Abstract
We report evidence for steep declines in the atmospheric concentrations of base cations (sum of non-sea-salt Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and Na+) over the past 10 to 26 years from high-quality precipitation chemistry records in Europe and North America. To varying but generally significant degrees, these base-cation trends have offset recent reductions in sulphate deposition in the regions examined. The observed trends seem to be ecologically important on decadal timescales, and support earlier contentions that declines in the deposition of base cations may have contributed to increased sensitivity of poorly buffered ecosystems. -from Authors
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 354-357 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Nature |
Volume | 367 |
Issue number | 6461 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1994 |
Externally published | Yes |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General