Loch Enoch

Infobox lake
lake_name = Loch Enoch
image_lake =Loch enoch panorama.jpg
caption_lake = Loch Enoch with Corserine, Dungeon Hill and Craignaw in the background
image_bathymetry =
caption_bathymetry =
location = Galloway
coords = coord|55|08|10|N|4|26|20|W|display=inline,title
type = Loch
inflow =
outflow = Eglin Lane
catchment = 186 ha
basin_countries = Scotland
length =
width =
area = 50 ha
depth =
max-depth = ~36 m
volume =
residence_time =
shore =
elevation = 493 m
islands =
reference = cite web |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BqtlC0nziMsC&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=%22loch+enoch%22+acid&source=web&ots=3OHNubsonD&sig=i7KEF_pCpnABL0xHahZuD86PW_4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA201,M1 |title=Lake Acidification in Galloway |accessdate=2008-06-24 |work=The Human Impact Reader: Readings and Case Studies |date=1997 |author=Andrew Goudie, David Alexander |pages=201]

Loch Enoch is a multi-basin loch in Galloway to the east of Merrick and south of Mullwharchar. The loch is situated in a granite basin and has several small islands and some beaches on its shore. The sharp granite sand of these beaches was collected and sold for sharpening knives and scythes. [cite web |url=http://www.climbmagazine.com/WritingCompetitionCroftontheFlowe.aspx |title='The Croft on the Flowe' |accessdate=2008-06-24 |work=Climb Magazine |author=Edward Barratt ] The catchment area's vegetation is mainly Purple Moor Grass and Heather.

Acidification

By 1800 the water of Loch Enoch had already become acidic.cite web |url=http://www.lifesciences.napier.ac.uk/wmfiles/acidweb/history.htm |title=Freshwater Acidification and 'Acid Rain' |accessdate=2008-06-24 |work=Lecture Notes for MSc Aquatic Ecosystems Management,Freshwater Ecosystems Module |author=Dr John Kinross,] J. McBain in his 1929 book "The Merrick and the Neighbouring Hills. Tramps by Hill, Stream and Loch" describes a trout that 'bore the unmistakable marks of a Loch Enoch trout, i.e., it was minus the lower half of its tail and part of its ventral fins'.cite web |url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/medicalgenetics/suplands.htm |title=The Southern Uplands of Scotland |accessdate=2008-06-24 |work=Scottish Mountain Photo Gallery |date=05/06/04] McBain writes that the last recorded trout caught was in 1899.Since 1940 the loch became more acidic due to industrial emissions and in the 1950s it completely lost its fish population. [cite web |url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/635210 |title=The Acidification of Scottish Lochs |accessdate=2008-06-24 |work=The Geographic Journal |date=1989 |author=Richard W. Battarbee] In 1994 it was restocked with 3000 trout.. The loch has not become more acidic since the mid 1970s and has become slightly less acidic from the 1980s onwards, with the pH increasing slowly from around 4.3 in 1978 to 4.9 in 2003. [cite web |url=http://www.marlab.ac.uk/FRS.Web/Uploads/Documents/FW16Recovery.pdf |title=Recovery from Acid Rain Gives Hope to Scottish Upland Salmonid Populations |accessdate=2008-06-25 |work=Fisheries Research Services |date=16/08/04] Between 1983 and 2003 the loch's DOC levels increased. [cite web |url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1063/0055432.pdf |title=Freshwater Environment Group |accessdate=2008-06-28 |publisher=Fisheries Research Services]

Water Analysis

References