5.14.3. Chemistry of Acid Rain
Six basic steps are involved in the formation of acid rain:
1. The atmosphere receives oxides of sulfur and nitrogen from natural and man-made sources.
2. Some of these oxides fall back directly to the ground as dry deposition, either close to the place of origin or some distance away.
3. Sunlight stimulates the formation of photo-oxidants (such as ozone) in the atmosphere.
4. These photo-oxidants interact with the oxides of sulfur and nitrogen to produce H2SO4 and HNO3 by oxidation.
5. The oxides are of sulfur and nitrogen, photo-oxidants, and other gases (like NH3)
6. Acid rain containing ions of sulfate, nitrate, ammonium and hydrogen falls as wet deposition.
Difference between normally and anthropogenically acidified lakes
Naturally acidic lakes | Anthropogenically acidified lakes |
Brown to yellow colour caused by humic substances | Very clear water caused by reduced primary productivity |
Concentrations of dissolved organic carbon are high while transparency is low | Dissolved organic carbon concentrations are low. Whereas the transparency is high. |
Low pH but well buffered. | Poorly buffered |
Abound with aquatic life. | Some of the more sensitive taxa, such as blue-green algae, some bacteria, |
snails, mussels crustaceans, mayflies and fish either decrease or / are eliminated.
Do you know?
The Indian giant squirrel is a large-bodied diurnal, arboreal, and herbivorous squirrel. The species is endemic to deciduous, mixed deciduous, and moist evergreen forests of peninsular India, reaching as far north as the Satpura hill range of Madhya Pradesh. IUCN Status - least concern.