1338

Limnol. Oceanogr., 37(6), 1992, 1338-1339 0 1992, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography,

Comment
Inc.

A reply to the comment

of Eilers et al.
Meybeck ( 1983) indicates that the average composition of rain is 1.5 ppm salts for inland areas and 10.5 ppm for coastal areas and that the corresponding Na : Na + Ca ratios are 0.45 and 0.92. The Cascade and Sierra lakes as well as the Minnesota-Wisconsin lakes appear to contain a rock component extensively diluted with inland rainwater. Norway is on the sea and would have a higher contribution of Na in its rain, so the Na : Ca plot is offset more to the Na side but likewise shows extensive dilution by
A Major Oceans-fhfl

Eilers et al. (1992) bring to question the extent to which the Gibbs (1970) model can be applied. The original model was applied to 135 major lakes and rivers around the world, and the vast majority of major lakes and rivers do plot within the boundaries (Fig. 1). In Fig. 1, in addition to the original 135 points, the average river value for the world, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania are shown to plot within the major river and lake area. Additionally, the values for another 42 other major rivers and lakes from around the world also plot within the boundaries. The evidence indicates that most major rivers and lakes do plot in these boundaries, so this approach is valid for major waters. It is only minor lakes and rivers that fall outside the major boundaries. The data presented by Eilers et al. are interesting, but must be considered to come from minor lakes in limited areas. Northeastern Minnesota-north-central Wisconsin and Norway are both glaciated crystalline areas. Some of these small lakes are crystalline bowls that simply catch rainwater. Small (1989) and others have pointed out that the composition of small lakes could be expected to deviate from that of major lakes. Likens et al. (1977), Stallard and Edmonds (198 l), Galloway et al. (1982), and Meybeck (1983) pointed out that the composition of rainfall shows a wide range of Na and Ca values depending on distance from the ocean, weather patterns, and pollution sources. These facts indicate that although most large rivers and lakes still fall within the boundaries of Fig. 1, there would be some very dilute small lakes that would plot across the bottom (low salinity) portion of Fig. 1. These minor lakes can be incorporated into the original model by extending the precipitation dominance across as shown in Fig. 2.
1 Submitted: 8 Sentember 1992.

/
/Jordan Pecos 2
/ l

+IBlack I
+ Caspian I *Baltic

o
/

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Na:Na + Ca

Fig. 1. Variation of Na : Na+Ca as a function of total dissolved salts for major lakes and rivers (Gibbs 1970) and averages of rivers from Meybeck (1983) for the world (W), Africa (F), Asia (S), Europe (E), North America (NA). South America (SA). and Oceania (0).

Comment
/
Seawatc

1339

g ;

1,000

iE E E z P > B D 5 3 5 !-

100

.a

E 2 E F m C

the right (Na-Cl rich) in the midrange (mostly 100 to 1,000 ppm total dissolved salts) as shown in Fig. 2. The anions pose more of a problem: Kilham (1990) attributes the HC03 to rocks in a Na-dominating rock (poor in Ca); in the Australian lakes the high Na goes along with high Cl as usual. The results of minor lakes (no rivers) from two areas of the U.S. and from Norway are not sufficient reason to discard a model that works for major lakes and rivers around the world. Until a better model is devised, it seems practical to continue using the Gibbs model with some modifications.

Ronald J. Gibbs

% University of Delaware College of Marine Studies Newark 197 16

\ Minor \ 1, Precipitation dominance \ Coastal \t:: ;;:.. \.; 3:

References
BADLY, I. A. E., AND W. D. WILLIAMS. 1973. Inland waters and their ecology. Longman. EILERS, J. M., D. F. BRAKKE, AND A. HENRIKSEN. 1992. The inapplicability of the Gibbs model of world water chemistry for dilute lakes. Limnol. Oceanogr. 37: 1335-1337. GALLOWAY, J. N., G. E. LIKENS, W. C. KEENJZ,AND J. . . M. MILLER. 1982. The composition of prectpttation in remote areas of the world. J. Geophys. Res. 87: 8771-8786. GIBBS, R. J. 1970. Mechanisms controlling world water chemistry. Science 170: 1088-1090. KILHAM, P. 1990. Mechanisms controlling the chemical composition of lakes and rivers: Data from Africa. Limnol. Oceanogr. 35: 80-83. LIKENS, G. E., F. H. BORMANN, R. S. PIERCE, J. S. EATON, AND N. M. JOHNSON. 1977. Biogeochemistry of a forested ecosystem. Springer. MEYBECK, M. 1983. Atmospheric inputs and river transport, 173-192. In Dissolved loads of rivers and surface water quantity/quality relationships. Int. Assoc. Hydrol. Sci. Publ. 14 1. SMALL, M. J. 1989. Regional distributions of water quality derived as averages of spatial random processes, p. 3-10. In S. Ragone [ed.], Regional characteristics of water quality. IANJ Publ. 182. Int. Assoc. Hydrol. Sci. STALLARD, R. F., AND J. M. EDMONDS. 198 1. Geochemistry of the Amazon. 1. Precipitation chemistry and the marine contribution to the dissolved load at the time of peak discharge. J. Geophys. Res. 86: 9844-9858.

10
Inland

Jz p

Ca-HCO,

Na-Cl

Fig. 2. Diagrammatic representation of processes controlling the chemistry of world surface waters modified after Gibbs (1970).

rainwater. The anions (HCO,) in dilute waters are difficult to measure accurately and the best analysis must be done in the field. The Norwegian lakes show high Na values, but do not show the correspondingly high Cl values expected from rain. Rocks may be contributing high Na without Cl (possibly from Na feldspars) or there may be analytical difficulty with the anion data. Since the model is being modified, I here incorporated the findings of Kilham (1990) on minor African lakes and rivers and of Bayly and Williams ( 1973) on minor Australian lakes that are all high in Na. Roughly half plot in the major area and half plot to