Paleolimnological studies in arctic Fennoscandia and the Kola Peninsula (Russia)

Abstract

The undulating landscape of the Fennoscandian Arctic, including northwestern Russia, is littered with lakes and ponds that are fed by precipitation. In the Kola Peninsula alone there are over 100,000 lakes larger than 1 ha, while the highest lake density in northern Fennoscandia can be found in northeastern Finnish Lapland, with more than 800 lakes per 100 km2 (Raatikainen and Kuusisto 1990) (Figure 1). The majority of these arctic freshwaters are small (area usually from 0.05 to 12.0 km2), shallow (Zmax usually < 10 m), oligotrophic (total phosphorus (TP) < 10 g L-1), extremely dilute (total dissolved solid (TDS) concentrations usually 15-30 mg L-1), and clear (platinium color units < 30 mg L-1) (Korhola et al. 2002a). There are only two large water bodies in the area: Lake Inari (1116 km2) in northeastern Finnish Lapland and Lake Imandra (881 km2) on the Kola Peninsula.