GEOCHEMICAL AND ISOTOPIC INVESTIGATION OF LAKES IN THE TRENTO PROVINCE (ITALY)

Abstract

We present the geochemical composition and the stable isotope signature (¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ²H/¹H) of waters sampled from six lakes (Caldonazzo, Levico, Lases, Santa Colomba, Lamar and Santo) located in the Province of Trento. The chemical compositions invariably revealed a HCO₃-Ca hydrochemical facies; however slight differences were observed among the lakes, in relation to the lithologies distinguishing each lakes’drainage basin. Elemental ratios and in particular the Rb/Sr provide a discriminative tool to recognize the rocks that have been weathered; for example this ratio is high in water that interacted with volcanic ignimbrites (rhyolites), and low in rocks that interacted with carbonate rocks. Many other trace elements were analyzed, thus providing baseline data, and only arsenic displayed concentrations higher than the legislative threshold defined for drinking water (10mg/l), especially in Lake Levico (10-19 mg/l). As concerns the stable isotopes δD and δ¹⁸O, the obtained results approach the meteoric signature for waters sampled during the 2012 winter season. The waters sampled during two summers (2011 and 2012) displayed distinctive trends, reflecting the significant influence of evaporative processes. We emphasize that the annual differences recorded in the isotopic composition of distinct years are plausibly related to temperature changes and type of precipitation that recharged the lakes. In this light, the peculiar isotopic signature recorded in the year 2011 is possibly related to a significant snowy period, which greatly contributed to the lakes’ water budget. Interestingly, waters from Lake Santa Colomba were systematically different from all the other samples, possibly due to more effective evaporative processes, or to the involvement of deep underground recharge including fossil waters.