A field experiment to test whether organic acids buffer acid deposition

Abstract

THE role of organic acids in surface-water acidification is a matter of recent controversy^1–8. It has been suggested^1,4–6 that lakes and streams in the northeastern United States and southern Scandinavia that have high mineral acidity resulting from acid deposition had, before acid deposition, high concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and were acidified by natural organic acids. The suggestion is that deposition of strong mineral acids has been buffered by concurrent losses in organic acids and DOC^4–6, resulting in little or no overall change in pH. Despite considerable debate^6–8 and comparative analyses of lake chemistry^2,7, this hypothesis has never been tested experimentally in the field. Here we present results from an experimental acidification of a brown-water stream that tests two of the major elements of the hypothesis. We find that DOC concentrations are not reduced by acidification, and that the organic acid–base system has only a very limited capacity to buffer inputs of strong mineral acids. In addition, mineral acids mobilize toxic forms of aluminium.