426

NOTES AND COMMENT REFERENCES ARON,W.,N.

, I

ductor cable and FM telemetry for oceanographic research. F. BOURBEAU W.D. CLARKE W. ARON GM Defense Research Laboratories, General Motors Corporation, Santa Barbara, California 93107.

RAXTER, R. NOEL,AND W. ANDREWS. 1964. A description of a discrete depth plankton sampler with some notes on the towing behavior of a B-foot Isaacs-Kidd midwater trawl and a one-meter ring net. Limnol. Oceanog., 9 : 324-333.

THE

INFLUENCE

OF VOLCANIC ASHFALL PROCESSES IN A LJIKE

ON BIOLOGICAL

In the autumn 1955, in Kamchatka began the eruption of Mount Besymjanny, one of the volcanoes situated in the neighborhood of Mount Kluchevskoy. The culmination of the eruption was reached on 30 March 1956. A violent explosion occurred, such as had not been observed in Kamchatka for at least half a century. By its force and character, the eruption of Mt. Besymjanny is thought by the volcanologists ( Gorshkov 1958) to be most similar to the eruption of the famous Alaskan volcano Katmai in 1912. The explosion of Mt. Besymjanny destroyed the peak of the volcano and sent an immense heap of ash to an altitude of over 40 km. The ash was carried by the wind to the northeast and covered the vernal thawing snow in the surroundings of the volcano with an ash layer that in places reached a considerable thickness; even at a distance of 80 km to the northeast it was 20 mm deep ( approximately 20 kg/m2 ) . The eruption greatly altered the surrounding landscape and had a disastrous repercussion on the regimen of watersheds in the valley of the Bolshaya Khapiza River. The fauna of the water bodies also suffered from the after effects of the eruption ( Kurenkov 1957); in the basin of the Bolshaya Khapiza young salmon were killed and the breeding conditions deteriorated. Either and Rounsefell ( 1957) noted the relationship between the after effects of volcanic eruptions and the reproduction of salmon in the lakes of Alaska. They analyzed the catches of sockeye salmon, On-

corhynchm nedca Walb, in some lakes of Alaska after the Katmai eruption and discovered that, in the lakes subjected to ashfall, several broods of sockeye were very small, but that after a short time the population recovered and even increased in number. Those authors think that in the years following the eruption environmental conditions in the lakes became very favorable to the sockeye and suggest that this may have been caused by a better food supply, owing to the fertilization of lake waters by volcanic ash. In corroboration of this possibility they refer to the data obtained by Griggs ( 1920), who, on the basis of investigations of plant growth in the zone of ashfall, established that during the first two years following the eruption, growth was depressed, but that after the second year an abrupt increase in growth occurred. Goldman ( 1961)) h owever, believed that the intensity of productive processes in the lakes could not have been greatly increased by the ashfall, because, according to his analyses, the Katmai ash is very low in biogenes, particularly magnesium. The importance of this element in stimulating the development of phytoplankton was experimentally verified by him on artificial cultures. This made Goldman doubt the correctness of the suggestion of Either and Rounsefell, and no definite answer has been provided to the question. We now have at our disposal the results of some observations on the development of

NOTES

AND

COMMENT

427

of a water TABLE 1. Results of the analysis extract of the Besymjanny volcanic ash (according to Touaroz;a 1958) mg/100 g NH, Na K Mg Ca2+ Fe+ Fe3+ 7.20 5.15 1.68 10.20 81.20 2.22 2.18
mg-equiv.

0.33 0.23 0.04 0.84 4.05 0.08 0.12

_ __ FIG. 1. Region subjected to ash(fall. 1) active s; 2) extinct volcanoes; 3) major directions

Il. ,,;I A\ ",ccl,-,,c~

Clso,2HC03Total anions

55.04 198.40 24.40 277.84 0 4.59 211.20 411.80 5.00

1.55 4.12 0.40 6.07

plankton in one of the water bodies subjected to ashfall during the eruption of Mt. Besymjanny. West-northwest of the volcano, at a distance of 80 km, lies Lake Asabatchye, which has its own local stock of sockeye. The lake is in a glen in the eastern range system, and is connected with the Kamchatka River by a short ( 12 km) river ( Fig. 1) . The lake has a surface area of 62 km2, its basin has an area of 340 km2. As an approximation, nearly 1 x lo6 metric tons of ash were deposited on the lake and on its basin. According to the data of Tovarova ( 1958)) a water extract of 100 g of ash contained 400 mg of salts with a prevalence of calcium and magnesium salts (Table 1) . Unfortunately, no determinations were made of phosphorus and nitrates. Plankton samples are available which were collected in the lake in the years before the eruption ( 1949, 1953-1956)) in the year of the eruption, and in the following years up to 1964. Unfortunately, sampling was not always systematic enough, but the analysis of these samples reveals a well defined picture of quantitative changes in the development of limnoplankton. In Lake Asabatchye, diatom phytoplankton is prevalent, the most common forms being Melosira italica, Asterionella f ormosa, and Synedra ulna.

HnS H2Si03 Total CO, Total solids PH

The ice cover on the lake breaks up in middle or late June, and the maximum development of diatoms is usually observed in July and August. In the samples collected before 1965, the number of diatoms in the plankton during the maximum period was seldom more than 1 x lo4 cells/liter, and usually far less. In the year of ashfall ( 1956), the content of vernal samples taken from under the ice gave no cause to expect any important changes in the usual course of phytoplankton development; algae were almost absent in the March samples. But in June, the number of diatoms rose to 4 x lo4 cells/ liter and in August reached almost 1 x lo6 cells/liter, a value never before recorded during the period of observations. In the following years, the number of algae during the peak periods decreased but remained on a relatively high level. It is difficult to say at present whether this longterm effect was caused by the ashfall of 1956 only, or by later ashfalls; slight outbursts of ash by Mt. Besymjanny and also by Mt. Kluchevskoy were observed in later years.

428

NOTES

AND

COMMENT

FIG.

2.

Changes

in abundance

of diatoms

( 1)

and

cyclops

(2)

in Lake

Asabatchye,

1949-1964.

Unfortunately, no detailed hydrochemical investigations were carried out in the lake. The few available analyses (Table 2) show that no noticeable changes have occurred in the content of bicarbonate, calcium, magnesium, and total hardness. The unusual development of algae may have been stimulated by the considerable quantities of iron received by the lake waters, as has been convincingly demonstrated by Gusseva ( 1947, 1952) in studies of the Uchinsky reservoir. The secondary link of the trophic chain in the lake are cyclops ( Cyclops scutifer Sars ) . They reach their maximum abundance in the autumn ( September-October). The highest number of cyclops in samples taken before the eruption was 30 specimens/liter ( autumn 1953). During the first period of maximum development of algae ( 19%1959)) the numTABLE

ber of cyclops declined to 5 specimens/liter, but in 1959 it began to increase and reached its maximum in 1963 with 240 specimens/ liter ( Fig. 2). Let us consider the condition of the sockeye stock in Lake Asabatchye. If Either and Rounsefell are right in concluding that the first years after ashfall have an adverse effect on the yield of sockeye, then a decrease in the number of adults returning to the lake to spawn would have been expected in the years 1960-1964. According to A. G. Ostroumov, who is yearly conducting observations ( aerovisual and aerophotographic) of the occupation of the sockeye spawning grounds, such a decrease does actually take place ( Fig. 3). It must be kept in mind that the sockeye of Lake Asabatchye are subjected to an intensive and not always uniform fishing by Japanese fishermen, so that caution is neces(middle

2.

Analyses
Total solids

of uater from Lake Asabatchye

SiO, Bicarbonate co2 (mg/liter) CaO

of the lake, surface)

Mg0 Cl Total hardness ( degrees

Date

24 March 15 March 22 Aug

1954 1956 1956

1.5 0.1 16.8

7.2

31.1 32.0 32.0

13.8 14.8 15.2

4.9 5.6 4.7

5.7

1.82 2.21 2.18

NOTES

AND

COMMENT CONCLUSION

429

FIG. 3. Occupation grounds in the basin 1957-1964.

of sockeye spawning of Lake Asabatchye in

There is as yet no unanimous opinion concerning the fertilizing effect of volcanic ash in the lakes situated in zones of active volcanism. But observations on the development of plankton in Lake Asabatchye compel us to answer this question in the affirmative. I. I. KURENKOV Pacific Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (TINRO), Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka Branch, USSR.
REFERENCES

sary in determining causes of fluctuations in the abundance of the local stock. There is, however, no evidence contradicting the assumption of a deleterious effect of ashfall. If we assume that the further biological processes in the lake will follow the same course as in the lakes of Alaska, then it may be expected that in the next few years the stock of sockeye salmon will increase in number owing to favorable changes in the conditions of reproduction. This is also indicated by an improvement of the lake supply of food plankton, and there is some evidence that the biomass of benthos (Oligochaeta, Pontoporeia, Chironomidae, and others) has also become more abundant, in comparison with the data from the bottom fauna survey of 1953-1954.

EICHER, G., AND G. ROUNSEFELL. 1957. Effects of lake fertilization by volcanic activity on abundance of salmon. Limnol. Oceanog., 2: 70-76. productivity and GOLDMAN, C. 1961. Primary Verhandl. Intern. Ver. Limlimiting factors. nol., 14: 120-124. GORSHKOV, G. S. 1958. An unusual eruption at Kamchatka. Priroda, 1: 61-68. GRIGGS, R. F. 1920. The recovery of vegetation at Kodiak. Ohio State Univ. Bull. 24. 15 p. GUSSEVA, K. A. 1947. Causes of periodicity in the development of phytoplankton in the Uchinsk reservoir. Byul. Mask. Obshchestva Ispytatelei Prirody, Otd. Biol., 52: 49-61. -. 1952. Water bloom, its causes, prognoses and control. Tr. Vses. Gydrobiol. Obshchestva Akad. Nauk SSSR, 4: 3-92. KURENKOV, I. I. 1957. Volcanic influence upon the fluvial fauna. Priroda, 12: 49-54. of TOVAROVA, I. I. 1958. On the evacuation water-soluble substances from the piroplastics of the volcano Besymyannyi. Geokhimiya, n.f., 7: 686-688.

MASS

IMORTALITY

IN A BIVALVE

MOLLUSCS

The interesting phenomenon of sudden and devastating mass mortalities in populations of marine animals has been discussed by Brongersma-Sanders ( 1957). She lists several elements known to cause such mortalities, including noxious water blooms, lack of oxygen, vulcanism, earth- or seaquakes, vertical currents, severe storms, changes in temperature, and sudden changes in salinity. During the winter of 1964-1965,
1 This investigation Institutes of Health was supported by National Grant AI-05358.

I observed an intensely localized mortality of a marine mollusc that depended upon a combination of two of the factors listed above. On La Jolla Beach, Todos 10s Santos Bay, near Ensenada, Baja California, part of a numerous population of the bean clam, Donax gouldi Dall, suffered decimation by exposure to the untempered heat and freshwater of a hot-spring area when it was uncovered by ebbing spring tides. The bean clam inhabits 3,200 km of sandy ocean beaches of California and Mexico. It occurs mainly in the intertidal zone, some-