Water chemistry, and pigments and geochemistry of sediments from northern Victoria Land lakes

Concentrations of major ions and nutrients were also determined in water samples from the same lakes. The latter samples had extremely variable chemical compositions; however, all the lakes resulted oligotrophic.

Pigment concentrations in surface sediments were comparable to those reported for other Antarctic lakes and lower than those in oligotrophic lakes at lower latitudes. Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta were the main taxa identified. These taxa correspond to those reported in previous microscopy-based studies on Antarctic phytoplankton and phytobenthos.