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CALCIUM CARBONATE DYNAMICS IN AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS

In the winter of 2023, I collaborated with researcher Jessica Corman to illustrate the various ways calcium carbonate (CaCo3) reacts with phosphorous in aquatic ecosystems. In many lakes, rivers, wetlands, and streams, calcium carbonate may form temporary or permanent deposits like travertine dams, layered microbial structures, or suspended particles (whiting events). In the process, calcium carbonate binds to phosphorous, an element that is essential to all life.

Explore the graphic below, or view the published article in Limnology and Oceanography Letters, vol. 10 no. 2. (Note this graphic is best viewed on a desktop or in landscape orientation.)

Illustration of various calcium carbonate deposits in aquatic ecosystems. In many lakes, rivers, wetlands, and streams, calcium carbonate may form temporary or permanent deposits like travertine dams, layered microbial structures, or suspended particles (whiting events).
Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation or deposition may occur in different forms and across inland aquatic ecosystem types. Each of these forms could represent a pool of phosphorus, estimates as % dry mass are in the parenthesis. Illustration by Fiona Martin.


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