Vegetation,soils, and ion transfer through the forest canopy in two Nova Scotia lake basins

Characterization of the forest vegetation and soils in two adjacent; contrasting headwater lake basins located in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia was completed in 1980. Precipitation chemistry was studied during May to November, 1981–83 at two forested plots in each basin. There were 2012 stems ha^-1 in Beaverskin basin and 1816 stems ha^-1 in Pebbleloggitch basin. Beaverskin species composition was predominantly coniferous (72% of stems) while Pebbleloggitch was predominantly deciduous (52% of stems). Thickness and mass of organic soil layers were greater in Beaverskin. Mineral soil cation concentrations were similar. There were no differences between the basins in mean incident bulk precipitation pH. Mean volume-weighted pH for the period (73 collections) was 4.80. Sixteen percent of collections had a pH < 4.25. Sulphate deposition in incident bulk precipitation (May – November) ranged from 5.4–8.5 kg ha^-1 during 1981–83 while NO _inf3 ^sup- ranged from 0.04–0.93 kg ha^-1. The partitioning of incident precipitation into throughfall varied considerably (69%–38%) year-to-year. Temporal flux of ions did not differ significantly. Amounts of all major ions in throughfall especially SO _inf4 ^sup2- and base cations(Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺ + K⁺ + Na⁺) were enriched.