Meromictic lake
A meromictic lake has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, "holomictic" lakes, at least once each year, there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters.
The term "meromictic" was coined by the Austrian Ingo Findenegg in 1935, apparently based on the older word "holomictic". The concepts and terminology used in describing meromictic lakes were essentially complete following some additions by G. Evelyn Hutchinson in 1937.
Most lakes are holomictic; that is, at least once per year, physical mixing occurs between the surface and the deep waters. In so-called monomictic lakes, the mixing occurs once per year; in dimictic lakes, the mixing occurs twice a year (typically spring and autumn), and in polymictic lakes, the mixing occurs several times a year. In meromictic lakes, however, the layers of the lake water can remain unmixed for years, decades, or centuries.
Meromictic lakes can usually be divided into three sections or layers. The bottom layer is known as the monimolimnion; the waters in this portion of the lake circulate little, and are generally hypoxic and saltier than the rest of the lake. The top layer is called the mixolimnion, and essentially behaves like a holomictic lake. The area in between is referred to as the chemocline.
The lack of mixing between layers creates radically different environments for organisms to live in: among the consequences of this stratification, or stable layering, of lake waters is that the bottom layer receives little oxygen from the atmosphere, and hence becomes depleted of oxygen. While the surface layer may have 10 mg/L or more dissolved oxygen in summer, the depths of a meromictic lake can have less than 1 mg/L. Very few organisms can live in such an oxygen-poor environment. One exception is purple sulfur bacteria. These bacteria, which are commonly found at the top of the monimolimnion in such lakes, use sulfur compounds such as sulfides in photosynthesis; these compounds are produced by decomposition of organic sediments in oxygen-poor environments. The monimolimnion is often also rich in phosphorus and nitrogen. These factors combine to create an ideal environment for bacteria to grow in. The mixolimnion can have similar qualities; however, the types of bacteria that can grow at the surface are determined by the amount of light that the surface receives.
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