too slowly to maintain large amounts of exchangeable calcium in the soils, indicating that the treatment is starting to become less effective. the fall in the mean exchangeable calcium in the reaction zone between 1988 and 1991 was mirrored by a drop in mean soil pH over the 5 years post-liming from 6.1 to 5.6 on sector IV and from 5.9 to 5.4 on sector VI, whereas mean pH remained constant at about 6.0 in the limed areas of sector VII. Using soil data to predict longevity suggests that the exchangeable calcium remaining on the catchment at the end of 1991 will maintain target water quality in the loch until sometime during 1994. the soil pH is likely to fall to between 5.2 and 5.3 by this time. If the region of hydrochemical reaction is assumed to extend to a depth of 20 cm rather than 5 cm, target water quality is predicted to be maintained until the end of 1995. When the free lime remaining on the catchment is included as a source of acid neutralising capacity, calculations show that treatment may remain effective until around the year 2000.