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Ageing of Lakes
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- When lakes become enriched with nutrients, it stimulates the growth of algae, aquatic plants, and various organisms—a natural process known as eutrophication.
- However, when this nutrient buildup occurs at an accelerated pace due to human activities, it leads to premature aging of the lake, a phenomenon referred to as cultural eutrophication.
- In India, natural lakes (relatively few) mostly ile in the Himalayan region, the floodplains of Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra. Lake ’Sudarshan’ in Gujarat’s Girnar area was perhaps the oldest man-made lake in India, dating back to 300 BC.
- Lakes are also classified on the basis of their water chemistry. Based-on the levels of salinity, they are known as Freshwater, Brackish or Saline lakes (similar to that of classification of aquatic ecosystem).
- On the basis of their nutrient content, they are categorized as Oligotrophic (very Low nutrients), Mesotrophic (moderate nutrients) and Eutrophic (highly nutrient rich).
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